CAMPBELLTON, New Brunswick, July 20, 2023 – A sentiment being expressed more and more among Christians in relation to sinful behavior is “I have no problem with what consenting adults do.” In other words, even morally repugnant acts are shrugged away by Christians as “personal choice” rather than sin. In other words, sin is being tolerated by Christians.

As born-agains, we cannot tolerate sin. We cannot stand back and not form and express an opinion about sin. We cannot stand back and say “everything goes”, because we know that when “A” is permitted, “B”, “C”, “D”, “E”, etc., will follow, as we’re seeing now in our streets and schools and public libraries. The genie doesn’t come just part-way out of the bottle; the opened can doesn’t let out just one worm: the genie escapes the bottle entirely and all the worms slither out.

Tolerance is not only a gateway to sin but also a sin in itself – it’s a form of intellectual and moral slovenliness. The tolerant say: “I don’t want to offend anyone because I don’t like conflict” and “I’m too lazy to think deeply enough about this issue to form an opinion, let alone express it” and “I know God condemns this, but I don’t want to be disliked or banned or fired, so I’ll just tolerate it.” Instead of bowing down to God, they bow down to the spirit of tolerance.

Tolerance has grown to cult status in recent years. In fact, the cult of tolerance has for the most part replaced Christianity. Christians are being scolded by the world to be tolerant, and they’ve meekly taken the bait. Entire congregations now tolerate what for thousands of years Christians condemned as sinful. The altar of tolerance has replaced the altar of God in most churches; you’ll know the altar of tolerance by the rainbow flags draped over it.

Again – we cannot tolerate sin. We cannot look away and say “they’re consenting adults” or “what they do behind closed doors is their business”. As born-again believers, calling out sin is our business. We do not have the luxury of not calling out sin. We do not have the luxury of not wanting conflict, of not wanting people to dislike us for our beliefs and expressed opinions, of not condemning what we know God condemns. As born-again believers, we stand in the Spirit of Truth, so naturally we’re going to be in conflict with those who bow down to the Spirit of Lies.

Tolerance of sin is tacit acceptance of sin, which is why tolerance of sin is itself a sin. Yet calling out sin as sin does not mean we have to attack those who are sinning. Our job with regard to sin is simply to label it as sin rather than as a personal choice between consenting adults. Our job with regard to sin is to call it sin, avoid it, and teach others to avoid it.

Being a born-again believer is not a popularity contest. Jesus warned us we’d be hated and also likely cast out, banned, black-listed, and imprisoned for our beliefs, and oh, how right he was. Regardless of the consequences, we cannot stand hand-in-hand with the cult of tolerance. If we’re hated for speaking God’s Truth, then let us be hated. Embrace the hate and soldier on.