Subject: Acts 13:1 |
Bible Note: So, you're trivializing Tamara's beliefs? :-) You know Jamison, holding to some teaching or other despite all reason, may, in one sense, represent an admirable persistence. But, God has gone to great lengths to show us the importance of doctrine. Now, the world teaches that whole plurality thing. But as Christians, we know that two contradicting assertions can't both be right. We understand that doctrine divides. It divides light from darkness, sheep from goats, wheat from tares, children of the Lord from children of the devil, etc. Remember, a high estimation of sound doctrine, doesn't necessarily correspond with a high estimation of the people who hold to such. On the other hand, a low estimation of heresy, error, or fantasy, does not necessarily correspond with a low estimation of the people who hold to those ideas. We have no direction from Scripture to respect folly in ourselves or in others. Don't confuse people with ideas. Your post reminded me of something written by Professor D. A. Carson: "In a relatively free and open society, the best forms of tolerance are those that are open to and tolerant of people, even when there are strong disagreements with their ideas. This robust toleration for people, if not always for their ideas, engenders a measure of civility in public discourse while still fostering spirited debate over the relative merits of this or that idea. Today, however, tolerance in many Western societies increasingly focuses on ideas, not on people. The result of adopting this new brand of tolerance is less discussion of the merits of competing ideas -- and less civility. There is less discussion because toleration of diverse ideas demands that we avoid criticizing the opinions of others… Exclusiveness is the one religious idea that cannot be tolerated. Correspondingly, proselytism is a dirty word. One cannot fail to observe a crushing irony: the gospel of relativistic tolerance is perhaps the most 'evangelistic' movement in Western culture at the moment, demanding assent and brooking no rivals." |