Tolerance is not a word that is found in the Bible. Are you surprised?
It is an English word defined in the following way:
There are a few Biblical verses, stories and passages that promote tolerance, but, to be honest, the “tolerant” scriptures are far outweighed by the “intolerant” Scriptures, ESPECIALLY in the Old Testament. Take Leviticus, for instance. The ENTIRE BOOK is dedicated to things that God won’t tolerate, the Jews shouldn’t tolerate, and, basically, intolerance of every other belief system.
Not only does much of the OT spotlight God’s intolerance of certain acts and/or words and/or attitudes, it encourages the “chosen people” (all exclusively from one family tree, the Sons of Jacob), to abandon tolerance altogether in favor of judgment and violence.
For example, in Genesis 17:14, God says that he has no tolerance for men with foreskin: “Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
In Genesis 19:26, God passes judgment on an entire urban area – two cities, close together and highly populated – because there were no “just and righteous” people in the area. The only ones who make it out alive are Lot and his family. (And even then, Abraham had to beg for their lives – God was going to take them out with the rest of the group because – what’s one or five innocent lives when you’re going to wipe out an entire city center? But Abraham changed God’s mind, and even had God convinced that if Abraham could even find a dozen or so righteous people that God wouldn’t wipe out the city. Sadly, there was no one righteous except Lot and his wife and daughters. So they made it out alive.)
In Genesis 24:3, Abraham makes his servant swear that the servant won’t let Isaac (Abraham’s son) marry a Canaanite woman, when Isaac goes off to seek fortune and a wife. Isaac tells HIS son, Jacob, the same thing in Genesis 28:1. Oddly, Canaan was a descendent of Noah who was cursed by default because Noah cursed his father, Ham (who was Noah’s son).
This Canaanite intolerance is carried on into the New Testament when Jesus is approached by the Canaanite woman who wants healing for her daughter and Jesus tells her (in a rare moment of seeming non-compassion) that he was only sent to Israel to help God’s lost sheep – the Israelites – not the Gentiles. The woman has been begging for quite some time for his help, apparently, because the disciples are talking about sending her away and how annoying she is. The woman persists and keeps begging him, and Jesus replies “It isn’t right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs.” Implying that she was a dog.
Author’s note: Most people would have been done right then and there. Jesus or no Jesus, when someone calls me a dog in front of a bunch of people, I’m put out, embarrassed, humiliated, and my pride is wounded. But this woman wants healing for her daughter. And when it’s for your kid, you do crazy things, you stand on one foot, you embarrass yourself in public, you throw pride on the ground if only to give your child a chance.
But she comes back quickly with a reply: “But even the dogs are permitted to eat the crumbs that fall from the master’s table!”
Dude, you’ve got extra power lying around, I know it! Please, just a wink and a nod, please just heal my daughter. It will take five minutes and I’m not leaving until you say yes. THAT’S a mother.
He heals her daughter. (Matthew 15:21-28)
In Exodus 19:5, it states that God favors Israelites above all people. In Exodus 23:24, it says do not allow anyone to worship a different god, and if they do, to conquer them and destroy their religious property. In Exodus 23:13, we are advised to not even MENTION the names of other Gods. In Leviticus 27:3-7, it talks about the value of human life in dollars and cents. (As might be expected, females are worth considerably less than males). In Leviticus 21:16, intolerance of handicapped people is instituted (they cannot approach the altar of God). Also, strangers, fortune tellers, people who marry strangers, slaves, and witches are not allowed to eat holy food, and can possibly be stoned to death (depending on your level of "strangeness") in Leviticus 20-22.
In the book of Deuteronomy, Israel went on an Intolerance Tour, destroying pretty much everyone and everything in their path that wasn’t like them. The book says repeatedly that God didn’t have much patience for “strangers” (if you intermarry, God will be so angry he’ll “destroy you suddenly” (Deuteronomy 7:4)). Also, anyone who didn’t worship God exactly as specified, or if you happened to be born in the wrong place or to the wrong parents, or on the wrong continent, or with the wrong appendage… you’re pretty much not tolerated.
It goes on and on throughout the Old Testament, but particularly in the Book of Law (the first Five books of the OT – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy).
I think it’s safe to say that the Old Testament was a whole lot of intolerance and very few instances of tolerance.
