Intolerant and Exclusive

Can someone be right and not be intolerant? Can you be right and allow other people to be wrong? Can you be on the side of truth and allow others to continue on a path noted for its falsehood?

I recently listened to a pastor talk about the difference between these two words: intolerant and exclusive. The general conclusion was to be intolerant is to think you are right and refuse to allow anyone else to believe differently from you. To be exclusive is to believe you are right and allow others to believe differently as long as they in practicing their beliefs don’t prevent you from practicing yours.

In checking an online dictionary, I found these definitions and examples. It is interesting to see the definitions pick up on these distinctions.

<Intolerant>

First entry: “not tolerating or respecting beliefs, opinions, usages, manners, etc., different from one's own, as in political or religious matters; bigoted.”

“Intolerant refers to an active refusal to allow others to have or put into practice beliefs different from one's own: intolerant in politics; intolerant of other customs.”

<exclusive>

First definition: “not admitting of something else; incompatible: mutually exclusive plans of action.”

To be exclusive allows for the existence of disagreements, but not of compromise. Each may go their separate ways, each believing the other to be wrong but allowing the other to continue in their choice of belief.

Is to believe in Jesus Christ, his teachings, and the uniqueness of his relationship with the heavenly Father to be intolerant or to acknowledge exclusiveness? Jesus’ own words should be the guide for our thought if we are to confess to being followers.

Joh 14:6 Jesus answered him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one goes to the Father except by me.

These words may be taken as either intolerant or exclusive if taken by themselves. If we look at the life of Jesus and his other teachings, we find him refusing to compromise but at the same time refusing to force others into accepting him and his words. He willingly allowed them to go their own separate way.

Mar 10:17-22 As Jesus was starting on his way again, a man ran up, knelt before him, and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to receive eternal life?" "Why do you call me good?" Jesus asked him. "No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: 'Do not commit murder; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not accuse anyone falsely; do not cheat; respect your father and your mother.' " "Teacher," the man said, "ever since I was young, I have obeyed all these commandments." Jesus looked straight at him with love and said, "You need only one thing. Go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven; then come and follow me." When the man heard this, gloom spread over his face, and he went away sad, because he was very rich.

This brief episode reveals Jesus’ willingness to discuss another person’s perspective on their life activities. He is willing to show his own demands to those who desire to identify with him and his message of the Kingdom of God. He is even willing to admit he loves them as they reject his demands and walk away.

There is no bigotry here. There is no anger here. There is no intolerance here. There is the steadfast faithfulness to the truth. Jesus might have wished another conclusion to this conversation, but he would not compromise the truth just to add another adherent to his vision of the Kingdom.

Freedom brings choice. Jesus allowed the young man to exercise his freedom, even the freedom to reject the truth. We live in a free country for now. Yet in many ways we are seeing intolerance and exclusiveness being confused with the result those who are intolerant seek to control those who practice exclusiveness even while accusing them of intolerance.

Looking Beyond Suffering

 Sometimes life hurts. Sometimes the pain is really intense. Sometimes the pain is physical. The worst pain is mental, and the worst of the worst is when you feel betrayed by the one closest to you. There is no salve, no anesthetic, nor any kind of pain relief that will relieve the pain of a broken heart.

Whatever you and I may be feeling, the truth is with little consolation we are not the first nor will we be the last to go through intense suffering and pain. When we ask the question why we have to go through this stuff, we generally get lame answers from those around us and silence from God. Again there is little comfort in knowing others have gone through this before.

One of the most famous stories in the Bible deals with unexpected and seemingly undeserved suffering: why do bad things happen to good people. Job, the main character of the story, has a firm faith in God. He accepts the belief God is control of all things, yet like all of us, he wants to know why the pain has come.

Job 1:21 And he said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD."

Job willingly admits that good things come from God and so can be as easily removed by God. His ultimate question of why is there suffering finally resolves into the simple desire to face the One who is in control and then accept whatever answer is given.

The Apostle Paul does not so much seek an answer to the question of why bad things happen to good people as much as he asks for the strength to survive in faithfulness the times in which he lives. For him there is the vision, the goal, of a better life that is far beyond anything this world forces on the individual.

Rom 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

The sinfulness to which this world has surrendered is the root of all suffering for people, both the good and the not so good. As long as people follow destructive moral patterns in which the desires of the individual are placed ahead of the plans of God, then suffering will result. Because all of us are born with that inclination to go our own way and do our own thing regardless of the plans of God, suffering will be a part of our lives. Even the innocent will suffer because they live in a world that follows self-destructive patterns.

If we cannot escape the pain and suffering, what is our option? In the long term we keep our eyes on a future where the control of God will be complete. There will be no inclination to self-destructive actions. Pain and suffering will be experiences no longer faced. The best of this world will disappear in the glory of what will constitute the new reality.

In the short term while we wait for that glorious future, we try to create an imperfect image of it in our present world. We live out the nature of Christ exemplified by his life, his decisions, and his priorities. When we seek to live as Christ in the midst of society, we make the Kingdom of God real to those around us.

To love God with all that is a part of us is also to love his creation and all its creatures. We love our neighbors regardless of differences as God has loved us. When we live a life that imitates Christ, we announce through our actions pain and suffering do not rule us even though we experience them. We may not understand the why, but God’s love for us is not limited by our lack of understanding. We can live through the suffering even as we wait for the time when all suffering will be no more.

