Limits of Tolerance

Limits to Tolerance
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Thurs at 18:47 Edit note Delete
Tolerance in the culture we have today is a word that is used to mean all kinds of different things with the emphasis being that if a person is not tolerant of something then they are intolerant.That is not necessarily so and yet I am encouraged by the example of Jesus as always.Jesus was intolerant of couples not having wine for their wedding celebrations.He miracolously supplied it.He was intolerant of people going hungry when they had come to listen to Him speak to them out in the hills.He miracolusly supplied food and there was so much more left over.He was intolerant of people turning the temple that was used to worship his Father into a place of trade and capitalism instead of what it should be and turned the tables on them literally.He was intolerant of blindness,and healed it, of death, and he raised people from the dead, He was intolerant of sin and consented to His own crucifixion that He would carry it for us,defeat it and help us have the strength to defeat it too both now and for eternity in the fullness of time.War is not fought because we do not like peace but because we hate tyranny etc.There was a new crime established in the courts of Justice in the world of crimes against humanity.This was in response to the holocaust with the murder and destruction of the Jews Worldwide by the Nazi terror. We should be grateful to the memory of these men and women who were intolerant of Hitler and fought and suffered and died to destroy him and all his works.Tolerance then is not a catch all for all but discrimination in terms of causes etc etc is exercised.Rights carry responsibilites, we are not just responsible for ourselves but for handing on what we have made of the World to our children and our children's children.We are also responsible to God for what we do or do not do in that regard.For example Barack Obama's clear support of the homosexual community and his wish that through legislation which he says he will be glad to enact in order to provide that same sex marriage be of the same status and importance as traditional marriage is a clear indication to me that not only America but other countries face some of the greatest challenges in history seeing as we do attacks to the very fibres that hold a country,a society together. We need the wisdom of God in this hour,we need reformation, renewal,revival, like Dylan says "to strenghten the things that remain" to be as wise as serpents harmless as doves, to get off our self satified ass and explore the limits of toleration. Martin Luther's statement comes to mind"Here I stand ,I can do no other."
May God by His grace so enable us to do so too.