Tolerance or Legitimization?
Tolerance has become a key word among many who advocate the changing of various laws in America: from free speech to gun control. However, is it really about tolerance or is it something else? Tolerance refers to the “willingness to accept feelings, habits, or beliefs that are different from your own.”
If tolerance were the real goal, those who say we should respect each other’s opinions should be the most tolerant, even if someone disagrees. The fact is, the loudest preachers of tolerance are the most intolerant which suggests that tolerance is a pseudo word for something else: legitimization.
If this were just about tolerance, there would be no need to pass new laws about sexual behavior. We could just all get along, even if we did not agree with each other. However, when it comes to human sexuality- television, movies, elections, school curriculum and a host of other media, are attempting to convince us that if the law or church teaching can change, any kind of sexual behavior can be legitimized and accepted in the culture. There is a very real attempt to teach the next generation that if someone disagrees, don’t tolerate them: silence them.
In the spring of 2013, an ad was placed in a major American newspaper, pleading with the pope to change the church’s teachings on gay marriage. The stated goal of some left-wing, activist organizations is to “Get homosexuality off the sin list.” My response is to ask if they were also attempting to get every other sin the Bible mentions off the sin list too, to which they have no legitimate answer. The desire of some to end “religion-based bigotry” ignores the numerous instances of gay-based bigotry which are seldom acknowledged.
Other anti-Christian, antichrist groups, consistently misrepresent true Christianity, misinterpret the clear teachings of Scripture and mislead the next generation into thinking they are youth advocates, when in fact their only advocacy is an angry political agenda.There are many youth looking for a way out of the gay/lesbian/transgender lifestyle and there is a way out. Many have been wounded and abused as children and have confused a false identity with a true identity of freedom in Christ.
Freedom however is not through organizations who want to use them as political pawns but through people who genuinely love them. We understand the hurts of people and do not intend to hurt them more. We want every issue and struggle to come through our doors because we believe Jesus can fix anything! We often say, “No perfect people are allowed at our church because it would ruin everything! Any church checking the religious boxes of acceptance is missing the heart of God.
Our doors are open for anyone because the true church loves this generation and will walk with them through any struggle they have. We must not let someone tell them differently and that we are somehow intolerant. As real Christians, we are the only ones who understand the millennial crisis in America. The Elijahs of God refuse to be redefined by hack political and social institutions and will rise up with delivering power to rescue a generation.
