The other day I was having a conversation with someone who is in my painting class with me at Lindsey Wilson College. We were in a pretty deep conversation about Christians sticking to the faith while being able to understand the ideas, cultures, and beliefs of others at the same time. Long after the conversation had ended, it was still lingering on my mind. The sad truth of the matter, in my opinion, is that so many Christians today, myself included, are struggling with accepting and respecting the beliefs of others while staying true to their faith at the same time. In order for the Christian people to fully be who God calls us to be, I strongly feel that this needs to change, and change quickly.

In a religious sense, tolerance can be defined as acknowledging that others have differing beliefs and accept that it is their right to do so. This, my friends, is something that Christians are to be. Acceptance=Love. I found a saying on the internet that goes as follows: “Love Thy Homeless Neighbor, Love Thy Gay Neighbor, Love Thy Muslim Neighbor, Love Thy Gay Neighbor, Love Thy Addicted Neighbor, Love Thy Incarcerated Neighbor…” the list continues on. I think that this is something that we as a Christian people truly struggle with today; we claim to be good Christians who obey God’s word in every way, yet we refuse to see those who may be having struggles or problems in their lives as being as good as we are. In a nutshell, sometimes us Christians can think that we are a little better than anyone else. I know that that sounds pretty harsh, but hey-sometimes the truth hurts. Sure, the bible may speak against some of the sins in the list, as well as so many others that are common in the world today, but does that mean that we have the right to see the sinner as being below us in any way? Heck. No. The bible also speaks against judgement, gossip, and so on…but anyone would agree that Christians struggle in those areas as well. So why do we choose to point fingers at everyone else, while ignoring our own flaws?

While religious tolerance, especially in the sense of Christianity, means accepting the different beliefs that people have as well as their right to have them, some Christians understand it to mean that they must not only acknowledge and accept different beliefs, but that they are also expected to believe in things that are different from the common Christian beliefs, if that makes any sense. This concept, I think, is what causes Christians to be so closed-minded and intolerant of beliefs and ideas other than our own. We have a hard time understanding that we can acknowledge and accept without having to follow the crowd. It’s almost like an “agree to disagree” type thing. I truly feel that if more Christians actually understood what tolerance was, we would be doing a better job as a people at being more Christ-like.

To read an entriguing article on Christian tolerance and it's real meaning, click HERE. I read it and ir's the source of much of my information in this article!