In postmodern America a new form of tolerance, called "positive tolerance," has emerged. Positive tolerance is the position that maintains that all belief systems are equally valid. All beliefs should not only be tolerated but agreed with, because in this view, all beliefs are equally true. Positive tolerance is another way of saying "moral relativism." Moral relativism maintains that there is no right and wrong but only preferences. One person simply prefers one form of behavior over another.
The moral relativist can make the following statements: No one is right, no one is wrong. No moral judgments are allowed. Kindness is equal to cruelty. Child rearing is equal to child molestation. All cultures are equal. Who are we to judge an isolated tribal culture that allows, even encourages sex between men and boys?
I read that in one university classroom even the Jewish students would not condemn nazism. They simply said "We don't agree with what the Nazis did but we have no basis to condemn their actions." They have no basis to condemn nazism because the concept of absolute truth has been removed from the public educational system.
Positive tolerance is illogical and dangerous because it allows evil to flourish. Young people are led astray into bizarre belief systems that are destructive to human life.
We Christians believe that God is the giver of absolute truth. God determines what is right and wrong. God has given us the Ten commandments and the Sermon on the Mount.
Christians must love all people and tolerate all beliefs that differ from Christianity. Christians must love Muslims and respect (but not agree with) the Muslim faith. Christians must love communists and respect (but not agree with) the ideology of tyrannical communism.
Christians must respect or tolerate the beliefs of others even though we do not affirm (believe as true) those beliefs. The form of toleration that Christians must exercise can be called "negative tolerance." "Negative" means we regard the other person's beliefs as untrue. "Tolerance" means we respect the person who believes the falsehood and respect their right to their opinion.
For instance if the man living next door is Muslim you should be friendly towards him but if he tries to persuade you to become a Muslim or he exhorts your daughter to wear a veil you politely say "no thanks."
The attitude of negative tolerance acknowledges that some belief systems are superior to others. Some belief systems are true and some belief systems are false. Some belief systems are morally wrong. Christians believe that Christianity is superior to nazism. Christianity is true, nazism is false. Christianity is right, nazism is morally wrong.
Though we tolerate other belief systems such as the beliefs of communists and radical Muslims we certainly don't regard such ideologies as embodying absolute truth. The traditional view of negative tolerance is to give all belief systems a fair hearing but also to point out the evil in belief systems that contradict Bible based morality. A book that gives a proper perspective on both negative and positive tolerance is "The New Tolerance" by Josh McDowell.
The Bible is scientifically accurate! Find the evidence at www.icr.org.
Steps to salvation:
Jesus said "Ye must be born again." (John 3:7)
- Believe that God created you and loves you and sent the Messiah (Messiah is Hebrew for Christ) to redeem you.
- Believe that Jesus the Messiah came in fulfillment of over 300 Bible prophecies to die for you to take upon Himself the penalty for your sins. (Isaiah 53:5-6, John 6:29, Romans 4:5, First Peter 3:18)
- Turn from sin and call on the name of Jesus to receive forgiveness. (Romans 10:13)
- Receive Jesus as Savior and experience the new birth. (John 1:12, Acts 2:38)
- Follow Him as Lord. (John 14:21)
"Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Romans 10:13)
To receive the salvation that Jesus purchased for us at the terrible cost of His suffering and death on our behalf I invite you to pray this simple prayer:
"Dear heavenly Father, I thank you for sending Jesus, the promised Messiah, to die for my sins. I admit that I am a sinner and I ask for your forgiveness on the basis of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I ask you to fill me with your Holy Spirit to empower me to serve you under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, Amen."
If you prayed that prayer in the humble sincerity of your heart then you have received everlasting life, which includes power to live right in this life and entrance into heaven in the afterlife!
Bill Nugent, Overcomer Ministries of West Harrison, New York, USA
(C) 2010 William P. Nugent, permission granted to email or republish if credit given
Read Bill Nugent's award winning Christian book, Lawful or Legalistic: How New Testament Believers Must Understand Old Testament Laws. For more information and to order click here.
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DEFENDING THE FAITH
APOLOGETIC ARTICLES
Bill Nugent currently writes a series of articles called "Defending the Faith" which, as the title suggests, defend the Christian faith from the many attacks leveled against it in our postmodern world.
The articles deal with such topics as evolution, UFOs, cults, modern/postmodern philosophy, liberal theology and popular culture. At the end of each article is an invitation to receive Christ as Savior and Lord. These articles are sent out over the Internet to several opt-in email lists. People who receive these articles are encouraged to resend them to their own lists and in this way reach their own unsaved relatives and friends with the Gospel.
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