Love Is Not Tolerance

[KnightofChrist]

[b]Love is not tolerance[/b]

[img]http://i36.tinypic.com/15duc2f.jpg[/img]

Christian love bears evil, but it does not tolerate it.

Christian love bears evil, but it does not tolerate it.

It does penance for the sins of others, but it is not broadminded about sin.

The cry for tolerance never induces it to quench its hatred of the evil philosophies that have entered into contest with the Truth.

It forgives the sinner, and it hates the sin; it is unmerciful to the error in his mind.

The sinner it will always take back into the bosom of the Mystical Body;
but his lie will never be taken into the treasury of His Wisdom.

Real love involves real hatred:
whoever has lost the power of moral indignation and the urge to drive the buyers and sellers from the temples
has also lost a living, fervent love of Truth.

Charity, then, is not a mild philosophy of "live and let live";
it is not a species of sloppy sentiment.

Charity is the infusion of the Spirit of God,
which makes us love the beautiful and hate the morally ugly.

✠BISHOP FULTON J. SHEEN

[OraProMe]

It really depends. Sometimes people use this idea of true charity being honest as a way to justify their hate. St. Francis de Sales said that truth and charity go hand in hand, you shouldn't have one without the other. I think he was also the saint that said you attract more flies with honey than vinegar.

Edited August 24, 2010 by OraProMe

[MithLuin]

I agree with Bishop Fulton Sheen; love does not mean tolerating error or pretending that everyone is right and no one is a sinner. That would be....less than helpful.

And I also agree with him that showing love and compassion to our fellow man (we're all sinners, after all) is of supreme importance to being a Christian.

It is unfortunate that some people get the 'hate the sin' part all too well and forget all about the 'love the sinner' part. We can never forget that Jesus told the woman caught in adultery to 'Go and sin no more.' He in no way condoned her sinful behavior. And yet...he was clearly quite compassionate in His reaction to her. He gave her the grace she needed to turn away from her sins.

Another distinction to remember is whether we are speaking to a fellow Christian, who may need charitable correction, but also could use some encouragement on the path of following Jesus (we're not saints yet....none of us), someone who is seeking answers but does not yet have a faith or trust in God, someone of a different world view but without malice...or an actual enemy. There are those who would intentionally attack the church, surely. Jesus overturned the tables because he rightly judged those men as being intentional parasites. 'Tolerance' doesn't really mean much other than putting up with each other. If there's an actual spiritual war going on, ignoring it isn't always the wisest option. But the vitriol should be saved for enemies, not aimed at repentant sinners!

Giving into hatred and vitriol, and letting it consume us...that is also a spiritual poison that we must avoid. God is love, and if we do not love our neighbor (Christian or not) whom we do see, how on earth can we claim to love God? Our relationship with God is mysterious. Our relationship with our neighbor is more straightforward. Love is willing the good of the other...which means removing ourselves from the equation.

It's not about us being right. The Church has the fullness of Truth, but she doesn't always need us to defend Her . When necessary, we should be willing to take up arms, but we should not be too quick to declare someone an enemy, when our Lord was so careful to tell us that all men are our neighbors.

[quote]Truly, we may be in this world, but as children of God and citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem, we are not of this world. However, being in this world means that we certainly have an investment in the world. We are called by God to be the “Salt of the earth” and “the light of the world”. Being both salt and light is not easy! Although people enjoy salt, it burns in a wound. And, although people like light they “love darkness more than light”. As Christians faithful to Christ and the true teachings of the Church, we are salt in the wounds of the world and we are light that exposes the deeds done in darkness. It is not the easiest place to be, but it is the best and only place to be.

The Church is the only Universal Voice in our world that is consistently and constantly proclaiming and protecting the full dignity of the human person. This includes every aspect of human existence. Married life, human sexuality, human labor, human suffering, and so on, is held up by the church as having meaning, purpose and dignity. Often, this proclamation is a word that the world does not want to hear. The world will close its ears and close its eyes lest it look and hear the truth and be converted. When the voice of the Church persists, the world will turn on the Church and seek to silence her.

Over the past two millennium, the world has tried every possible tactic to crush the Church. Persecution, murder and imprisonment were tactics of the past. Today the world has a more civilized approach: detraction, libel and lies. With the universal mouth of the media, the world has found a new medium for making the Church look immoral, out of touch and hypocritical.

[i]Father David Engo, FFM[/i] [url=http://www.franciscanbrothersminor.com/FBM/Issue_2.html](source)[/url][/quote]

When the Church is attacked, we should defend her against her detractors. But we must be careful not to fall into the traps of immorality or hypocrisy while doing so, or our attempted defense will be yet another wound.

[dominicansoul]

[quote name='OraProMe' timestamp='1282645530' post='2162390']
It really depends. Sometimes people use this idea of true charity being honest as a way to justify their hate. St. Francis de Sales said that truth and charity go hand in hand, you shouldn't have one without the other. I think he was also the saint that said you attract more flies with honey than vinegar.
[/quote]

I find it odd that it is difficult for some to understand the whole concept of "preaching with charity." It doesn't mean "tolerating sin, loving sin, relativism, indifferentism, etc."

I would have to agree with St. Francis de Sales.

