Today in our society a “favorite” word of the liberal left is “tolerance.” Why is that? What does tolerance really mean?
Tolerance means to tolerate something. And what does tolerate mean? It means to “allow” something you either cannot do anything about out of weakness or that you are apathetic to. A couple of examples are:
Pro-lifers do not tolerate abortion; however, out of weakness, they do not have the power at this time to do anything about it. Many people do not like cursing in the movies but tolerate it because of apathy. It’s just not a big enough deal to get all worked up about.
So, why does tolerance always lead to intolerance?
For this, let’s go back to the 1960’s. Up until that time our laws were based on the “masses’” rights vs. “individual” rights, meaning that the masses as a whole are basically moral and the individual is always amoral. Up until the 60’s the masses said that prayer in school was a good thing, abortion was illegal, hardcore pornography was illegal, and even sodomy was illegal. At that time, the masses said you are responsible for your own actions, and the individual said it is someone else’s fault.
So, what happened?
During the 40’s and 50’s, our judicial branch of government started getting more and more “liberal” judges who saw things quite differently from the masses. By the end of the 60’s, masses’ rights were replaced with individual rights. Our laws are now based on individual rights, and the individual supersedes the masses. For example:
The 100 people at school who want to pray are now not allowed to because ONE individual does not want to pray.
The masses say abortion is wrong, but the individual says I can get an abortion if I want to.
The masses say hardcore pornography is illegal, and the individual says I can see it if I want to.
The masses say you are responsible for your own actions, and the individual says it’s not my fault.
Today the masses say that saying ‘Merry Christmas’ is a good thing at Christmastime, and the individual does not want to hear it.
And the list goes on and on.
So, how does all of this exemplify tolerance leading to intolerance?
Up until the LAWS were changed from masses’ rights to individual rights, the individual had to “tolerate” what the masses wanted. They were tolerant, out of weakness, of hearing prayers at school, not being able to get abortions, not being able to purchase hardcore pornography, etc.
Two more great examples are smokers vs. non-smokers. Up until the 60’s and into the 70’s, the majority of people were smokers, and the non-smokers, out of weakness, had to tolerate their smoking. But as more and more people became non-smokers, they started becoming more and more intolerant of smokers. Today it is difficult for smokers to find a place that allows smoking.
Tolerance led to intolerance.
The same thing happened with the homosexual community. Up until the laws and society changed, they had to tolerate people who did not support their lifestyle. But when the laws and society changed, they became emboldened and hired lobbyists until they gained enough power to start doing things their way.
Today they are strongly intolerant of anyone who does not support their lifestyle. It’s gotten to the point that, if you are any kind of public figure and you say what the “majority” of Americans believe – that marriage should be between a man and a woman – you are demonized and can lose your job, etc.
Tolerance led to intolerance.
Another GREAT example is believers vs. nonbelievers. Up until the 60’s the nonbelievers, due to the fact that they were a minority, tolerated believers. But when we started throwing God out of our schools, government, and even our country, basically, then the nonbelievers also became emboldened and started becoming strongly intolerant of believers.
Today the media and the entertainment industry mostly treat born-again Christians as buffoons.
It is easy to now compare how our society was when the masses were in control, vs. today when the individuals are in control— and it ain’t pretty. The difference in morals and a biblically- correct society vs. a politically correct society is staggering. And this occurs once again when tolerance leads to intolerance.
What about conservatives vs. liberals? Again, until the 60’s the liberals had to tolerate the conservatives out of weakness. But throwing God out of our society has now led them from tolerance of conservatives to intolerance of conservatives, as shown by their contempt and attacks on President Trump and conservatives. The conservatives always govern from the perspective of what is good for the masses, and the liberals always govern from the perspective of what is good for the individual.
Here is a very simple test to decide which is better: When it comes to determining the answer to any kind of problem or situation, would you rather have the majority opinion of 1,000 people or just one person? Hopefully, that question is rhetorical.
Some would say we are in a civil war, and they would be right. The Bible tells us it is and always has been a spiritual war going on behind the scenes as Satan battles against God’s plans. Many would say it has intensified to the levels today as never seen before due to Satan knowing his days are short.
It would be hard to argue against that.
So, how about God Himself? Is He tolerant? Not when it comes to sin. Every sin will be either forgiven through Christ or judged by Christ. Not ONE sin will be “tolerated.” However, many would say today that God “does” seem to tolerate sin, since the entire world is wallowing in it at unprecedented levels, and He’s done nothing about it since the days of Noah.
God is patient and does not wish that any should perish; “but” He is certainly not tolerant of sin, and His patience is not unlimited. He even tells us when it runs out – during the tribulation period –when He pours out His wrath on the world for its sins.
Whenever God pours out His wrath on the “whole world” He starts over again. This happened with Noah and the flood, and it happens again following the tribulation period. He will start over with Christ coming to earth to set up His millennial reign. Both are “worldwide” judgments.
In conclusion, what is the bottom line with all of this? On Earth we have tolerance and intolerance for one simple reason – sin. And as long as there are human beings with a sin nature on this planet, tolerance and intolerance will continue – even during the millennial reign of Christ, due to people still having a sin nature.
Tolerance and intolerance runs in cycles, and that’s just the way human nature is.
Only during eternity, following the millennial reign of Christ, when there will no longer be any mortal human beings and no sin nature – no sin of any kind – will we then live with God forever on the new Earth.
Tolerance and intolerance will be replaced with God’s pure love.
Can we all say Maranatha – come quickly Lord Jesus!