Resisting the temptation to act as an "archist"
when confronted with minor faults, and giving God time to change
the beliefs and habits of others.
Now the Lord is that Spirit: and
where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
2 Corinthians 3:17
In Virginia, where alone there was an
arduous struggle in the legislature, the presbytery of
Hanover demanded the disestablishment of the Anglican
church and the civil equality of every
denomination; it was supported by the voices of Baptists
and Quakers and all the sects that had sprung from the
people; and, after a contest of eight weeks, the measure
was carried, by the activity of Jefferson, in an assembly
of which the majority were Protestant Episcopalians. Nor
was this demand by Presbyterians for equality confined to
Virginia, where they were in a minority; it was from
Witherspoon of New Jersey that Madison imbibed the lesson
of perfect freedom in matters of cone science. When the
constitution of that state was framed by a convention
composed chiefly of Presbyterians, they established
perfect liberty of conscience, without
the blemish of a test. Free-thinkers might have been
content with toleration, but religious
conviction would accept nothing less than equality. The
more profound was faith, the more it scorned to admit a
connection with the state; for, such a connection being
inherently vicious, the state might more readily form an
alliance with error than with truth, with despotism over
mind than with freedom. The determination to leave truth
to her own strength, and religious worship to the
conscience and voluntary act of the worshipper, was the
natural outflow of religious feeling.
George Bancroft, History of the United States,
Vol. 5, p. 123 |
I patiently and cordially accept others as unique expressions
of specific character qualities in varying degrees of maturity.
I view each person as an individual created in the Image of
God, not as a member of a nation, political party, race, culture
or other collective.
I evaluate ideas and behavior based on "the laws of Nature
and of Nature's God."
I am not God; I cannot make people perfect, and I make
allowances for those who are not as wise and mature as they ought
to be.
Rather than attempt to coerce maturity in others, I use faults
as a motive to mortify similar traits in my life so I may be an
example of Godly living to them.
I seek common ground with people of different viewpoints and
persuade them to be consistent with these ideas.
I am to be a servant to all, regardless of viewpoint.
In a technical sense, "tolerance" is the amount of
variation from a standard that engineers or mechanics will
accept. In medical terms, tolerance is the ability of the body
to withstand the effects of that which is detrimental to good
health. "Tolerance" in the cultural arena therefore
presupposes a precise standard of thinking and conduct by which
other ideas and behavior can be evaluated as right or wrong.
Institute
in Basic Life Principles: The Power for True Success
Do you know why the men who signed the Constitution
were opposed to "tolerance?" Do you know the legal
difference between "toleration" and
"liberty?" Find
out here.
Important Cultural/Historical Note
In the modern world, "tolerance" means a
repudiation of God's Standard of righteousness, and a silent
"acceptance" of manifestly unlawful behavior and ideas.
In early American history, "toleration"
meant that the State permitted some Christians to worship
according to their consciences, but the State actually deemed
those practices to be wrong, and at any time the State could
withdraw its grace and punish that form of Christian worship
deemed to be incorrect. Puritans such as William Perkins and
Americans such as James Madison opposed "toleration" and
fought for "liberty" of conscience.
Wise Christians will sometimes
"tolerate" non-Christian words and deeds, as part of an
overall strategy to destroy the root of these thoughts and
practices and to bring the unbeliever to an unconditional
surrender to Christ. We must never grant "liberty" to
evil. Unrighteousness has no "unalienable rights."
- v.t. To suffer [allow] to be or to be done
without prohibition or hinderance; to allow or permit
negatively, by not preventing' not to restrain; as, to tolerate
opinions or practices. The protestant religion is tolerated
in France, and the Roman Catholic in Great Britain.
- Crying should not be tolerated in children.
--Locke
The law of love tolerates no vice, and patronizes
every virtue. -- G. Spring.
n. The act of tolerating; the allowance of that
which is not wholly approved; appropriately, the allowance of
religious opinions and modes of worship in a state, when
contrary to or different from those of the established church or
belief. Toleration implies a right in the sovereign to
control men in their opinions and worship, or it implies the
actual exercise of power in such control. Where no power exists
or none is assumed to establish a creed and a mode of worship,
there can be no toleration, for no toleration, in the strict
sense of the word, for one religious denomination has as good a
right as another to the free enjoyment of its creed and worship.
Webster's, 1st ed., 1828
Question 109: What are the sins forbidden in
the second commandment?
Answer: The sins forbidden in the second
commandment are, . . . tolerating a false religion . .
. .
Westminster Larger Catechism (1648)
just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in
love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to
Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, --
Ephesians 1:4-5
O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.
-- Psalm 119:97
This isn't that New Age
"Positive Thinking" stuff, is it??
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