Tolerance is not enough
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not “anti-tolerance.” I just think it’s time we move beyond it. We teach and preach tolerance, when really, we need to extend ourselves to love.
The Googleictionary has three definitions for tolerance:
1. Tolerance is the quality of allowing other people to say and do as they like, even if you do not agree or approve of it.
2. Tolerance is the ability to bear something painful or unpleasant.
3. If someone or something has a tolerance to a substance, they are exposed to it so often that it does not have very much effect on them.
Does that really sound like the way we want to live? I understand they underlying premise, that we need to better understand our fellow man/woman and not allow room for hatred, bigotry or prejudice. There have been a lot of good things come out of the “tolerance movement,” but I feel that one of the negative side effects has been a dampening of personal convictions and passions. Many people feel so afraid of saying something politically incorrect, that they say nothing at all. I’m not sure which is worse.
Tolerance is better than hatred, but love is by far better than tolerance.
The Parable of the Good Samaritan
Luke 10:25-37 (New International Version)
25On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27He answered: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[a]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b]”
28“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
29But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35The next day he took out two silver coins[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
36“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
37The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
