Tolerance or Pluralism

Dictionary Definition of Tolerance.

1.   A fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward opinions and practices that differ from one's own.

2.   The capacity for or the practice of recognizing and respecting the beliefs or practices of others.

3.   Sympathy or indulgence for beliefs or practices differing from or conflicting with one's own.

4.   Lack of opposition for beliefs or practices differing from one's own.

5.   The act or capacity of enduring; endurance.

6.   The act of allowing something.

Tolerance as defined by culture is a myth, and worse, it is a smokescreen to stop churches from spreading the Gospel.

In April 2009, President Obama spoke at Georgetown University’s Gaston Hall. A monogram “IHS” which represents the name of Jesus and which normally perches above the stage in Gaston Hall where the President spoke, was covered over with black wood during the President’s address. University spokesman Andy Pino said, “In coordinating the logistical arrangements for the event, Georgetown honored the White House staff’s request to cover all of the Georgetown University signage and symbols.”⁹

Oprah Winfrey may be the most spiritually influential person in the US. One-third of those polled by beliefnet.com responded that “Winfrey has had ‘a more profound impact’ on their spiritual lives than their clergy persons,” and USA Today called Winfrey “a spiritual leader for the new millenia.”⁶

Winfrey has wielded her deep influence to promote Westernized New Age beliefs to her estimated 6.9 million viewers per day, but what does she think of a single way to God? As she said in one show, “there couldn’t possibly be just one way.” She is dogmatic in her lack of dogmatism. “I’m a free-thinking Christian who believes in my way,” Winfrey has said, “but I don’t believe it’s the only way, with 6 billion people on the planet.”⁷

And most Americans agree with Oprah. According to a 2008 survey by the Pew Forum on Religion, 70% believe “many religions can lead to eternal life.”⁸ Our country has shifted from a belief in religious tolerance to a belief in religious pluralism.

As the world grows more intolerant of biblical Christianity, there is more pressure on churches to compromise the Gospel. Many churches have neglected the message of salvation in favor of social causes—civil rights, environmentalism, political reform. These politically safe issues draw no criticism from the media.

But the church can never be accepted by the world without compromising the truth of God’s Word. Our message will always offend some people, even though it is preached with a spirit of love and kindness. Remember Jesus’ words, “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you” (John 15:18).

The answer to a culture which hates Christ is not to downplay Christ. We can never please the world without giving up that which makes us Christians.

As Christians, we must do our part to preach the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ around this world in these needy days!
We must also pray for our leaders and to take every opportunity to share the message of Christ and the uniqueness of His claims with each and every one of them. And finally, may we pray today for revival in our land as we seek God’s face in this needy hour.

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1. Gilgoff, D. (2009, February 29). A New Tradition for Obama’s Presidential Events: Opening With a Prayer. US News & World Report. Retrieved fromwww.usnews.com.
2. The New York Times. (2008, January 2). Catholic and Muslim leaders to meet in Rome. Retrieved from nytimes.com.
3. Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. (2009, December 9). Many Americans Mix Multiple Faiths. Retrieved from www.pewforum.org.

4.Banks, A.M. (2008, July 9). Oprah’s ‘gospel,’ influence concern some Christians. USA Today. Retrieved from www.usatoday.com.

5. Chappell, P. (2010, July 06). The Tolerance Myth. Retrieved from www.ministry127.com

CH CH. What's Missing? U R!

• Unreached and unevangelized: 90% of the people living in the 10/40 Window are unevangelized. Many have never heard the Gospel message even once. There are either no Christians or not enough of a "Christian movement" in many cultures of the 10/40 Window to carry out vibrant near-neighbor evangelism. If those groups are to be evangelized, believers will need to leave their own culture and enter another one where they will seek to plant the gospel, perhaps even learning a new language in order to communicate. Such cross-cultural evangelism is required because there are people groups with no churches that are understandable or relevant to them.
  • Good news: There's a difference between unreached and unreachable. In 1989 there were only four known Christians living in Mongolia That country now has an estimated 10,000 indigenous believers. Also, Christian television programming can now be received in many closed 10/40 Window nations.
• Poverty: Eighty-five percent of those living in the 10/40 window are the poorest of the world's poor.
• Good news: Christians delivered more than $1 million worth of food to just one 10/40 Window refugee camp in a recent year. In one North African country that is hostile to the Gospel, abundant rain fell after an Easter service. A local news channel reported, "Christians have brought rain to the desert."

Statistics

• 865 million unreached Muslim or Islamic followers in 3330 cultural sub-groupings
• 550 million unreached Hindus in 1660 cultural sub-groups
• 150 million unreached Chinese in 830 groups
• 275 million unreached Buddhists in 900 groups
• 2550 unreached tribal groups (which are mainly animistic) with a total population of 140 million
• Forming a smaller -- though important -- unreached group are the 17 million Jews scattered across 134 countries.

The question is: who's responsibility is it to reach the unreached? Who's responsibility is it to keep the so called reached or evangelized from slipping back into the unreacheable? If you know Christ as your personal savior you have a responsibility. You can Pray for God to send someone. You can give so that someone can go. You can Go. 

Doing nothing is not an option. Yet many are doing just that, hiding behind the curtain of institutional-ism (Someone else/ organization will cover my lack of participation). 

Do something if you call yourself a believer.

A Stunning Reality

Today over 6.7 billion people are alive on the earth. The entire population of the U.S. is only 300 million, so the world’s population is 20 times that of America. That is a staggering number of human beings. Some missionary leaders still estimate that at least half of them have never heard the Gospel, and some three-fourths of them have not had a clear presentation of the Gospel. Joel was right when he declared, “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision.”

Over 40 million people die annually with an estimated 39 million being unsaved. The population of Hell is ever increasing. These statistics are not just numbers, each one of them is a soul for whom Jesus Christ died.