As human beings, we are inherently good, but unfortunately, we sometimes allow ourselves to be misguided when assessing the “good” in our society. Today, we are misguided by the trappings of a word: Tolerance.
Click on the book cover to order on Kindle and see how I’ve treated Tolerance taken to the extreme. One of its underlying themes is: “First, get rid of The Shepherd, and then go after His Sheep.”
Well, do you want to be described as ‘intolerant?’
No, that’s a big negative. It shows us as small and petty.
Do you want to be described as “tolerant?’
Yes, in many circles, that’s a plus. It shows us as large and magnanimous.
But Tolerance is one word that has can have opposite definitions, all according to its relevance in particular situations.
We are tolerant toward our children, even when they are exasperating, because we love them. Yet, we will not tolerate certain kinds of behavior from them—that’s also because we love them, and want to raise them to be good people.
There are some morally ugly, and essentially evil, viewpoints parading around today under the guise of tolerance. For Christians to let these viewpoints go unchallenged, no matter how politically correct those viewpoints have become, is cowardly. Evil must be named, and it must be confronted.
The problem is: “Satan never looks like Satan. He drapes himself in celebrity and humor and humanitarianism, using celebrity to mislead, humor to mock, and humanitarianism to de-humanize.”— Father George Rutler
Here are more wise words from Bishop Fulton J. Sheen:
“Love is Not Tolerance.
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, he 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.”
Be aware of a misguided tolerance of evil—-because a hungry wolf in sheep’s clothing is still a wolf.
Translating a World on the Edge 