Why I am Tolerant

On a wall inside the seminary I briefly attended several years ago there is a plaque.  On that plaque is a quote that I cannot remember word for word, but goes something like this:

"In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, tolerance; in all things, charity."

During my brief sojourn at this particular seminary, I loved walking into the building and seeing that statement.  To me, it represented the ultimate goal of the church - to be a body of a whole bunch of different theological types united on the things that really matter.

Unfortunately, as is often the case, the quote on the wall turned out to be more naive idealism than actual reality.  Everywhere I look, I see people who are either intolerant on everything or dreadfully confused as to what is truly essential.  People fiercely fight when someone disagrees with them on hell or on predestination or even something as stupid as whether or not drinks should be allowed in the sanctuary (I've actually experienced that fight before).  I can't help but think that such people have missed the point.

I am tolerant - or at least I try to be - because I am absolutely certain of one truth: The God that I love and worship is much, much bigger than anything I can imagine.

Even when I speak of God, I have to acknowledge that the words I use are fraught with difficulty.  What am I really saying when I say "God is love?"  Or, to borrow a question from Saint Augustine, "What do I love when I love my God?"

These are hard questions to answer and there are many different ways to answer them - which is why I am tolerant.

In Isaiah 55:8-9, it says this:

"'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the Lord. 'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.'"

These are a couple of my favorite verses in the Old Testament because they remind me of what I said above - that the God I serve is bigger than I can imagine.  So I choose to be tolerant simply because I do not know for certain that the way I think about God is the correct way.

Some people believe that God predestines every man and woman's life.  I don't.  But I could be wrong, so I don't condemn those who disagree with me.

Some people believe that hell is a place of eternal conscious torture and that God's grace is limited to this life.  I don't.  But I could be wrong, so I don't condemn those who disagree with me.

Some people are absolutely sure that God's grace does not extend to certain segments of the population (such as homosexuals).  I am not so sure about that.  But I could be wrong, so I don't condemn those who disagree with me.

Do you see the trend?

The idea for me is that it is within the realm of possibility that I could be wrong about God's grace and about other aspects of my theology.  And because it is within the realm of possibility, I have to be careful not to assert certainty where there is uncertainty.  Such is the essence of intolerance.  Instead, I cling to (again, or at least try to) that simple four word phrase: I could be wrong.

Imagine what the church would look like if more of its members learned those four words.

jB