How far we can take the teaching of tolerance
A rather long bit of discussion, drawn from Freelance Christianity , on the need to be careful who we preach tolerance to. I'm sure I've covered this theme before, but I don't think we can repeat it too often!
👀👀👀 Absolution ("formal release from guilt, obligation, or punishment") denies the lessons learned from making errors. We get stronger only when we tear our muscle tissues without fully separating our muscle tissue. Jesus did not lose His scars after resurrection. We do not lose our scars from carrying our cross as His students (disciples). We grow from them. There is no magic (slight of hand erasing what has happened) to living life as God has done without beginning, and will survive without end. Children of God from Man have a beginning, as Christ did as the Son of Man, who are offered no end with one, and only one, condition. They must hate human traditions of ignorance, me and mine before all others, so much to accept only one Father, one Teacher and one Instructor (Luke 14:25-27, Matthew 23:8-12, Matthew 12:49-50). The law that all of God is subject to eternally is summed up in everything do to others as you would have others do to you. Freedom of religion practiced by disciples of Christ means having as much empathy, tolerance and forgiveness for those of each religion as we would want each religion to have as much empathy, tolerance and forgiveness for our religion (or nation, or sexual orientation, or gender, or heritage, or ...).
- 👀👀👀 Jennifer A. Nolan
- You are right, of course, and I meant this not as a "sermon" to minorities, but as a sermon to people like me, of white privilege, seeking absolution in appeals to tolerance, without really understanding the plight of our neighbors.
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