Would Jesus Merely Tolerate You?

Tolerance with love is a Christian virtue and there is nothing against such in Scripture. We are to love all people, regardless of background. We are not enabling sinful behavior when we accept people who are different from us.

Jesus called out the Pharisees and religious hypocrites far stronger than other sinners, and many Christians today don't realize their hypocrisy.

You can't claim to love and shun people at the same time, barring grave sins God does not tolerate at all.

I’m not discussing the lack of virtue of DEI or the virtue of it here, but rather, I’m discussing how inclusion is an inherently Christian concept. The only people truly shunned by the faithful of Israel were idolators, and rightfully so, because idolatry is a grave sin.

Worship of another god or a man as a god is idolatry. We don’t get a gold star in the heavens for how many people we bash, but we see good works as something to be desired.

It is not a good work to treat someone differently because they are from a different background, race, sexuality, or if they’re identifying as something besides their apparent gender.

Jesus was always accepting of everyone regardless of their sin, then told them to repent. Repentance is necessary, and we must be sanctified after we are saved, but to play judge and choose who we deem “fit” to save isn’t the way of our King.

You, too, were once blind, and as Jesus said, “Let he who is without sin among you cast the first stone.”

There are many Christians who just decide to follow an English translation of the Bible without realizing the languages it was originally written in were Hebrew and Greek.

This is where we run into plenty of trouble, because words mean things, and sometimes, those words don’t mean what we think due to translator biases.

We are always just in seeking to save others, but the best way to do that isn’t to throw fire-and-brimstone preaching at them. The Jesus of the gospels is a man who loves humanity so much that He died in their place, taking their deserved punishment for the sake of saving His creations.

Be honest with yourself. Do you have any right to judge a person’s relationship with our king if they’re attracted to the same sex?

Also, does the English translation of what you think is a sin convey that which you assume?

An example of this is the word fornication.

Fornication does not mean what most Christians assume it means.

It is a specific sin.

It has to do with idolatry, sexual idolatry, and what God deems sexually immoral. Not what pastors make up, like kissing someone before marriage being a sin, or wearing a massive bubble lest we ‘fornicate.’ Traditions making up sins is preposterous, seeing as God didn’t forget to include all the things “Christians” and pastors would love for the text to say.

Love those who aren’t the same sexuality as you as you love those who are.

If someone is struggling with gender identity, don’t be a bigot and shun them away because you think you have it all figured out.

My point is not that there aren’t sins, but rather that there are sins which are far more grave than others.

Exploiting children is far more heinous than someone being attracted to the same sex, and again, the words are super specific about what makes up sin.

I have absolutely no problem with those of that certain community. If they aren’t trying to force children to experience things they aren’t meant to at young ages, and they are upstanding Christians apart from their sexuality, how can we say we know better than God?

We are all works in progress.

Some of us take more time than others.

Calling people slurs and the like isn’t the way of a saint.

“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” (Ephesians 4:29 [ESV]).

Everyone else on this planet is an heir to the grace of life, just like you.

My take on Jesus’ practices and interpretations of the Torah is that God’s ways are higher than the fleshly ways of emulating those who do not know God.

Sin is serious, but forcing your views on someone else is not loving either.

If you really want to make a change, really want to make a difference, maybe try walking as Jesus walked and show them being a Christian isn’t about hating other people and holier-than-thou attitudes.

Remember, God sends the rain on both the just and the unjust by way of His unfailing love.

“That ye may be sons of your Father which is in heaven: for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?” (Matthew 5:45-47 [ESV]).

Controversy gets the clicks, but graciousness gets eternal rewards.