Author’s Note: I also think it’s only fair to mention here that there are dozens of Scriptures I found where intolerance and violence associated with intolerance was actually COMMANDED by God, according to the Old Testament. Like, “kill all those [infidels] –“ men women and children – leaving none to remain” who are not like you” (Deuteronomy 2). I find it interesting that when people slam other religions (read: Islam), they highlight verses very similar to this one, but fail to mention that our Bible has almost identical directives, if you take it out of context. Just a thought. Not trying to get too open minded here. *wink*
But that’s the Old Testament, and according to modern Christianity, the Old Testament was the old covenant, life and relationship under the law. The New Testament is the new covenant, under a rule of grace rather than legalism.
So what does the New Testament say about tolerance?
Not a whole heck of a lot, actually, unless you read between the lines and recognize tolerance and compassion behind the scenes.
For instance, I find it really annoying that facial expressions are not described in the Bible when it talks about Jesus’ interactions with people. In the story of the Canaanite woman I spoke of earlier, begging for her daughter's life, for instance. Was a smile playing on Jesus’ lips and a twinkle in his eye when he said she wasn’t worthy to receive healing? Was a half-smile indicating his sarcasm, maybe accompanied by an eye-roll? The writers of the New Testament are going to have to give me an answer for why they left out all the hugs and tears and smiles and laughs when I get to Heaven and meet them.
There are a few scriptures that deal with tolerance in the New Testament:
So, Christians believe in the Old and New Testament together, but the foundational belief is in Jesus: the same Jesus who walked around ripping people’s intolerance away from them!
And yet many Christians are among the most intolerant people in my world...
How exactly does THAT work?
It is an English word defined in the following way:
tol•er•ance [tol-er-uh ns] –noun
1. a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward those whose opinions, practices, race, religion, nationality, etc., differ from one's own; freedom from bigotry.
2. a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward opinions and practices that differ from one's own.
3. interest in and concern for ideas, opinions, practices, etc., foreign to one's own; a liberal, undogmatic viewpoint.
4. the act or capacity of enduring; endurance: My tolerance of noise is limited.
There are a few Biblical verses, stories and passages that promote tolerance, but, to be honest, the “tolerant” scriptures are far outweighed by the “intolerant” Scriptures, ESPECIALLY in the Old Testament. Take Leviticus, for instance. The ENTIRE BOOK is dedicated to things that God won’t tolerate, the Jews shouldn’t tolerate, and, basically, intolerance of every other belief system.
Not only does much of the OT spotlight God’s intolerance of certain acts and/or words and/or attitudes, it encourages the “chosen people” (all exclusively from one family tree, the Sons of Jacob), to abandon tolerance altogether in favor of judgment and violence.
For example, in Genesis 17:14, God says that he has no tolerance for men with foreskin: “Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
In Genesis 19:26, God passes judgment on an entire urban area – two cities, close together and highly populated – because there were no “just and righteous” people in the area. The only ones who make it out alive are Lot and his family. (And even then, Abraham had to beg for their lives – God was going to take them out with the rest of the group because – what’s one or five innocent lives when you’re going to wipe out an entire city center? But Abraham changed God’s mind, and even had God convinced that if Abraham could even find a dozen or so righteous people that God wouldn’t wipe out the city. Sadly, there was no one righteous except Lot and his wife and daughters. So they made it out alive.)
In Genesis 24:3, Abraham makes his servant swear that the servant won’t let Isaac (Abraham’s son) marry a Canaanite woman, when Isaac goes off to seek fortune and a wife. Isaac tells HIS son, Jacob, the same thing in Genesis 28:1. Oddly, Canaan was a descendent of Noah who was cursed by default because Noah cursed his father, Ham (who was Noah’s son).
This Canaanite intolerance is carried on into the New Testament when Jesus is approached by the Canaanite woman who wants healing for her daughter and Jesus tells her (in a rare moment of seeming non-compassion) that he was only sent to Israel to help God’s lost sheep – the Israelites – not the Gentiles. The woman has been begging for quite some time for his help, apparently, because the disciples are talking about sending her away and how annoying she is. The woman persists and keeps begging him, and Jesus replies “It isn’t right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs.” Implying that she was a dog.
Author’s note: Most people would have been done right then and there. Jesus or no Jesus, when someone calls me a dog in front of a bunch of people, I’m put out, embarrassed, humiliated, and my pride is wounded. But this woman wants healing for her daughter. And when it’s for your kid, you do crazy things, you stand on one foot, you embarrass yourself in public, you throw pride on the ground if only to give your child a chance.
