It must be noted, too, that when entirely secularized people refuse to be tolerant of \u201ctraditional values,\u201d they are called progressive, open-minded and enlightened, anything but intolerant; while traditional Christians are considered deluded, superstitious, brain-washed, and ignorant. (This is so despite the fact that \u2013 in all ages \u2013 living a Christian life requires a concerted effort and personal dedication \u2013a clear choice. Just ask the Virgin Mary and the Martyrs.) <\/p>\n
On the other end of the spectrum, there are those few who claim to hold traditional Christian values, but go beyond intolerance to outright hatred; unfortunately, those who try to stand up for Christian beliefs in a peaceful manner are lumped together with these pseudo-Christian extremists. <\/p>\n
The common thread between the dogmatic secularists and the traditionalist extremists is their \u201call-or-nothing\u201d attitudes; they are two sides of the same coin. For Orthodox Christians, neither side is right. <\/p>\n
The common thread between the dogmatic\u00a0secularists and the traditionalist extremists is\u00a0their \u201call-or-nothing\u201d attitudes; they are two sides\u00a0of the same coin. For Orthodox Christians, neither side is right.<\/p>\n
since Adam and Eve, amorality and immorality abound; in our time, however, they are cheered and championed as never before<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
As with every generation since Adam and Eve,\u00a0amorality and immorality abound; in our time,\u00a0however, they are cheered and championed as\u00a0never before. Instead of being places to avoid,\u00a0Sodom and Gomorrah have become \u201cthe place\u00a0to be.\u201d Meanwhile, as during Old and New Testament times, the faithful trying to live according\u00a0to the Gospel are harassed and mocked by the\u00a0unfaithful. So how does an Orthodox Christian\u00a0deal with this situation? The same way God has\u00a0dealt with us forever, by going beyond tolerance\u00a0to love, and, at times \u2026 tough love<\/em>.<\/p>\nIn many moral controversies today, such as\u00a0\u201copen-marriage,\u201d assisted suicide, abortion, so-called mercy-killing, and \u201cgay marriage,\u201d some\u00a0argue that we should accept conduct that, in the\u00a0Old Testament, was punishable by death. A few\u00a0pseudo-Christian extremists go around the country saying that 9\/11 and other tragedies are our\u00a0punishment for accepting these behaviors, and\u00a0that those who practice them should die because\u00a0God hates them! (God does not hate anyone! Hatred is the province of Satan and his demons, who\u00a0want us all to hate. Anyone who hates is not of\u00a0God, as St. John the Theologian makes clear: \u201cHe\u00a0who does not love does not know God, for God is\u00a0love\u201d [1 John 4:8]). <\/p>\n
God loves us; however, like any parent, He does get angry when His children do self-destructive things.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
God loves us; however, like\u00a0any parent, He does get angry when His children\u00a0do self-destructive things. While He repeatedly\u00a0sent the Hebrews into exile for rejecting Him, He\u00a0never completely wiped them out. (Just ask Noah,\u00a0Jeremiah, Daniel, and so forth.) He would have\u00a0spared Sodom and Gomorrah for ten righteous\u00a0people (Genesis 18:32\u201333). We of the \u201cChristian\u00a0Era\u201d have launched Crusades in which the crusaders killed as many Christians as infidels, and have\u00a0spent centuries torturing, maiming, and imprisoning people, all in the name of Christ. We make\u00a0nukes, napalm, anthrax, wipe out whole species\u00a0which He created, and kill each other with impunity \u2013 yet He lets us live. He Himself said,<\/p>\n
\u201cIf a wicked man turns from all his sins\u00a0which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he\u00a0shall surely live; he shall not die. None of\u00a0the transgressions which he has committed\u00a0shall be remembered against him; because\u00a0of the righteousness which he has done, he\u00a0shall live. Do I have any pleasure at all that\u00a0the wicked should die?\u201d says the Lord God,\u00a0\u201cand not that he should turn from his ways\u00a0and live?\u201d (Ezekiel 18: 21\u201323).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Despite all we\u2019ve done, He sent His Son to save\u00a0us. (This is why we say, \u201cLord have mercy\u201d so often.) Since He still loves us despite our moral failings, we must do likewise with others, lest we be\u00a0like the unforgiving servant (Matthew18:21\u201335).<\/p>\n