It is important to note that Jesus actually praised the scribes and pharisees, for their knowledge of the law. But he was quick to admonish them for putting the letter of the law above the heart of the law. He drew a lot of hatred for eating with sinners, for befriending sinners, for being charitable towards sinners. One only needs to remember how Simon the pharisee thought ill of Jesus immediately for allowing St. Mary Magdalene to bathe His feet with her tears and hair..."Does he not know what kind of lady this is???" He thought ill of her immediately. You can see where he thought of himself superior to her. Jesus had to remind Simon that this sinner did a great deal more of welcoming Him than Simon did.

And the ones who drew the strongest words from Christ were those who deemed themselves "righteous" and "true." Scripture shows that the greatest sin of the pharisees and sadducees were that they believed so highly of themselves. They felt they had no sin...and because of that, their sin remained. They were quick to judge sinners, and to seperate themselves from sinners, and in the process they did not see how sinful they were. They went on to deny the very Son of the God they believed they were serving so well...

It is one thing to preach truth to others with a sense of superiority and insult...it is another to preach it with true love for the sinner you are admonishing...this takes a lot of patience and strong virtue to preach as Christ preached...not to mention a great deal of self-knowledge of one's own faults...(and that may be the hardest part of it all...) In other words, it takes [i]humility[/i]... and that is something that all of us need to strive for...



(edited to add the smiley)

Edited August 24, 2010 by dominicansoul

[Lilllabettt]

Charity is not tolerance, but tolerance is part of charity. (Tolerance, not of evil, but of people.)

Some people confuse tolerance with the virtue of charity itself -- they think being nice is being charitable. This is not so.
Some people confuse the honesty with charity. They think, as long as I'm being honest with people, that is being charitable.
But not so.
Honesty is part of charity, not the entire thing.

Catholics use "and", Protestants use "or"

Hey this reminds me of a great book: "Truth and Tolerance" by Hiz Holiness. That is a good book.

[MIKolbe]

Mith-

if you haven't already volunteered for the Phatmass Author 'club', I think it would be well advised if you did. I really enjoy reading you. Assuming you have the time, of course.. lol

[KnightofChrist]

[b]A Plea for Intolerance[/b]

“America, it is said, is suffering from intolerance-it is not. It is suffering from tolerance. Tolerance of right and wrong, truth and error, virtue and evil, Christ and chaos. Our country is not nearly so overrun with the bigoted as it is overrun with the broadminded.”

“…In the face of this broadmindedness, what the world needs is intolerance.”

“Tolerance is an attitude of reasoned patience toward evil … a forbearance that restrains us from showing anger or inflicting punishment. Tolerance applies only to persons … never to truth. Tolerance applies to the erring, intolerance to the error … Architects are as intolerant about sand as foundations for skyscrapers as doctors are intolerant about germs in the laboratory.

Tolerance does not apply to truth or principles. About these things we must be intolerant, and for this kind of intolerance, so much needed to rouse us from sentimental gush, I make a plea. Intolerance of this kind is the foundation of all stability.”

✠BISHOP FULTON J. SHEEN

Edited August 24, 2010 by KnightofChrist

[Jaime]

[font="Arial"][size="2"]There is only one God and He is God to all; therefore it is important that everyone is seen as equal before God. I’ve always said we should help a Hindu become a better Hindu, a Muslim become a better Muslim, a Catholic become a better Catholic.[/size][/font]

[HisChildForever]

[quote name='jaime (the artist formerly known as hot stuff)' timestamp='1282662818' post='2162441']
[font="Arial"][size="2"]There is only one God and He is God to all; therefore it is important that everyone is seen as equal before God. I’ve always said we should help a Hindu become a better Hindu, a Muslim become a better Muslim, a Catholic become a better Catholic.[/size][/font]
[/quote]

We should preach to Hindus and Muslims through our words and deeds. We should not be encouraging them to remain Hindus and Muslims.

[Jaime]

[quote name='HisChildForever' timestamp='1282663141' post='2162443']
We should preach to Hindus and Muslims through our words and deeds. We should not be encouraging them to remain Hindus and Muslims.
[/quote]

I think its a great way to show unconditional love

[dUSt]

[quote name='HisChildForever' timestamp='1282663141' post='2162443']
We should preach to Hindus and Muslims through our words and deeds. We should not be encouraging them to remain Hindus and Muslims.
[/quote]
I think he's baiting you with a Mother Teresa quote. Sometimes it is better just to smile at Himey, pat him on his head, and tell him good job.

[HisChildForever]

[quote name='jaime (the artist formerly known as hot stuff)' timestamp='1282663406' post='2162444']
I think its a great way to show unconditional love
[/quote]

Telling a Hindu to stay a Hindu and a Muslim to stay a Muslim is showing unconditional love? I think sharing the Truth of the Catholic faith would be showing unconditional love. Not encouraging the individual to stay in a false religion.

[Jaime]

[quote name='dUSt' timestamp='1282663571' post='2162445']
I think he's [s]baiting [/s]teaching you with a Mother Teresa quote. Sometimes it is better just to smile at Himey, pat him on his head, and tell him good job.
[/quote]

fixed

[dUSt]

[quote name='jaime (the artist formerly known as hot stuff)' timestamp='1282663867' post='2162450']
fixed
[/quote]
Oh you are such a hoot!

[HisChildForever]

[quote name='jaime (the artist formerly known as hot stuff)' timestamp='1282663867' post='2162450']
fixed
[/quote]

Are you saying that your argument ("help a Hindu become a better Hindu") is compatable with the Holy Catholic Church, Who desires for all people to be unified under Her roof, so that all may give true and perfect worship to the Holy Trinity - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?