I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that Christians are intolerant. First, we need to understand what tolerance means. Tolerance in terms of people means allowing them to be who they are and believe what they want to believe. Our culture takes this one step further. We are considered intolerant if we point out anything wrong with who someone is and what they believe. Essentially, our culture is saying, “We’d rather be wrong and have you lie to us and tell us we’re right.”
In thinking about tolerance, I would liken it to the following hypothetical situation:
I have a friend that likes to drink. He also sees no problem in getting behind the wheel of his car after consuming a case of beer. My view of tolerance determines how I respond to this situation. If I follow the culture’s view of tolerance, I allow my friend to continue driving drunk and say nothing. I don’t warn him of the effects of drunk driving; that he might crash and kill himself or someone else. I take no personal responsibility for his actions. On the other hand, having a higher view of truth than tolerance, I tell my friend that what he is doing is wrong. I offer to drive him home or find him a sober ride. If he doesn’t listen, I take his keys. If he persists in his behavior I take further action to get him counseling, or even turn him over to the authorities. I take responsibility and do what I can to avoid tragedy.
I know for non-Christians the argument always seems to be, “We don’t/can’t know”. Non-Christians insist that since we can’t have absolute certainty of our eternal destination or the existence of eternity we shouldn’t bother them. Going back to the analogy, this is similar to saying, “I don’t know if my friend will get in an accident or cause an accident”, and not taking action. Christians cannot in good conscience keep from sharing with the world the hope we have in Christ Jesus. We’ve seen way too many drunk driving accidents. All we’re asking is for you to hand over the keys because we love you too much!
A very bad analogy, there is much scientific evidence that drinking alcohol impairs abilities and leads to accidents. A better analogy would be this
“Someone told me that driving after drinking strawberry milkshake is dangerous. There is no evidence for this, and many people don’t believe it. A friend of mine wants to drive after drinking a strawberry milkshake. Should I be tolerant, bearing in mind that they and many others don’t believe there is a problem, and let them drive. Should I tell my friend that what he is doing is wrong. I offer to drive him home or find him a sober ride. If he doesn’t listen, I take his keys.”
Except there is tons of evidence for Christianity. There are Messianic prophecies from 400-1500 years beforehand all fulfilled in one man at the exact time in history necessary to fulfill them. There is sufficient evidence to believe in the miracle of the resurrection, which validates that Jesus Christ was who he claimed to be. You can ignore the evidence if you so choose, but that does not make it not there.
The problem is you presuppose that science can measure the entire world. It is insufficient to do so.
You may believe that there is tons of evidence for Christianity, but others believe the same of other faiths. This explains why people see Christianity and Islam as intolerant.
Whereas some religions say “all milkshakes are OK, though we believe this to be best”, you say NEVER have strawberry milkshake, and others say NEVER have chocolate. Some people think the whole thing about milkshakes is a load of nonsense anyway
That is fine when you want to impose the rules on yourselves, but when you want to “take the keys” from people who want to drink strawberry milkshake, and they believe something different they may be a little annoyed that you don’t just let them get on with it.
After all, you wouldn’t like it if people tried to take your keys after having a chocolate milkshake!
Believing something makes someone intolerant? That’s news to me. What about belief makes someone or their religion intolerant?
I’m not saying “Thou shalt believe what I believe…” I’m telling you that there is truth, and it’s worth looking into. You’d be amazed the amount of evidence that points to Christianity being true if you actually did the research. But beware, Christianity has changed the lives of many skeptics! CS Lewis and Lee Strobel, two renowned Christian authors were skeptics (and atheists) who investigated the truth for themselves.
Your milkshake analogy is absolutely ridiculous. There is NO evidence for milkshakes making driving dangerous. There is evidence for Christianity being true. The two don’t even come close to equating.
Belief does not make someone intolerant, its trying to force your beliefs, or things that follow from them, on non-believers.
Chris,
Has someone forced their beliefs on you? If so, how?
I know it happens, and for that I’m sorry. I do distinguish between preaching and telling someone about Christianity and forcing beliefs on someone. America grants the right to people to believe whatever they choose, and I respect that right. I just don’t concede that all beliefs are equal.
Andrew
I appreciate what you say about distinguishing between telling someone about Christianity and forcing beliefs on people. Unfortunately not everyone is the same.
There are plenty examples of force, bribery and deception being used by Christians. The worst is the giving of fake drugs to non-Christian patients, so they worsen and die, while Christians are given real drugs, and this is presented as proof of Christianity.
I sometimes wonder what motivates people to do this. Do they believe that God wants them to lie, deceive ant trick people? I know that is not a question for you, but some Christians have a strange view of God.
Its funny, missionaries in the west tend to act reasonably, I have had Mormons and seventh day adventists come to my door. As soon as I tell them that I am not interested because I am a Hindu they move on. If only they behaved the same in every country.
Chris,
You didn’t answer the question. Has anyone done any of this to you?
I read down the list on the website. What they claim is happening may happen in a small number of cases. But I can guarantee you it is not happening in the vast majority of scenarios.
Christianity does not promote deception and trickery. A true Christian should and hopefully would never stoop to deceiving tactics. I must warn you however that there are many who call themselves Christian who are not. In fact they’re not even close. And by the way, Mormons and Seventh Day Adventists are not Christians. They are an occult offshoot of Christianity.
The basis of the website you linked to is that anytime someone is helped in the name of God or Christianity it is only for the sake of conversion (and dollar signs). This is far from the truth. If you took a close up look at what Christians are doing it is not shady tricks and buying conversions or anything near that.
For instance, there are orphanages and hospitals around the world run by Christians who are supported by donations, live off next to nothing, and spend their whole lives in third world countries helping people. To see one such example visit this site:
http://www.xanga.com/no_Im_not_a_nurse
I would be interested to hear your experiences and why you have such a bad taste in your mouth of Christianity.
Andrew
I think that people have given up trying to force me into Christianity. I do get a lot of hate mail from Christians though. A few examples:
And
And
My wife has had Christians damage her car (spray paint “Jesus” on it, etc.), parents of other kids tell them not to play with my daughter, or in the case of one boy his Christian parents told him to hit her in the playground.
Chris,
I’m sorry people have treated you that way. It is not the teachings of Christ that lead people to say or do any of that. Do you know what denomination these people were?
There are certain denominations that are known for their un-biblical teachings, and there are also people within every denomination that identify themselves with a church, but are not Christians. The word Christian means Christ-like, so if someone does not even remotely bear the image of Christ, all they are is a warm body filling a church pew.
Andrew