Christ doesn\u2019t abolish the crimes or punishments laid out in the Old Testament, but He puts them in a new light.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
In the New Testament, Christ doesn\u2019t abolish the crimes or punishments laid out in the Old\u00a0Testament, but He puts them in a new light. An\u00a0adulterous woman is brought to Him by the men\u00a0of the village, to see if He will say that she should\u00a0be executed for her crime, as taught in the letter of the Mosaic Law (Deuteronomy 22:13\u201330;\u00a0Leviticus 20:10; John 8:3\u201311). Christ does not\u00a0abolish the penalty, but says that only one who is\u00a0without sin can carry it out justly \u2013 and that one\u00a0is Christ Himself. Then, as the only Righteous\u00a0Judge, He grants the woman the opportunity to\u00a0repent, as He would later grant the same to Peter,\u00a0despite Peter\u2019s denials of Him. No one but Christ\u00a0determines ultimately who is saved and who is\u00a0damned. For this reason \u2013 not to mention the Ten\u00a0Commandments and the Golden Rule \u2013 hating,\u00a0judging or condemning, and especially abusing\u00a0or harassing people whose conduct and beliefs\u00a0don\u2019t square with Scripture is a sin, because no\u00a0one abides by Scripture perfectly \u2013 except Christ.<\/p>\n
That being said, St. Paul also warns us to avoid\u00a0being led away by strange doctrines, but to hold\u00a0fast the Gospel as Christ delivered it to him and\u00a0the Apostles, and as he delivers it to us. We do\u00a0well to follow St. Paul here, and not the \u201cenlightened\u201d scholar who \u201ccorrects\u201d the interpretation\u00a0of the Bible to make it fit modern mores, claiming that St. Paul and the Evangelists obviously\u00a0intended what the scholar intends, despite what\u00a0we see in the Bible (see Mark 7:6\u20138 and 2 Corinthians 11:1\u201315). Saint Paul says: \u201cJesus Christ is\u00a0the same yesterday, today, and forever\u201d (Hebrews\u00a013:8\u20139). One Christian group has posters that\u00a0say, \u201cDo not put a period where God put a comma…. Christ is still speaking.\u201d The Orthodox Church\u00a0agrees, but as St. Matthew relates in Chapter\u00a05:17\u201319, Christ tells us,<\/p>\n
\u201cDo not think that I came to destroy the\u00a0Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you,\u00a0till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or\u00a0one tittle will by no means pass from the law\u00a0till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks\u00a0one of the least of these commandments, and\u00a0teaches men so, shall be called least in the\u00a0kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and\u00a0teaches them, he shall be called great in the\u00a0kingdom of heaven.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Like any parent, the Father loves us unconditionally, but He did not embrace the immorality of the people<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
A similar point is made repeatedly by Saint\u00a0Paul, especially in Galatians 6: 6\u201312:<\/p>\n
I marvel that you are turning away so\u00a0soon from Him who called you in the grace\u00a0of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not\u00a0another; but there are some who trouble you\u00a0and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.\u00a0But even if we, or an angel from heaven,\u00a0preach any other gospel to you than what\u00a0we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I\u00a0say again, if anyone preaches any other\u00a0gospel to you than what you have received,\u00a0let him be accursed. For do I now persuade\u00a0men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For\u00a0if I still pleased men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ. But I make known to you,\u00a0brethren, that the gospel which was preached\u00a0by me is not according to man. For I neither\u00a0received it from man, nor was I taught it,\u00a0but it came through the revelation of Jesus\u00a0Christ.