It amazes me how intolerant people have become! They preach tolerance, tolerance and more tolerance but seek to silence and squelch anyone who might hold a different view than their own.
I write this column because I just received an editorial column on tolerance which calls upon parents and children to be advocates for tolerance in their communities. It offers advice and suggestions for promoting tolerance in the home, at school and at church. It encourages children and parents to organize clubs and promote tolerance through public awareness events, activities and marches. But, it's hypocrisy at the highest level!
The authors were asking me to publish their propaganda piece and then pay them for its use; but, being the intolerant fellow I am, I'd have to insist the authors pay the newspaper to have their views published.
The column advocates that parents and children make sure their schools are now using the latest textbooks and materials which indoctrinate little children with the views that alternative lifestyles, including same-sex marriage and homosexuality and more, are perfectly normal and should be accepted as such. Parents are encouraged to introduce their children to people with different views and lifestyles so they can learn to accept all as normal and OK. However, if a family member or acquaintance holds to views which are critical of other groups and beliefs, that person is to be rebuked for his intolerance, and his behavior and beliefs are not to be tolerated.
Parents who send their children to churches and religious programs are to ensure that religious instruction does not criticize or warn against unbelief, sin or alternative lifestyles; and, if churches fail to preach and teach that everyone, every belief and every lifestyle is OK, then parents should leave that church and find one that does. The narrow-minded, Bible-believing church is not to be tolerated.
And, not surprisingly, those who hold to Biblical views are classified as hate groups not to be tolerated in modern society. If one teaches the Ten Commandments and calls it sinful to misuse God's name, to neglect the hearing His Word, to kill the unborn, to dishonor God's institution of marriage, or to be dishonest in one's dealing with others, he is being hateful, even though obedience to God's commandments is actually the loving thing to do -- love toward God and toward one's neighbor.
If one preaches that Christianity is the only true religion or that, apart from Jesus Christ and His cross, there is no other way to be saved (Acts 4:12; John 14:6), he is being narrow-minded, intolerant and hateful.
What all this says to me as a Bible-believing Christian, and especially as one who openly teaches and preaches the things God says in the Bible, is that I'm not to be tolerated. Even though by God's grace in Christ Jesus, I have enough of God's love in me to desire that all people repent of their sinful ways and look to Jesus and His cross for mercy and forgiveness, the preachers of tolerance today view me as hateful and someone who should be silenced. Just to state the facts honestly and clearly, the preachers of tolerance say I should tolerate their views but they can be totally intolerant of mine!
And, I expect we haven't seen anything yet. The hatefulness and intolerance of those preaching tolerance are just beginning to show their ugly heads. Don't be surprised when the intolerance of the supposedly tolerant leads to the pulling down and burning of churches which preach the Bible, removing or banning Biblical teaching from the public arena (in print, on the airwaves and on the Internet), and maybe even the incarceration or killing of Christians! It's probably a lot closer than most of us think!
Randy Moll is the managing editor of the Westside Eagle Observer. He may be contacted by email at [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
Editorial on 08/23/2017