Two and a half years ago I lost my wife of 31 years to cancer.  Of course that hurts and whenever I think of that loss I'm momentarily filled with sadness!  But with the strength the Lord gives and with the help of family & friends, I have been able to move on. But there's another loss that has gripped me in recent years.  It, too, has left me with sadness, and at times, even with a feeling of despair and even anger!  The loss I speak of is a loss that, in my opinion, society, as a whole, is experiencing - it's the loss of COMMON SENSE!  My heart yearns for the wisdom and incite that many of our grandparents had despite the fact that for many their formal education did not exceed grade 6.  My heart aches, for example, whenever I read about some of the decisions that are being handed down by our courts.  Or when I happen to be listening to some speech given by some well-meaning, highly educated person - but it's filled with foolishness!  I become aware of that feeling .... that feeling that comes when you have lost something or someone that was very meaningful and lovely.  I think society as a whole will one day begin to grieve that loss - and that loss is 'real' - it simply may be a bit early for most of us within society to become aware of its existence.  I think I'm beginning to see its beginnings through 'acting out' behaviours.  But I'm afraid that when society does wake up to its overwhelming sense of loss, the damage will have already substantially happened!  And that, for me, makes me sad - very sad!

Let me give an example of what I'm talking about - the issue of TOLERANCE!  Many people think that tolerance means never saying that someone else may be wrong.  But notice that the concept of tolerance contains the notion of disagreement.  If there is no disagreement, then there is nothing to tolerate.  Thinking or even stating that another view is false is not intolerance.  True tolerance allows differing views to have an equal right to exist without the threat of violence.  You can be truly tolerant without accepting another person's beliefs.

Furthermore, truth should take priority over tolerance.  There is nothing intolerant about telling the truth.  No one should suppress the truth just because it may hurt someone's feelings or may go against their beliefs.

Is it intolerant to claim the Earth is round because others might think it is flat?  Scholars are not considered intolerant if they believe one hypothesis to be true and another false.  One should always communicate truth with gentleness and respect, but it is clearly not intolerant to claim that one hypothesis is true and another false.

Many people reject Christianity as intolerant for one reason only - that it claims to be exclusively true.  But this is absurd.  When tolerance is valued at the expense of truth and a position is rejected only for claiming to be true, then the necessity of valuing truth above tolerance becomes obvious.  Should we believe views that obviously are false?  Tolerance must be valued but never above truth.  There is nothing intolerant about making exclusive claims to truth.

In summary, many people think that to be truly tolerant they have to hold that all religious views are true.  But that's ridiculous.  How can all religious views be objectively true if they make claims that clearly contradict each other.  Foolishly, people will even conclude that truth, therefore, must be relative.

But as I've stated, tolerance contains the notion of disagreement, which presupposes the existence of objective truth.  It's foolishness to conclude that all truth is 'relative'.  Opinions, yes, but truth, no!  Genuine tolerance demands love and respect.  We show more respect for another religion when we evaluate its truth claims seriously, than when we clothe them with the patronizing cloak of relativism.  Denying our differences does no one any favours.  Discovering truth (or thinking you have) may have at times led people to act intolerantly.  But there is no necessary connection.  Therefore, we don't need to be afraid of being labelled intolerant when we share with others the greatest news they could ever hear.

Tolerance needs to be seen in its proper place, as a means to an end, not an end in itself.  Tolerance is a virtue when it is used to cultivate and preserve truth.  It is a vice when it becomes the end, pursued apart from truth.

We should be inclusive of people but not necessarily beliefs.  We should listen and learn from all people, but we should not necessarily agree with all people.

Even though we live in a world that no longer values truth, as thinking and moral people, we should be committed to both truth and tolerance.

After all, God wants all people to come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:3,4).  Jesus wants us to love our neighbour as ourselves (Luke 10:27).  And Paul exhorts us to "speak the truth in love" (Ephesians 4:15).