Tolerance

I have some friends and co-workers that smoke.  I like them,  I accept them as smokers, I believe they have the right even an over-whelming compulsion to smoke, but I do not think they are right to smoke nor do I condone or encourage them to smoke.  This is true tolerance.  I am not required to agreed with them nor do I have to rail against them.  I don't get in the way of their smoking and they do not expect me o join in.  I wouldn't run to the store and pick up a pack for them or even offer to light their cigarette.  They know I do not approve or appreciate their addiction, but that I do approve of and appreciate them.

If I lived in Colorado, where using marijuana recreationally is legal, I would not be partaking.  I would, no doubt, have friends and co-workers who bought, sold and used the drug.  I would not use it with them, I would not purchase it for them nor would I encourage their using in any way.  I would not be in their face, I would not insist they give it up, but I would easily tolerate their choice, which runs so counter to mine.  If we talked about it, I would not pretend I was in favor of it to make them feel good or rail at them to make them feel bad.  I would tolerate their drug use and accept them as friends and co-workers.

I know that many, if not most believe that one is either born homosexual or heterosexual and has no choice in the matter.  That may or may not be so.  I have my doubts as I personally know of individuals who insist they were gay and now they are straight.  I choose to believe the individual who went through the change.  I also have noticed that individuals who are straight, when in prison often adopt a same-sex lifestyle and return to a heterosexual one when released.

I also know that being born with a particular sexual preference does not mean that one has to act on it.  Jesus said that "there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others—and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven" (Matt 19:12).  In other words, we don't have to act on our sexual urges at all.  We can modify our sexual behavior "for the sake of the kingdom."

This is the distinct difference in one "born gay" and one born of a particular color or ethnic group.  While one can go to prison and adopt the gay lifestyle, he will not be able to change his color.  We are the color we are, regardless of how we act.  Being gay or straight only matters when we exercise our choice of sexuality.  I can become asexual for the kingdom if necessary, I cannot become a different race.  There is a difference.

I have friends and co-workers that are practicing homosexuals.  I love them and accept them as they are but I do not accept or encourage the lifestyle choice.  I have no doubt that it would be hard to impossible for them to change without the inner work of the Spirit.  I don't challenge them or encourage them in their choice but I am honest in my opinion when the subject comes up, which is not very often.  I tolerate their choice and they tolerate mine.  We appreciate each other but do not agree on this issue.

Their stance is that they were born this way and therefore God must be OK with the way they are.  My position is that "from the beginning, the Creator made us male and female, and for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and the two shall become one flesh" (Matt 19:5).  We both have the right to come to the conclusions we have in the manner that we came to them.  But that does not mean that we are both right.

I will tolerate the beliefs of others, whether homosexual, pagan, Muslim, fundamentalist, alarmist, whatever.  But I do not intend to give up my God-given and First Amendment upheld right to embrace my faith and live it out in the manner I believe to be true.  I do not seek to impose my beliefs on others and I would welcome the attempts of others to impose their beliefs on me.  I believe in tolerance, do you?  Jus' Ask'n.