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.
