Tolerance

Tolerance. One of the most misunderstood words in language, or at least in the English language.

You can have a tolerance for pain. Your body can tolerate medications more than they once did and thus the medications become less effective. You can tolerate someone’s behavior.

I personally have less tolerance for things than I once did. Some reasons are medical reasons. There are other things that I finally decided that I was simply tired of tolerating and therefore no reason I must tolerate.

Or should I say, not tolerate in the way the world has come to define the word. Tolerance these days is defined as acceptance and supporting.

Before anyone begins to jump on some high horse and think I am talking about certain social issues, get over yourself and put your assumptions back in your back pocket close to where it belongs.

I had a very long post written but I decided to make this as short as I can. First of all I have two polarizing examples that will make my point clear.

Example: The death penalty is a law in some states in the U.S. of A.. Does that mean I have to SUPPORT it or Tolerate it? I’ll keep using the death penalty here. If you believe it should be a law in my state and you live in my state as well and there is a vote coming up, do I have to SUPPORT it just because you want me to? And if it does become a law do I have to SUPPORT it or Tolerate it?
If you want to go another more controversial law you can consider abortion. It’s a law. Do you SUPPORT it or Tolerate it?

So what I want to talk about today is having to tolerate what other people say about Christianity, Jesus, and God. A great many in the public eye like to speak out against Christianity while praising or supporting other faiths or even no God at all. And if someone calls them on it then the person doing the calling is called a bigot or intolerant.

If you are of another faith or don’t believe in God, that’s your deal. It has nothing to do with me. I have friends here in the blogs that believe in other faiths or no God at all. We get along just fine. So before you start calling me a bigot as I continue, I’m about the least bigoted person you will find. I figure God gave us free will. I’m not the one to take that away from anyone.

I don’t SUPPORT what people say about Christianity. I take that back. I don’t support ALL of the generalizations and negativity aimed at Christianity. Some things said may be true, about some Christians. If a specific person is being discussed and the things mentioned are true then they are true.

But if I were to get on a news program and say that I don’t like what someone says about the negative generalities I can almost guarantee you that I would end up with hate messages in various places. Why? Because I am supposed to ACCEPT and SUPPORT the hate at me but no one is supposed to TOLERATE or PUT UP WITH my defending my faith, my beliefs.

I can hear the thoughts of some now. “Ronovan, you can’t be serious. You Christians think you have it so bad. You rule the world. You have it so easy. You can get away with anything. You are in control of everything.” Let me read my Bible at lunch in a local school, alone, in my classroom, and see what happens.

I read blogs, opinions of people, and remain friends. I don’t always support what people say but I don’t have to. I can still be friends with someone and not support every single thing they support. And I don’t go out and yell and scream about not supporting something.

Is it Tolerance the world wants from Christians or is it SUPPORT they want? There is a difference. Let’s turn it around. I want you to SUPPORT what I believe. You know, Tolerating would be good but no, I am saying now as an example, I want you to SUPPORT what I believe about something and make it a law. Do you think you can do that? The answer is no. You can’t. You want to say yes. You may comment yes, but the honesty in you should say no.

A society says they kill the first born child if it is male. It is legal in that society. Do you SUPPORT that? You are now thinking, “Ronovan, that’s not even close to what we are talking about.” Actually by saying I can’t freely act like a Christian, that I can’t fulfill my faith as a Christian as the Bible says to do so, you are saying to put my faith to death.

I tell you Jesus is the Son of God, that he died on the Cross for our sins, was resurrected so we could be saved. That I believe what Jesus said in the Bible about his being the only way to the Father. I’m done. You can take it or leave it.

For some reason there are people that don’t like that. They think it’s forcing something on them. They think it is some form of I don’t know what. But they just can’t handle it. It’s up to you to believe me or not. I’m not going to beg, or repeat it over and over to you. I’m moving on and going to Wendy’s for a burger and fries. And yes they are fries, not chips. Chips are thicker and not like the thin strips like American fries.

If you had questions after I said that about Christianity I would answer them, but that would be to you. No megaphone shouting in your car from me. And I wouldn’t even say that up there about Jesus being the only way unless there was some reason that came up in a conversation.

All my faith says to do is share it with others. Not force it. Some try to do that and they are wrong. I will tell you that now. If you are a Christian and reading this then you need to look what Jesus said; If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet~Matthew 10:14. No mention of yell or cram it down someone’s throat until they run you out of town.

I’ll tolerate things. I’ll put up with things. But just as I don’t intend to force you to support things that you may not believe, don’t try and force me to support things I don’t believe in and use tolerance as a front to do it. It won’t work with me. Make a law out of something all you want, but it doesn’t mean it will be supported by people.

As I’ve written this I am sure there are various things that have come to peoples’ minds. What issues could Ronovan be thinking of. Don’t try to guess because you would be surprised at how wrong you might be.

Are there things you are tired of people forcing you to SUPPORT by telling you to Tolerate? Share it below in the comments. Or fill out the form below if you don’t want it to appear in the comments. I may use the results in a future post, without names and contact information included.