Quote Source – Mark Winter
A Biblical Christian worldview perspective – One of our authors, Mark Winter, wrote an article entitled, “The Trouble with Tolerance” in which he made the point that “we live in a time when disagreement is often mistaken for hate.”
I would add that, in the last fifteen years, America has devolved into silos of extremes on many social issues, fostered by a polarized mainline “news” media and a wild, unbridled social media. This has resulted in an increasing unwillingness to entertain any views that fall outside our comfort zone. Often those on the fringes of these silos do foster hate and have pushed those in the middle to the outer edges.
Further, this disease has infected the Christian church, forcing pastors to decide between promoting social issues or a Biblical Christian worldview. The first group have abrogated their primary mission which is to preach the truths from Scripture. The second group have held to their beliefs against the headwind of a secular society. In both cases, church memberships have decreased.
The solution, which perhaps we are seeing some signs of, is a willingness to have differing opinions but not break fellowship over them. Further, there needs to be a willingness to not group people based on a single issue (ex. those who don’t hate Trump are not always Trump supporters.) Grace, love, patience and an open mind on the non-essentials are the keys to living at peace with our neighbors and the opportunity to share the Good News by permission.
Salvation – Eternal Life in Less Than 150 Words
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