Truth or Tolerance
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. John 14:6 This statement is absolute. One way, One Truth... (When I talk about" Christians", or "Christianity", I am referring only to those who accept this statement as truth.)
So the next question would be; If there is Truth, and it is clearly defined, then what is Anything that falls outside these boundaries? Naturally it would be False. Intentional falsehood is a Lie.
Ok, so we have true or false; truth or lies. How can we know, for sure, which is which? Thankfully, we have a standard of measurement in the Word of God. We know that the Word of God is True. If the Word is true, then whatever is different/in conflict or opposition is logically False.
Now that we have that all straight...hehehe
Tolerance: from Webster....sympathy or indulgence for beliefs or practices differing from or conflicting with one's own b: the act of allowing something: the allowable deviation from a standard; Please Note these key words: Differing, Conflicting and Deviation
Well now that I have stirred up this pot a bit. What do we stand for? Truth or tolerance? Can we go along with the "Tolerance" philosophy in regards to morals, ethics, religion? Do all roads lead to the same place? Are we all worshiping the same God just with different names?
Truth or Consequences
So what?? As long as I have my mind centered on Christ and I am truly trying to follow His ways, does it matter if I use the meditation methods taught by Transcendental Meditation? Does it matter if I am focused on God but I am using exercises and techniques from yoga? If I am working to make my marriage or relationships more Godly, can't I incorporate the ideas and knowledge of psychology to help me? Does any of that make a difference if God sees our intentions/or hearts, then won't it be ok? I mean, I'm not going to be worshiping other gods, or anything like that! Its not like we can be held accountable if we Accidentally or unknowingly participate in something wrong!! And a little tiny bit isn't going to hurt me anyway, cause I have a strong walk with the Lord!!
Here's where I go back to my cookie dough analogy! Imagine...yuuummm... cookies! Cookie dough with big chocolate chunks and all the finest ingredients. But, unknown to you, someone has put in 5 small chocolate chips that look no different from the rest. These 5 little chips each contain the Ebola virus. They are Almost exactly like the rest of the chips, and look, taste and smell so close that it would be Very difficult to distinguish them. Ahhh I can smell the warm, wonderful aroma of baking cookies! OOo they look Delicious!!! Here, have one. What???? You don't want any? Why not? Oh, there are Only 5 tainted chips in the whole quadruple batch! You probably won't even get one in your cookie! Oh, you don't want to miss out on these wonderful cookies just because you Might mistakenly get a little Ebola!!! There is soooo much other Good stuff in there!
Still don't want one? But you could probably tell if there was a tainted chip, you might be able to pick it out before you swallow it. Just suppose now, you go ahead, sure that you can distinguish the Bad chips. (But you Can't!!!)
Oh NO! You have just eaten one while enjoying the rest of the cookie or two or Three!!! Yummmy! Yep it was worth the risk! OOOO those were Delicious! Meanwhile, that little poison chip has been ingested, is now being absorbed and its ingredients are spreading through your body. You don't even Know it yet!!! You feel Great! Happy and satisfied. Meanwhile, the Ebola virus is infecting your bloodstream and is spreading to every area of your body. Eventually the results will be Obvious, even though they aren't right now!!!
Did it matter? Did that one little chip make a difference? You Bet your life!!! All the good ingredients and your general good health won't stop it from infecting your entire body. You can't say you weren't warned it was in there somewhere, but you Chose to eat that cookie!
Is there a warning label on religious or un-Godly practices? Well, Yes! Let's look at the old Testament for a minute. Its one long story of how God Repeatedly warned His people to stay away from every other religion, to have Nothing to do with them, remove all trace of their religions. And what happened? Over and over and over, they said, "Oh it's ok, it's just a little. It's ok, there are just a few people who practice that religion. Oh ,we can spot the wrong and make sure we don't do it."
How did that work out for them? We all know, they got all messed up, ended up worshiping idols, practicing false religions, wandering away from God. They didn't think it would happen that way! Their intentions were not to stray from God! But it happened anyway, Repeatedly.
Can we learn a lesson from their mistakes? The evidence is pretty clear. I think we can make some conclusions about the effects of "just a little". It didn't work for the Jews, and it won't work for us!
So, how much Ebola do you want in your cookie dough?
How much false religion do you want in your spiritual life?
The answer should be...NONE, Zip, Zero, Zilch... not a Speck, not a Molecule! Nada! Just say NO!
(please note...usually I am Much more crass and use the analogy of dog poop instead of ebola!!)
Here's where I go back to my cookie dough analogy! Imagine...yuuummm... cookies! Cookie dough with big chocolate chunks and all the finest ingredients. But, unknown to you, someone has put in 5 small chocolate chips that look no different from the rest. These 5 little chips each contain the Ebola virus. They are Almost exactly like the rest of the chips, and look, taste and smell so close that it would be Very difficult to distinguish them. Ahhh I can smell the warm, wonderful aroma of baking cookies! OOo they look Delicious!!! Here, have one. What???? You don't want any? Why not? Oh, there are Only 5 tainted chips in the whole quadruple batch! You probably won't even get one in your cookie! Oh, you don't want to miss out on these wonderful cookies just because you Might mistakenly get a little Ebola!!! There is soooo much other Good stuff in there!
Still don't want one? But you could probably tell if there was a tainted chip, you might be able to pick it out before you swallow it. Just suppose now, you go ahead, sure that you can distinguish the Bad chips. (But you Can't!!!)
Oh NO! You have just eaten one while enjoying the rest of the cookie or two or Three!!! Yummmy! Yep it was worth the risk! OOOO those were Delicious! Meanwhile, that little poison chip has been ingested, is now being absorbed and its ingredients are spreading through your body. You don't even Know it yet!!! You feel Great! Happy and satisfied. Meanwhile, the Ebola virus is infecting your bloodstream and is spreading to every area of your body. Eventually the results will be Obvious, even though they aren't right now!!!
Did it matter? Did that one little chip make a difference? You Bet your life!!! All the good ingredients and your general good health won't stop it from infecting your entire body. You can't say you weren't warned it was in there somewhere, but you Chose to eat that cookie!
Is there a warning label on religious or un-Godly practices? Well, Yes! Let's look at the old Testament for a minute. Its one long story of how God Repeatedly warned His people to stay away from every other religion, to have Nothing to do with them, remove all trace of their religions. And what happened? Over and over and over, they said, "Oh it's ok, it's just a little. It's ok, there are just a few people who practice that religion. Oh ,we can spot the wrong and make sure we don't do it."
How did that work out for them? We all know, they got all messed up, ended up worshiping idols, practicing false religions, wandering away from God. They didn't think it would happen that way! Their intentions were not to stray from God! But it happened anyway, Repeatedly.
Can we learn a lesson from their mistakes? The evidence is pretty clear. I think we can make some conclusions about the effects of "just a little". It didn't work for the Jews, and it won't work for us!
So, how much Ebola do you want in your cookie dough?
How much false religion do you want in your spiritual life?
The answer should be...NONE, Zip, Zero, Zilch... not a Speck, not a Molecule! Nada! Just say NO!
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