Guest Post: Why [mere] Tolerance is not a Christian response

Guest Post from Shawn Smucker, with permission. You can find him here.

Why Tolerance is not a Christian Response

“You have heard that the law of Moses says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, TOLERATE your enemies!” Matthew 5:43 – 44

“Honor your father and mother. TOLERATE your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 19:19

“I command you to TOLERATE each other in the same way that I TOLERATE you.” John 15:12

* * * * *

I have four children, ages seven, six, three and one. Having them around the house is a hoot. Even this morning as I write, the two youngest have managed to climb over the sofa and wedge themselves between the wall, the sofa and the coffee table. And now they’re stuck.

My kids love each other. Don’t get me wrong – they fight and scratch and claw like any other kids. They have their selfish moments, their irrational outbursts. But at heart they are great friends and enjoy each other’s company.

They love each other. I do everything in my power to keep it that way, because they’re my kids and I want them to love each other as much as I love them. Experiencing moments where they genuinely care for one another can be some of the most moving times of my life.

Would I ever want them to get to a place where they were only tolerant of each other? No way.

* * * * *

In case you didn’t realize it, I altered the verses above, substituting the word “love” with the world “tolerate.”

We are not called to tolerate people, although in the current world system tolerance has become a virtue of sorts. See, tolerance is a superficial action that has little power to bring about actual change. When we tolerate people, our goal is strictly modifying our external behavior. I can tolerate someone in public and still talk about them when they’re not around. I can tolerate someone and still end up perpetuating stereotypes.

Love is so different from this.

I think turning to tolerance is a natural response in the face of conflict or injustice. I can understand why we call for tolerance, when so many people treat each other with such incredible hate. While tolerance might be part of a process, it can never be our end goal.

Perhaps at some point tolerance can be helpful in bringing two people into the same room, but it is not a long term solution for conflict, inequality or misunderstanding. Tolerance alone cannot change societies or transform hearts. Tolerance cannot keep the peace for an extended period of time.

Only love can do that.

Green Day

The US Postal Service is Going Green!

The Go Green (Forever®) stamps have cartoon depictions of simple things everyone can do to make a difference.

Recycling just one aluminum can reduces waste and saves enough energy to run a computer for three hours. Imagine the effect, if everyone in your neighborhood did that. Simple insulation like caulking or weatherstripping pays for itself in reduced utility bills in under a year. Properly inflating your car tires improves gas mileage by up to 3%.

It is Well with my Soul

Shalom! Mah-Shlom-chah?

This is how almost every conversation starts in our Hebrew class. It’s a wonderful group of people and a lovely elderly couple who teach it. We look forward to going each week and as we’ve moved from Hebrew 1 to 2 over the last few months, we’ve become rather invested in one another.

Shalom is a pretty standard greeting, “Peace.” And the question that follows is one we typically understand as, “How are you?” As we have come to care how each of us is doing each week by that evening, we usually answer pretty honestly with how we’re feeling or how the day has been. Answers like Yah-feh (tired) and Rah-ev (hungry) are common (a few of the students are pregnant).

However, Moshe, our professor, explained some new grammar to us this week and in doing so taught us something culturally significant. The question is not quite, “How are you?” but closer to “How is it with your being?” In other words, not how are you this moment, but how are things with you or how are things with your being, your soul? This is an entirely different question, not just because it’s deeper or broader in its inquiry, but because the responsibility for answering it is also greater.

When we ask someone how they’re doing in the United States, we really mean how they’re doing recently, typically in this very moment. And we answer accordingly. Maybe we’ve had a good week, month, year or even lifetime on the whole, but we answer for the moment. “I’m doing horribly! I had a bad morning at the DMV followed by a parking ticket.”

Ask the same person how it is with their being, how it is with their soul? Their answer may have to put that lousy morning into perspective with a bigger picture. “I’m doing ok really. Lousy morning, but doing well, you?”

We live in a culture now where our every emotion, stray thought, insult or commentary on every person, action, political position or event can be broadcast instantaneously. Why ask how someone is doing? Follow their Facebook status updates or Twitter feed. You’ll have a blow by blow of their emotional status and mental analysis of everything they’ve encountered recently.

The problem then is that you are possibly well-informed about the general status of their being, but none of us has had the opportunity to reflect each time on our being as a whole, how our soul is doing. Our reflection is shallow, our analysis narrow. Twitter doesn’t ask you how you’ve been or how your life is going. Facebook doesn’t ask you how content your soul is or how your being is. They ask how you are this moment, what you’re thinking. And so do we.

I think the importance in the question, “Mah-shlom-chah?” is not merely to be a more deeply concerned friend or family member, but that answering it requires reflection and perspective. So in case I’m the only person to ask you this today, “Mah-shlom-chah?”

The Power of Words

Not long ago, I blogged on the power of words. I reflected mostly on their power to do harm. However, just as importantly, they can do good. Here Morgan Freeman introduces a great video that reminds us what GOOD words can do...

God's Children

...and as the Israelites watched, the waters of the Red Sea came crashing together, drowning Pharoa's army. The Israelites danced and cheered and rejoiced. And God said to Moses, "Why do you rejoice?"

"Our evil opressors who have kept us slaves to them and to fear all these years have been slain!" Responded Moses.

"Yes," said God. "And they are my children too."

That story has been told to me at least twice and is supposedly from the Talmud, the body of non-canonical Jewish stories that help to explain and illustrate moral lessons of the Hebrew Bible. It is the first thing that came to mind last night as I saw people celebrating the death of bin Laden.

Now, I recall that tragic day ten years ago very well. I was a senior in high school. I recall how poorly our school handled the news and its dissemination. I recall the national uproar when my university chose Approaching the Qu'ran as our summer reading. I recall the serious talk about a military draft being reinstated the following year and that I was of age to be among the first in line for that, those turning twenty that year.

I recall not only the events, but those emotions. And I am a man who has always had a deep sense of justice and a need to see it brought about. I deeply believe that my God is a God of justice and as in the story, I believe God moves in our world to help bring justice. I do not believe God is always happy to do so. And I do not believe our God calls us to be either.

I do not wish to say it is wrong to rejoice when evil men are brought to a just end. In fact, we should be a people who are resolutely dedicated to justice and grateful for leaders and soldiers who seek it and bring it about. We should, however, be careful never to rejoice in the death of one of God's children, lest we believe or suggest to others that we believe that God does not love a single one of them or that we have not loved our enemies and prayed for those who have persecuted us.