Intolerance In Christianity - Sayings of Samuel Godfrey George

Doctrinal correctness is an illusion. The Bible lacks unity in certain places. There are internal disparities and contradictions that cannot be humanly resolved. So anyone excercising an air of doctrinal correctness or superiority is misguided by an incomplete image of the divine revelation and also misinforms others. Such an attitude leads to arrogance, which later leads to conflict and polarization.

There is no question of giving up on Christ. Jesus Christ and the forms of Christianity that I have seen don't share much in common. Where they radically differ at times is in the exercise of tolerance and love.

If Christianity results in pride and unseemly confidence it is better not to be a Christian.

This is not the first time and it won't be the last. All that I will do now is pray that I don't give in to the temptation of knowing a little better than my neighbour, for that will result in pride, which when challenged will turn into conflict, which will lead to detachment. Those who believe in Christ should show much more tolerance than I have seen in a few Christians.

God came down to earth to show us love. Jesus Christ showed us what true love is. True love is accepting and tolerant of all those who seem wayward and deviant. Jesus showed us love so that we may desire it and show it to others who are as undeserving as we are. But we humans have always struggled to show love and tolerance to such people. This is lamentable particularly in those who claim to know God, but are not able to tolerate those who are different from them.

It is not intolerance but ignorance that is the real problem. Intolerance arises from ignorance. People are intolerant of one another because of their mistaken belief in their own correctness. So unshakeable is their faith in their own understanding that they decry and denounce others when they depart from the way according to them. No one understands life and grasps all its truths. No one knows God and has seen him in his entirety. So anyone who is confident of his own knowledge regarding these matters is an ignorant person.

God has revealed only a part of himself. If we humans act decisively on this partial revelation and discriminate against one another based on one-dimensional, purportedly divine pronouncements, then we fail to understand the heart of God. God is love. And love bears all things. Love accepts all humans just as they are. And none of us are pure and deserving of God's love, so to discriminate against people based on their deviance from purity and godliness is to be hypocritical and ungodly.

"Love God and do whatever you want" said Saint Augustine. It is the love for God that is primary. God looks at the heart of Man and searches for love. The love for God is more important than any doctrine or prayer that may be said to God in a certain way. Quotations from the scriptures and declarations of faith are secondary. Even a keeping of God's commands is secondary to the love a human feels for God. This alone is God's primary requirement. And the love of God is expressed in the love for human beings. Any God lover must also love humans the way they are without trying to change them according to how he or she would like them to be.