Posted on 03/28/2013 3:21:08 PM PDT by Colofornian
At home and abroad, the American people plead for broad-mindedness, tolerance and charity. Abroad, our ambassadors use all of their powers to influence warring parties to come to the conference table in a spirit of give-and-take. There is a sense in which the world needs broad-mindedness and tolerance.
However, in the realm of Christian experience there is a need for intolerance. In some things Christ was the most tolerant, broad-minded Man who ever lived, but in other things He was one of the most intolerant.
TOLERANCE CAN BECOME TOO STRETCHED
One of the pet words of this age is tolerance. It is a good word, but we have tried to stretch it over too great an area. We have applied it, too often, where it does not belong. The word tolerant means liberal and broad-minded. In one sense, it implies the compromise of one’s convictions, a yielding of ground upon important issues.
We have become tolerant about divorce, the use of alcohol, delinquency, wickedness in high places, immorality, crime and godlessness. We have been sapped of conviction, drained of our beliefs, and we are bereft of our faith.
The sciences, however, are narrow-minded. There is no room for careless broad-mindedness in the laboratory. Water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit at sea level; it is never 100 degrees nor 189 degrees, nor 211. Fresh water freezes at 32 degrees; it is never 23 degrees nor 31.
Mathematics is also narrow-minded. The sum of two plus two is four, never three-and-a-half. Geometry is narrow-minded. It says that a straight line is the shortest distance between two points on a plane. A compass is narrow-minded; it always points to the magnetic north. If it were broad-minded, ships at sea and planes in the air would be in danger.
If you should ask a man the directions to New York City and he said, “Oh, just take any road you wish, they all lead to New York,” you would question both his sanity and his truthfulness. Nevertheless, we have somehow gotten it into our minds that “all roads lead to Heaven.”
But Jesus Christ, who journeyed from Heaven to Earth and back to Heaven again, who knew the way better than anyone who ever lived, said, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).
JESUS WAS NARROW ABOUT THE WAY OF SALVATION
Jesus plainly pointed out that there are two roads in life. One is broad, lacking in faith, convictions and morals. It is the easy, popular, careless way. Jesus said, “There are many who go in by it.” But He pointed out that this road, heavily traveled though it is, leads to destruction. And in loving, compassionate intolerance, He says: “Enter by the narrow gate … because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life.”
His was the intolerance of a pilot who maneuvers his plane through the storm, realizing that a single error, just one flash of broad-mindedness, might bring disaster to all his passengers.
Once when we were flying from Korea to Japan, we ran through a rough snowstorm. When we arrived over the airport in Tokyo, the ceiling and visibility were almost zero. The pilot had to make an instrument landing. I sat up in the cockpit and watched him sweat it out as a man in the tower at the airport talked us in.
I did not want this man to be broad-minded. I wanted him to be narrow-minded. I knew that our lives depended on it. Just so, when we come in for the landing in the great airport in Heaven, I don’t want any broad-mindedness. I want to come in on the beam, and even though I may be considered narrow here, I want to be sure of a safe landing there.
Christ was so intolerant of our lost estate that He left His lofty throne in the heavenlies, took on Himself the form of man, suffered at the hands of evil men and died on a cruel cross of shame to purchase our redemption. So serious was our plight that He could not look upon it lightly. He could not be broad-minded about a world held captive by its lusts.
Christ spoke of two roads, two kingdoms, two masters, two rewards and two eternities. And He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). We have the power to choose whom we will serve, but the alternative to choosing Christ brings certain destruction. The broad, easy, popular way leads to death and destruction. Only the way of the cross leads home.
Peter was reflecting Christ’s teaching when he said, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name [than Jesus Christ] under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
The popular, tolerant attitude toward the Gospel of Christ is like a person going to watch the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Atlanta Braves play a baseball game and rooting for both sides. Baseball fans are very intolerant. If you were to cheer for both sides in Los Angeles or in Atlanta, someone would yell, “Hey, you, make up your mind who you’re rooting for.”
Christ said, “You cannot serve God and mammon … no one can serve two masters” (Matthew 6:24). We need more people who will step out and say unashamedly: “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).
JESUS WAS INTOLERANT TOWARD HYPOCRISY
He pronounced more woes on the Pharisees than on any other sect because they were given to outward piety, but inside they were a sham. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” He said, “For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence” (Matthew 23:25).
A counterfeit Christian, single-handedly, can do more to retard the progress of the church than a dozen saints can do to forward it. That is why Jesus was so intolerant of sham! A great church leader said that the greatest need in the church today is for church members to live what they profess.
The hypocrite has nothing but the contempt of his or her neighbors and the judgment of God hereafter. That is why Jesus said, “Do not be like the hypocrites” (Matthew 6:16).
JESUS WAS INTOLERANT TOWARD SELFISHNESS
He said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself” (Luke 9:23). Self-centeredness is the basic cause of much of our distress in life. Hypochondria, a mental disorder that is accompanied by melancholy and depression, is often caused by self-pity and self-centeredness.
Jesus was intolerant of selfishness. To the rich young ruler He said, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven ...” (Matthew 19:21). It wasn’t the giving of his goods that Jesus demanded, but his release from selfishness and its devastating effects on his personality and life.
