Do you know those bummer stickers that people put on their
cars that spell “Coexist” or “Tolerance,” and they have all the different
religious symbols? I struggle with those
stickers. Every time I see one, I have
an internal wrestling match.
If you aren’t familiar with the stickers, they work so that
each letter represents a different religious belief. Islam, Pagan/Wiccan, Christianity, and Judaism
are religious beliefs represented. The
Chinese Yin/Yang natural balance and scientific study are also
represented. My problem with the sticker
is that it puts Jesus Christ – the only truth in the world – on level with
witchcraft and false gods. I can’t
believe that Christians can be ok with these stickers. At the same time, though, I understand the
philosophy behind the sticker that espouses mutual respect and love for one
another regardless of personal beliefs. I
get that part. So I don’t know what to
do about that sicker, and I’m wrestling with the obvious problem in our society
that it represents.
Here is part of the problem, and it starts with Christians.
Part of the problem is that Christians write thoughtless,
hateful things on Facebook. They post
grotesque ads against abortion that show no love for the mother who felt forced
into a difficult choice. They post
derogatory comments about people who are homosexual with all the authority of
God himself. They brazenly and boldly
post their political beliefs in ways that assume their belief is the only
possible Christian belief. The problem
is Christians who hold up picket signs or thump Bibles on college campuses. Christians
who use the Bible to support racism and hatred and say things like “Hate the sin,
love the sinner” with no love in their voice are the problem. We (and I’ve been as guilty as anyone else)
are part of the reason someone decided to make a coexist sticker – to teach
those of us who say we follow Jesus to actually follow Jesus and love the poor
and outcast and sinner the way he did.
We are part of the problem. We
have not shown God to the world. We have
shown prejudice and judgment and anything but love, and it is no wonder people
want to find ways to have a relationship with God without walking through
church doors.
Another part of the problem, though, is the “anything goes”
attitude in our culture. Somehow, we
have gotten to a place where people think truth is relative. Truth is not relative. Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the
life. No one comes to the Father except
through me” (John 14:6). This is not
just what I believe. It is not something
I’ve chosen, and others can choose to respect or not. It is
truth. Jesus is truth. His word is
truth. The Bible is not a religious
document in the same way other manuscripts are religious documents. 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is God
breathed.” All roads do not lead to God,
we do not make our own God, and if an individual does not make a sincere choice
to believe that Jesus is the only truth, they will spend eternity in hell. That is not just something I believe, it is
an absolute certainty. Anything does not
go. Choices must be made and not making
a choice, is still picking a side.
Revelation 3:15-16 says of people who are complacent about faith, “I
know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm – neither hot
nor cold – I am about to spit you out of mouth.” Our culture values lukewarm attitudes calling
those people “open-minded” and “tolerant” but God is spitting them out.
So the question is: how do we remain passionate about the
Lord and his truth and also love like Jesus?
The answer is that I don’t know.
I honestly, honestly don’t. I
wish I could answer it in this blog and wrap up to a cute, catchy conclusion,
but I don’t know how to do that. I
believe that homosexuality is a sin – I believe God’s word that says that – but
I do have compassion for people who are homosexual. I have compassion for those who struggle
against it and wish they could change their sexual preference. I have compassion for people who embrace their
individuality but feel ostracized by the rest of the world – particularly Christians. And I think the church is horribly hypocritical
when we have no grace for fellow Christians admitting a struggle with
homosexuality but are comfortable with other sexual sins like premarital sex
and adultery. I don’t believe in
divorce. I believe God hates it like his
word says, but I have compassion for people who look at their marriage and fear
that they’ll spend the rest of their lives in an unhappy home, and I feel sad for
women who watch all the hopes and dreams they once had come crashing down in a
divorce settlement. I don’t believe in
abortion even though scripture doesn’t specifically mention it (so we’re
looking at my personal opinion here), but I can’t imagine being a teenager who
is pregnant or being a rape victim with an unwanted child. I also can’t imagine the pain and guilt that
someone must feel after she has chosen to abort her own baby.
I don’t like those Coexist bumper stickers. I will never put one on my car. But I want to figure out how Jesus was able
to live, as his life did accomplish one of the goals of those stickers which was
making people feel wanted. Unlike the
sticker, however, he also stood for truth.
He passionately protected the holiness of the temple in Matthew 21, and
without mincing words he spoke out against the bigotry of the religious
leaders, but at the same time, he engaged in loving conversations with
prostitutes and the poor and the most needy and desperate. I wouldn’t call Jesus tolerant. I wouldn’t call God tolerant. I don’t think God can tolerate sin. Loving
might be a better word. You see, there
is a difference between tolerance and love.
Tolerance implies a measure of acceptance or an acknowledgement of the possibility
of truth – basically an opinion that “your idea is as good as mine even if we
don’t agree.” Tolerance also holds
people at arm’s length. It says we can
respect one another and “coexist,” but we don’t have to be friends. Love implies grace and goodness and a
willingness to consider where the other person is – to get in their shoes and walk
around a bit, to see from their point of view.
Love is all knowing and ever present.
Love says, “I don’t agree with you, but I’m here for and with you.” Love sits down at the same table and eats the
same meal and creates intimacy of relationship.
But how do we love in practical ways and how do we effectively share
Christ with people who don’t know him? Maybe
it has to do with our actions. With
showing compassion, with meeting practical needs, with doing what is right in
the middle of a people doing only what is wrong. Maybe it has to do with 1 John 3:18 that says,
“Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in
truth.” I think standing for truth is
not about what I write on a blog – it is about how I am living my life and how
I am interacting with other people. It
isn’t about what we are putting on our Facebook or Twitter posts or on the back
of our car or our T-shirts, it is about who we are putting in our arms and how
we are serving with our hands and feet.
It has something to do with that.
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