Power to the Servant

The fear of change can make people strike out at others with terrible consequences for relationships in communities, in businesses, in families, and in churches. The fear of being surpassed brings about the same response in many people. Society is filled with individuals who will do nearly anything to hold fast to the status quo while others may take the same measures to get or remain on top. The need to exercise power is a dangerous thing.

Power can be like wealth itself which is nothing more than a source of power. In and of itself power is neither positive nor negative. Its morality is determined by how it is used. Even the ability to resist temptation, to refrain from disobedience, is an exercise of power, one we all should use more often.

When Jesus was confronted by his disciples with a blatant request for power, he responded with one of his clearest statements on the place of servanthood in the life of one of his followers. Power was to be used to serve, never to dominate.

Mar 10:42-45 So Jesus called them all together to him and said, "You know that those who are considered rulers of the heathen have power over them, and the leaders have complete authority. This, however, is not the way it is among you. If one of you wants to be great, you must be the servant of the rest; and if one of you wants to be first, you must be the slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served; he came to serve and to give his life to redeem many people."

Self –serving power plays have no place in the kingdom of God or in the life of a Christian. They may temporarily exalt one individual over another. The end result is most often a reversal of situations, and the one who sought power and the control that goes with it finds someone who will not tolerate such action. At the least there is subtle embarrassment and humiliation. At worst there are wars of rebellion and revenge. At best there is a humble correction of ways. In the most terrible scenarios, those in subjection rise up and bring about drastic destruction to their former oppressors.

Jesus condemned all such use of power. For him the greatest power was revealed in servanthood. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, the representative of a despised people dared to assist under dangerous circumstances one who would otherwise might have refused to acknowledge the Samaritan’s existence. Jesus dared to touch and heal lepers, the most unclean people of all. In the act of washing the feet of his disciples, he took the place of the lowest slave of a household.

Power plays destroy relationships. They destroy individuals. They destroy futures. In the local church people use power when they feel their positions of authority are being threatened. They can stoop to using the weapons of Satan to protect their rights. The opposite extreme is when an individual or group is so set upon gaining what they want through change, they disregard the personhood of the people they are seeking to remove from their chosen path.

In both these cases the glory of God is ignored. The pattern of Christ is rejected. The sin of Adam and Eve is repeated. They take the fruit from the tree for they believe that will remove their need for God. They will become gods themselves and can determine their own fate.

Jesus used his own mission as the example he wanted his disciples to follow. His show of power was in his constraint when faced with the cross. He had the power and authority to call upon the protection of 72,000 angels. Instead he chose obedience to his heavenly Father that resulted in crucifixion on a Roman cross. From his refusal to use such power came his power to offer salvation to all who believe in him. Servanthood offers the path to eternal life.

What Will They Remember?

The writer of Ecclesiastes makes an interesting statement near the end of his brief Old Testament work. He says:

Ecc 12:12  My child, there is something else to watch out for. There is no end to the writing of books, and too much study will wear you out.

He is right. There is no end to the writing of books. The writing may have been on ostraca, stone surfaces, scrolls of parchment, vellum, or copper, paper, or a digital tablet. In the end they all are only the surfaces upon which we write our thoughts, our ideas, and our literary contributions to humanity.

Moses gave the priests the equivalent of books as he neared his death, a record of all that God had given to him to use in governing the Children of Israel.

Deu 31:24-26  Moses wrote God's Law in a book, taking care not to leave out anything. When he finished, he said to the levitical priests, who were in charge of the LORD's Covenant Box, "Take this book of God's Law and place it beside the Covenant Box of the LORD your God, so that it will remain there as a witness against his people.

Josiah was given the Book of the Law and from it started a great revival in Israel.

2Ki 22:11  When the king heard the book being read, he tore his clothes in dismay,

The prophet Malachi records a scene from heaven

Mal 3:16  Then the people who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD listened and heard what they said. In his presence, there was written down in a book a record of those who feared the LORD and respected him.

Jesus read from the book of Isaiah although it was actually a scroll.

Luk 4:16-19  Then Jesus went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath he went as usual to the synagogue. He stood up to read the Scriptures and was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it is written, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has chosen me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed and announce that the time has come when the Lord will save his people."

Even in the Book of the Revelation of John, additional books are mentioned.

Rev 20:12  And I saw the dead, great and small alike, standing before the throne. Books were opened, and then another book was opened, the book of the living. The dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books.

The writer of Ecclesiastes was right. Of the writing of books there is no end. Heaven itself is keeping a record in books of both our deeds and of those who choose the humblest deed of all. That humblest and greatest deed is to place one’s life in the hands of Jesus Christ, declare him Lord, choose to live for him and with him for eternity, and so find our names written in the Book of Life.

I like to write books – simple books, involved books, story books. Through them I can leave something for the generation that follows me. My name may not be remembered, but what I can record about what I have experienced in my few years may make this a better world for those who read them.

Books should help us learn so that we need not repeat the negative in what others have experienced. Books help us remember what has proven itself to be most important. As long as there are people, may the writing of books not come to an end. May the reading of books never slacken, especially the greatest book ever written, the Bible.