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Christ is always saying the same thing. Christ\u00a0teaches that we are to love those who hate us,\u00a0revile us, and persecute us (Matthew 5:43\u201348;\u00a0Luke 6:27\u201336); and we are to love everyone (1\u00a0John 3:10\u201324). That does not mean, however,\u00a0that we have to condone, bless and embrace their\u00a0views or behavior. Like any parent, the Father\u00a0loves us unconditionally, but He did not embrace\u00a0the immorality of the people of the Old Testament\u00a0and He does not embrace the immoral views and\u00a0practices of those under the New Testament. If\u00a0He did, the Gospels and Epistles combined would\u00a0be two lines long; for if God approves of our sins,\u00a0they wouldn\u2019t be sins, and Christ would not have\u00a0had to die to expunge them.<\/p>\n
Christ doesn\u2019t condone our sinful acts, and His tears in Gethsemane were as much for our lack of true repentance, as they were for Himself.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Christ doesn\u2019t condone our sinful acts, and\u00a0His tears in Gethsemane were as much for our\u00a0lack of true repentance, as they were for Himself.\u00a0This is little different from a parent crying when\u00a0his or her child chooses to drink, do drugs, act\u00a0irresponsibly, befriend the wrong people \u2013 in essence, take the wrong path: the parent cries because he or she loves the child, but hates what\u00a0the child is doing and, though it may alienate the\u00a0child, the parent will not condone his or her actions. John the Baptist preached publicly against\u00a0Herod, but did not hate him. The Apostle Paul often castigated those he wrote (especially the Corinthians), but he did so in love. Most importantly,\u00a0Christ repeatedly chastised the Pharisees, Sadducees, chief priests, elders, scribes, laypeople and\u00a0even the Apostles (mostly Peter) for their false\u00a0views; but He never stopped loving them. We are\u00a0to do likewise.<\/p>\n
God did lay down how He wants us to live, and\u00a0what conduct He will not accept. As Orthodox\u00a0Christians we are to witness to the manner of living contained in Scripture, and not self-righteously denounce others, as the Pharisee did the Publican in the parable (Luke 18:9\u201314), nor as the\u00a0Pharisees did to the man born blind (John 9:13\u201334), nor as the Pharisees\u2019 denounced Christ, for\u00a0Christ Himself said:<\/p>\n
\u201cJudge not, and you shall not be judged.\u00a0Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.\u00a0Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and\u00a0running over will be put into your bosom. For\u00a0with the same measure that you use, it will be\u00a0measured back to you.\u201d \u201cAnd why do you look\u00a0at the speck in your brother\u2019s eye, but do not\u00a0perceive the plank in your own eye? Or how\u00a0can you say to your brother, \u2018Brother, let me\u00a0remove the speck that is in your eye,\u2019 when\u00a0you yourself do not see the plank that is in\u00a0your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the\u00a0plank from your own eye, and then you will\u00a0see clearly to remove the speck that is in your\u00a0brother\u2019s eye\u201d (Luke 6:37\u201338, 41\u201342).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
We do not determine whether someone is going to hell or not! We do not get to condemn the\u00a0person for his or her beliefs! Christ alone has that\u00a0authority (John 5:22\u201330). To prevent misunderstanding: while the hierarchy can exclude those\u00a0who refuse to accept the Church\u2019s teachings from\u00a0the care of the Church (excommunication), the\u00a0excommunicated person is not condemned; God\u00a0is the only one who makes that decision: \u201cThose\u00a0who are outside, God judges\u2026\u201d (1 Corinthians\u00a05:13). The excommunicated are simply removed\u00a0from the community, just as any disruptive person is from any group. Saint Paul tells us how to\u00a0handle those who refuse to accept what Christ\u00a0teaches: \u201cIf anyone does not obey our word in this\u00a0epistle, note that person and do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet do\u00a0not count him as an enemy, but admonish him\u00a0as a brother\u201d (2 Thessalonians 3:14\u201315). We are\u00a0to witness to the truth sternly, resolutely, humbly,\u00a0in the same way Christ witnessed to it on earth.\u00a0As President Lincoln once said: \u201cWith malice towards none, with charity for all.\u201d<\/p>\n
