Compassion or tolerance?
I woke up this morning with the thought that there is a big difference between compassion and tolerance.
When I talk with my liberal friends (yes, I have several), they point out that conservatives are not very compassionate, whereas liberals are very compassionate. That conservatives are judgmental at best, and bigots at worst. They claim we are not very tolerant of other’s lifestyles. By and large, liberals equate “conservatives” with “evangelical Christians.” While I agree that many evangelical Christians are more judgmental than compassionate (to our shame), I would also argue that to be a true Christian requires one to be less tolerant of other lifestyles. Let me explain:
Being judgmental is to hold yourself above the person you are judging. The thinking goes like this: “I hold to a standard of behavior, and you have not met that standard.” In other words, “I am better than you.” There is a lot of confusion over a Christian’s responsibility to judge. The Bible tells us in some places not to judge, and other places to judge. Here is the difference: We are not to judge those outside the faith – that is for the Lord to do. We are to judge those who claim to be Christian, but continue to live in sin. Most people do not understand or practice this distinction.
Being compassionate is to be understanding in a way that offers comfort and relief. Jesus was the picture of compassion. We can all do better at this.
Being tolerant is to look the other way when someone does wrong. Think about it: what is it that we “tolerate”? “Tolerate” implies wrong behavior! This is the word the liberals have redefined: their “tolerance” means to accept someone’s lifestyle when it is different from your own. That definition ignores the Christian’s responsibility to call out sin for what it is. By changing “wrong” to mean “different”, they are trying to remove the guilt factor from their consciences. They are asking Christians to go along with that, and we cannot. Our Lord was and is very intolerant of sin.
So when the liberals want us to be more tolerant, they are asking us to look the other way when they are doing wrong. They make it sound like tolerance is a good thing, a necessary thing for us all to get along. The problem is, a Christian cannot be tolerant of sin. We can be compassionate toward sinners; we can and should be less judgmental (See Philippians 2: 1-5); but we should not condone sin (aka be tolerant toward sin).
In truth, it is the liberals who are very intolerant of Christians. They are guilty of the very thing they charge us with. Our liberal courts are already intolerant of Christians by ruling against Christian businesses who refuse to serve homosexuals, or refusing to allow challenges to evolution, or throwing all mention of God out of public places.
So the next time you hear claims of “intolerance”, consider which definition they are using…
Frank