Recently, as a result of receiving a publication that I edit, some have said that I should be more tolerant of other people’s beliefs. I rather tongue-in-cheek noticed that those who told me this were not very tolerant of my beliefs.
One definition Webster gives to the word “tolerant” is: “The allowable deviation from a standard.” In some situations, tolerance may be granted without harm being done. However, if your loved one was having open-heart by-pass surgery, how much “deviation from the standard” are you willing to give the surgeon in whether he connects the right artery to the right valve? I don’t know much about the procedure, but I do know that it is very precise. The patient’s life depends upon it. Again, how much “deviation from the standard” are you willing to give a drunk driver as he weaves back and forth across the centerline as he is meeting your teenage daughter as they both drive along a two-lane highway? Will you give him a foot, two feet?
We all know the answers to theses questions. Yet, when one is dealing with his most precious possession—his eternal soul—many people not only want such “deviation from the standard,” they adamantly demand it! “I don’t care what the Bible says, I wouldn’t give my feelings, opinions, or my pastor’s teaching for a whole stack of Bibles,” they cry. How truly, truly sad!
