From a young age my dad taught me how to read a map. On long trips he would sit me in the front seat of his truck, hand me the map and tell me where we needed to go, leaving it in my hands to get us there by the quickest route. Nowadays, I simply tell my personal assistant, "Siri navigate home" and she does the rest. While I still pride myself in being able to actually find my way home using some common sense and a good ole' fashion map, I leave the majority of my directional needs to my GPS. That being said, sometimes that GPS is...off to say the least. I remember no less than 5-6 times that she has very clearly told me to turn left when there was nothing but a fire hydrant to the left or to continue on the road for five miles when I was sitting in the parking lot of the establishment to which she was trying to direct me.
Just the other day I heard a person very confidently say something to the effect of, "My church teaches me that I ought to tolerate all religions regardless of their teaching because they are simply trying to get to the same place we are just using a different way to get there." You have probably heard something along the same lines throughout your evangelistic endeavors. But, is this a valid way of living one's life or are these directions leading a person to turn into the preverbal fire hydrant?
The problem with this belief system, and I whole heartedly believe that it alone is entirely that - a belief system, is that it fails to realize some very key teachings throughout the Gospel of Christ. Teachings like the undeniable fact that Jesus is the exclusive way to the Father (John 14:6) or that His words are going to be the law by which one is judged (John 12:48) or even that we are to go into the World and teach them the Gospel instead of some other religious system (Mark 16:15-16). Since these are the case the political correctness so sought after by our culture by way of "religious tolerance" (i.e. a permissive attitude toward other lifestyles based on the person's spiritual beliefs) is seen to be somewhat flawed.
Instead of allowing the modern culture to lead us blindly through life and into the shiny, red, fire hydrant, one must look to the actual map in order to determine for himself what is true, just, honest and holy. That map? - The Scriptures. What do they have to say about how one should see other religions and act toward them?
Just the other day I heard a person very confidently say something to the effect of, "My church teaches me that I ought to tolerate all religions regardless of their teaching because they are simply trying to get to the same place we are just using a different way to get there." You have probably heard something along the same lines throughout your evangelistic endeavors. But, is this a valid way of living one's life or are these directions leading a person to turn into the preverbal fire hydrant?
The problem with this belief system, and I whole heartedly believe that it alone is entirely that - a belief system, is that it fails to realize some very key teachings throughout the Gospel of Christ. Teachings like the undeniable fact that Jesus is the exclusive way to the Father (John 14:6) or that His words are going to be the law by which one is judged (John 12:48) or even that we are to go into the World and teach them the Gospel instead of some other religious system (Mark 16:15-16). Since these are the case the political correctness so sought after by our culture by way of "religious tolerance" (i.e. a permissive attitude toward other lifestyles based on the person's spiritual beliefs) is seen to be somewhat flawed.
Instead of allowing the modern culture to lead us blindly through life and into the shiny, red, fire hydrant, one must look to the actual map in order to determine for himself what is true, just, honest and holy. That map? - The Scriptures. What do they have to say about how one should see other religions and act toward them?
"My church teaches me that I ought to tolerate all religions regardless of their teaching because they are simply trying to get to the same place we are just using a different way to get there." |
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So, there it is. The idea of allowing people to live their religious lives without any sort of interruption by the child of God in order to pursue "tolerance" is foreign to the Scriptures. What is inherent, however, in those Scriptures is the love for mankind which leads one to teach others to reject man's ideals and replace them with God's will in order for them to be saved because you see them, a person made in the likeness of the Living God, heading straight for the fire hydrant bound for a wreck who's consequences far outweigh a dented bumper and a high insurance premium.
What did a GPS teach me about religious tolerance? - To reject and supplement that concept with the concept of Biblical love for other people who are lost in their sins.
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