Tolerance vs. Love
I'm weary of "tolerance." Here is one example: I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard "if you just tolerated homosexuals more, than he/she would help you..." or .."you'd get so much more done if you tolerated 'Group A' or 'Group B.'"
I firmly believe that tolerance is no substitute for love. If I simply tolerate someone I do nothing for them.
If I love someone than I do not merely tolerate them but I engage them knowing that we will both benefit from my willingness to invest my time, resources, and (most importantly) the Truth in that person.
"Tolerance" leads "tolerant" people to superficial proximity until someone doesn't "tolerate" them. Then "tolerance" quickly turns into intolerance in the name of "tolerance."
Love leads people to better each other and learn about and from each other. Love exercised in His Truth leads to repentance and salvation in spite of, in many cases, initial discomfort or offense. Love invites respect and community. "Tolerance" invites alienation or isolation.
So to those who advocate "tolerance," I say that tolerance is not nearly enough. Political Correctness is slowly sucking the life from us. The free flow of ideas is beginning to be unidirectional and originate soley from minority groups historically ignored or in some cases oppressed. The rest of us are just intolerant bigots and hate-mongers whose ideas are not worthy of public attention. We should all be able to claim our voice. Let's try for some mutual respect and...(gasp)...love.
Posts
4 comments:
I love what you have to say. I have seen so many who preach "tolerance" be "intolerant" when you disagree with their belief system. It just does not make sense.
Thanks for your comment on The Shaping of Things to Come. I need to get back to the book to finish it. It is very good and very thick. I took a break because my job has recently become so demanding that I felt I could not spend enough time absorbing the book.
You'll have to tell me what you think when you're done. I love that book, although it was the second time I read it that I really enjoyed it. I think I knew what to expect and was able to absorb it a little better.
I love this. I totally agree. We should replace the word tolerance with something else/ The word is so condescending
I wrote something very similar a while back. I'm not sure why people seek "Tolerance" anyway. It implies, "I hate it but... I'll deal with it". Tolerance is the opposite of love. Good post.
Post a Comment