Tolerance Is Not Open-Ended

There’s a fine line between being tolerant of others views yet holding to what we perceive to be truth. Those who have no strong opinions on issues berate those who do have an opinion, characterizing them as intolerant, at best, narrow minded bigots, at worse. Clearly one can be open to others opinion and gently agree to disagree. Depending on whether you are a radical open-minded person (who dismisses anyone who has a strong conviction about anything) or a radical closed-minded person (there is only one way correct answer, which is theirs), will determine whether there is room for dialogue. Example:

Wickets responded to one of my blogs (More Than Religion), stating he had a warm feeling toward Jesus, but had a poor opinion of Christianity. So far so good. I, too, have a poor opinion of institutional Christianity as some times it promotes the vehicle (church or denominationalism) of the message (Christ) than it does the Person (Jesus) of the message. This could be said of all institutional religion, Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist.

Then Wickets said, “For me Jesus is as much sweet & benevolent as is Buddha... and more.” Ooops, we’ve crossed the line of tolerance to no man’s land of radical open-mindedness, i.e. situational ethics, relativism and the territory of whaaateverrrr.

As a follower of Jesus I would, of course, make a distinction between Jesus and Buddha. Actually the two are not in the same camp. Buddha taught self-enlightenment which leads to self-salvation. Jesus, however, taught that man’s salvation could never be attained through his own efforts. The whole reason Jesus came on the scene of the world was to provide salvation through His death and resurrection (I know it’s a strange story to non-believers, but I didn’t write the script, God did).

I realize that religion is divisive. Part of the reason is because of the fanaticism of the open and the closed minded. But a closer study of Jesus will reveal that he was a divisive personality. Heck, they nailed him to a cross because he told the world that he was the way, the truth and the life, and that if anyone wished to see God it would be through him. Jesus was hardly confused in who he was, nor was he very accommodating to those who disagreed with him. For over 2,000 years the person of Jesus continues to be divisive, especially to those who reject his claim or who preach the message of open-mindedness.

Tolerance is not open ended. The line of tolerance ends when a person becomes intolerant of those who hold a conviction of truth. Or, it ends when one seizes a conviction. You can say you love Jesus and Buddha, but in the sight of God, only one claimed to be His Christ. They are not mutually exclusive. Like loving two women, you have to choose one to be your wife…unless, of course, you can find a woman that is tolerant enough to allow you to love others at the same time. It doesn’t work that way on earth; it certainly doesn’t work that way in eternity.