Jesus was intolerant of selfishness when He said, “For whoever desires to save his life shall lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matthew 16:25). The life that Jesus urges us to lose is the selfishness that lives within us, the old nature of sin that is in conflict with God. Peter, James and John left their nets, but Jesus did not object to nets as such; it was the selfish living they symbolized that He wanted them to forsake. Matthew left the “custom seat,” a political job, to follow Christ. But Jesus did not object to a political career. It was the selfish quality of living that it represented that He wanted Matthew to forsake.
JESUS WAS INTOLERANT TOWARD SIN
He was tolerant toward the sinner, but intolerant toward the evil that enslaves the sinner. To the adulteress He said, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more” (John 8:11). He forgave her because He loved her; but He condemned her sin because He loathed it with a holy hatred.
God has always been intolerant toward sin! His Word says: “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil ...” (Isaiah 1:16).
“Awake to righteousness, and do not sin” (1 Corinthians 15:34).
Christ was so intolerant toward sin that He died on the cross to free men and women from its power. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Sin lies at the root of most of society’s difficulties today. Whatever separates a person from God disunites that person from others. The world’s problems will never be solved until the question of sin is settled.
The cross is God’s answer to sin. To all who will receive the blessed news of salvation through Christ, it crosses out—cancels forever—sin’s power.
Forest rangers know the value of the “burn-back” in fighting forest fires. To save an area from uncontrolled fire, they carefully burn away the trees and shrubs to create a safety barrier. When the forest fire reaches that burned-out spot, plants and animals standing inside the area protected by the burn-back are safe from the flames. Fire is thus fought by fire.
Calvary was a colossal fighting of fire by fire. Christ, taking on Himself all of our sins, allowed the fire of sin’s judgment to fall upon Him. The area around the cross has become a place of refuge for all who would escape the judgment of sin. Take your place with Him at the cross; stand by the cross; yield your life to Him who redeemed you on the cross, and the fire of sin’s judgment can never touch you.
God is intolerant toward sin. That intolerance sent His Son to die for us. He has said “that whoever believes in Him shall not perish.” The clear implication is that those who refuse to believe in Him will be eternally lost. Come to Christ today, while His Spirit is speaking to your heart!
© BGEA
Scripture Quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New King James Version.
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THE
DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS SECTION 132
51–57, Emma Smith is counseled (commanded) to be faithful and true; 58–66, Laws governing the plurality of wives are set forth.
51 Verily, I say unto you: A commandment I give unto mine handmaid, Emma Smith, your wife, whom I have given unto you, that she stay herself and partake not of that which I commanded you to offer unto her; for I did it, saith the Lord, to aprove you all, as I did Abraham, and that I might require an offering at your hand, by covenant and sacrifice.
52 And let mine handmaid, Emma Smith, areceive all those that have been given unto my servant Joseph, and who are virtuous and pure before me; and those who are not pure, and have said they were pure, shall be destroyed, saith the Lord God.
53 For I am the Lord thy God, and ye shall obey my voice; and I give unto my servant Joseph that he shall be made ruler over many things; for he hath been afaithful over a few things, and from henceforth I will strengthen him.
55 But if she will not abide this commandment, then shall my servant Joseph do all things for her, even as he hath said; and I will bless him and multiply him and give unto him an ahundredfold in this world, of fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, houses and lands, wives and children, and crowns of beternal lives in the eternal worlds.
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I just read the following on a post by FReeper Vision and it's certainly applies here..."You should trust no one, and even ignore the finest saint on earth if he blocks your sight of Jesus Christ."
MORMONism has kindly archived a LOT of stuff or us to read.
Check out some of the longer threads....
I understand what Mr. Graham is saying but I find it hard to reconcile with his recent past. Remember krinton and Billy?
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Worse...
Remember Willard ???
Though Dr Graham is still ever the evangalist and had an opportunity to preach the Gospel to Willard and his wife Ammie Davies and get them saved...
Does anyone know if Willard repeated of his sins at all then or since ??
Today is Good friday when we Christians remember the LORD Jesus Christ who is and always has been God suffered and died on the Cross to save us...
His Blood covers every sin even the sin that Willard and his wife Annie committed when they “ran to shed innocent blood” of aborted babies...
Yes the Blood of Jesus covers even murder...
Even Willard can be saved...
Compromise is the welcome mat to deception.
Cat got your tongue big bro ???
MormonDudee(MormonDudes’ lil sis...I think if the missionaries put pretty pink ribbons on their bikes instead of ugly ties lots of people would listen to them when they spread the restored gospel and want to hie off to kolob too)
From The words of the late Blessed Bishop Sheen...
What is tolerance? Tolerance is an attitude of reasoned patience towards evil, and a forbearance that restrains us from showing anger or inflicting punishment. But what is more important than the definition is the field of its application.
The important point here is this: Tolerance applies only to persons, but never to truth. Intolerance applies only to truth, but never to persons. Tolerance applies to the erring; intolerance to the error.- Bishop Fulton J Sheen
How ironic since Graham compromised this last election. He needs to heed his own words.
What allegation?
It is well known. There are many more “allegations.”
According to Graham, there are other ways to heaven other than Jesus.
Now it is more well known; for I was unaware of it until now.
It was hard for me to understand some of the dialog.
Is there a transcript online to read?
To me; it appeared that Graham avoided stating that Jesus is the ONLY way, and I could not tell if he meant there were other ways.
Romans 2:12-16 comes to mind...
For all who have sinned without the Law will also perish without the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law; for it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified. For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.
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