we are to resist \u201cpeer pressure\u201d and refuse to endorse and condone what Scripture does not endorse or condone<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Thus the Orthodox Church\u2019s teaching concerning relations with those of other beliefs and\u00a0behaviors differs greatly from alternative understandings of tolerance. We are to show love for all\u00a0and respect for their right to their beliefs, in any\u00a0case, even those beliefs that differ from ours. (So\u00a0the Good Samaritan did not treat the victimized\u00a0Jew differently, despite the animosity between\u00a0their groups [Luke 10:25\u201337].) At the same time,\u00a0we are to resist \u201cpeer pressure\u201d and refuse to endorse and condone what Scripture does not endorse or condone, as the Prophet Nathan did with\u00a0King David over his taking of Bathsheba, for example. Just as others today stand for their beliefs,\u00a0we should stand for the truth. We can do so in a\u00a0non-confrontational manner, but simply say, \u201cThat\u00a0goes against my beliefs, and, as you want your beliefs respected, I hope you\u2019ll respect mine.\u201d If our\u00a0interlocutor asks why, we can explain the scriptural reasons, as St. Paul directs, \u201cspeaking the\u00a0truth in love\u201d (Ephesians 4:15). (Ask your priest\u00a0for help, if needed.) If he or she doesn\u2019t question\u00a0us, we can move on (Romans 16:7; 2 Thessalonians 3:6).<\/p>\n
This applies chiefly to personal relationships;\u00a0when it comes to anti-Scriptural beliefs and standards being codified in law or government regulations \u2013 especially in this country of free speech\u00a0and beliefs \u2013 we can and must state the truth, still\u00a0following St. Paul\u2019s admonition from Ephesians,\u00a0yet never wavering until the truth wins out (either\u00a0by vote or court decision or the Second Coming).<\/p>\n
Christ wants people to flee sin \u2026 not other people.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Archbishop Iakovos, of thrice-blessed memory,\u00a0exemplified this when he marched with the evermemorable Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at a time\u00a0and in a region where it was unquestionably politically incorrect to call for equal rights for black\u00a0people, and supporters were hated with a demonic\u00a0passion. Our witness to the truth, however, must\u00a0be made with respect, as the Prophet Daniel respectfully greeted Nebuchadnezzar with \u201cO King,\u00a0you are the King of Kings,\u201d and then proceeded to\u00a0state what God desired firmly and humbly (Daniel\u00a02:36\u201345). As in all things, we Christians must not\u00a0only speak the truth; more importantly, we must\u00a0live it, as the renowned ascetic Francis of Assisi\u00a0said, \u201cPreach the Gospel at all times, and if you\u00a0must, use words.\u201d Don\u2019t give fire-and-brimstone\u00a0exhortations; those turn people off. Christ wants\u00a0people to flee sin \u2026 not other people.<\/p>\n
We commit sins regularly, yet Christ still loves\u00a0us. He refuses to condone the sin, but He still\u00a0loves us; we are to love others the same way.\u00a0In this way, we are beyond \u201ctolerant\u201d; we are\u00a0Christian.<\/p>\n
That we should no longer be children,\u00a0tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men,\u00a0in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,\u00a0but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up\u00a0in all things into Him who is the head \u2013Christ\u2013from whom the whole body, joined and knit\u00a0together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the\u00a0body for the edifying of itself in love (Ephesians 4:14\u201316; New King James Version).<\/p>\n
![\"Orthodox](\"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Tolerance_Love-Sinner_Hate-Sin_01.jpg\")
by Rdr. Daniel Manzuk –