Tag Archives: tolerance

Know the truth

 

 

P1020832 This symbol is commonly seen throughout Korea and particularly in places of Buddhist worship or shops that sell religious artifacts. It is meant to convey the message that “all is well” or good fortune. You notice right away the similarity to the Nazi swastika, except that it is reversed.

 

I wonder if the Nazi swastika was meant to convey the false message that “all is well” when indeed, all was very horribly wrong. It’s said that if you repeat a message often enough it will be believed. We are aghast at the political propaganda of other countries but often ignorant of the effect of such political and advertising propaganda in our own culture. Whether it be sexism or consumerism we still buy into it. We want more because we are told that more is fulfilling. We come to believe that things are true because we have heard them so many times. The lies become accepted as truths.

 

I think it was Francis Schaeffer who said “The downfall of America will come without the firing of a single bullet. It will happen when we tolerate the things we once abhorred, we accept the things we once merely tolerated, and we embrace the things we once accepted.” Think about it. We see this manifest on both cross-cultural and personal levels. Aren’t we quick to excuse our own “pet sins” that we keep close to ourselves? We tolerate them by rationalizing they are not ‘so bad.’ We accept them as part of who we are and defensively embrace them when someone points them out to us. We could similarly examine our own attitudes toward societal changes. What things have you or your children come to tolerate or accept as normal that once were considered abhorrently abnormal?

 

Wherever you find an original truth you will always find a counterfeit that is dressed up to look like the original. How do you tell the difference? You go back to the source. When we were mentoring men in prison we always told them if what we say doesn’t match the Word of God, to stick with the Word of God. That is the original and genuine message of God’s love to you and me. If we are not grounded in the understanding of His Word, we will easily find our ears tickled by all sort of false teaching and lies that appeal to our earthly desires. Be cautious of those who preach that ‘all is well’ in the world.

 

For the time will come when people will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.…” 2 Timothy 4:3-4