No condemnation

People fail to grasp the concept that peace is not the absence of conflict, but the sense of well-being and fulfillment that comes from God and is dependent on His presence in our lives. To the extent we have peace in this world today, it is largely because God has not withdrawn from this world completely. Yet the conflict continue because humans fail to seek God and stand in His presence.

"What is the source of the wars and the fights among you? Don’t they come from the cravings that are at war within you?[1] Lit war in your members

"You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. You do not have because you do not ask.

"You ask and don’t receive because you ask wrongly, so that you may spend it on your desires for pleasure."

People call it Pollyanna-ish, but the fact remains that if we all sought God's peace, we would indeed have peace in our generation. Of course, as soon as someone stopped seeking God's peace, there'd be a war. It is, unfortunately, human nature.

Unfortunately, far too many Christians show little tolerance...

It is impossible to have peace when we covet. When we covet, we are turning from God and his peace. When we realize that God provides what we need then there is no need to covet. This leads to contentment and living in God's peace. Just like the Apostle Paul says about no matter the where or what conditions, he has learned to be content and living in God's peace.

Greg Koukle (hope I spelled that right) had a good article on tolerance a few months back. In it, he said that the classical meaning of tolerance was not ignoring conflicts, but employing civility as we discuss our conflicts. Everyone has a right to an opinion, but we treat each other with respect as we express those opinions. In this way, people come to understand that there are valid arguments for, against and sometimes in-between on many issues and they can decide for themselves what to believe.

The current meaning of tolerance is that we've deemed certain issues to be so controversial that we're going to hurt some people's feelings, so we don't discuss them at all. If you hold the opinion that their lifestyle choice is wrong, well, you're evil for even thinking that, so should be discriminated against.

In this view of "tolerance" discussion is squelched. Thinking for oneself is tossed in the trash heap. We label anyone with a belief in right and wrong as "intolerant" and anyone who doesn't have a clue (or want one) as "tolerant".

Writing that, I think I knew how Paul felt preaching on Mars Hill about the Unkonwn God.