But she comes back quickly with a reply: “But even the dogs are permitted to eat the crumbs that fall from the master’s table!”
Dude, you’ve got extra power lying around, I know it! Please, just a wink and a nod, please just heal my daughter. It will take five minutes and I’m not leaving until you say yes. THAT’S a mother.
He heals her daughter. (Matthew 15:21-28)
In Exodus 19:5, it states that God favors Israelites above all people. In Exodus 23:24, it says do not allow anyone to worship a different god, and if they do, to conquer them and destroy their religious property. In Exodus 23:13, we are advised to not even MENTION the names of other Gods. In Leviticus 27:3-7, it talks about the value of human life in dollars and cents. (As might be expected, females are worth considerably less than males). In Leviticus 21:16, intolerance of handicapped people is instituted (they cannot approach the altar of God). Also, strangers, fortune tellers, people who marry strangers, slaves, and witches are not allowed to eat holy food, and can possibly be stoned to death (depending on your level of "strangeness") in Leviticus 20-22.
In the book of Deuteronomy, Israel went on an Intolerance Tour, destroying pretty much everyone and everything in their path that wasn’t like them. The book says repeatedly that God didn’t have much patience for “strangers” (if you intermarry, God will be so angry he’ll “destroy you suddenly” (Deuteronomy 7:4)). Also, anyone who didn’t worship God exactly as specified, or if you happened to be born in the wrong place or to the wrong parents, or on the wrong continent, or with the wrong appendage… you’re pretty much not tolerated.
It goes on and on throughout the Old Testament, but particularly in the Book of Law (the first Five books of the OT – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy).
I think it’s safe to say that the Old Testament was a whole lot of intolerance and very few instances of tolerance.
Author’s Note: I also think it’s only fair to mention here that there are dozens of Scriptures I found where intolerance and violence associated with intolerance was actually COMMANDED by God, according to the Old Testament. Like, “kill all those [infidels] –“ men women and children – leaving none to remain” who are not like you” (Deuteronomy 2). I find it interesting that when people slam other religions (read: Islam), they highlight verses very similar to this one, but fail to mention that our Bible has almost identical directives, if you take it out of context. Just a thought. Not trying to get too open minded here. *wink*
But that’s the Old Testament, and according to modern Christianity, the Old Testament was the old covenant, life and relationship under the law. The New Testament is the new covenant, under a rule of grace rather than legalism.
So what does the New Testament say about tolerance?
Not a whole heck of a lot, actually, unless you read between the lines and recognize tolerance and compassion behind the scenes.
For instance, I find it really annoying that facial expressions are not described in the Bible when it talks about Jesus’ interactions with people. In the story of the Canaanite woman I spoke of earlier, begging for her daughter's life, for instance. Was a smile playing on Jesus’ lips and a twinkle in his eye when he said she wasn’t worthy to receive healing? Was a half-smile indicating his sarcasm, maybe accompanied by an eye-roll? The writers of the New Testament are going to have to give me an answer for why they left out all the hugs and tears and smiles and laughs when I get to Heaven and meet them.
There are a few scriptures that deal with tolerance in the New Testament:
- Matthew 7:1- Judge not, that ye be not judged.
- Matthew 9:10 When Jesus has DINNER with publicans (ahem… Roman IRS agents. Is there anyone more feared and loathed than the guys coming to collect your taxes?!) and sinners.
- Mark 9 when some disciples get their panties in a wad because someone is doing miracles differently than they do, in Jesus’ name. "Teacher," said John, "we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us." [He was NOT ONE OF US. Isn’t that always the root of the problem?] "Do not stop him," Jesus said. "No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us.”
WHOA. Did you get that? Whoever is not against us is FOR US.
That’s pretty tolerant. That’s pretty open minded. That’s pretty… radical.
So, Christians believe in the Old and New Testament together, but the foundational belief is in Jesus: the same Jesus who walked around ripping people’s intolerance away from them!
“Let the little children come unto me!”
“Let he who is without sin cast the first stone!”
“Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”
And yet many Christians are among the most intolerant people in my world...
How exactly does THAT work?
Hilarious post! The annoying woman, the panties in a wad: now this is how I like my bible studies! Thank you for this informative post. I will now have to stop telling intolerant Christians to read their bible, though. You know, since that's really not helping their tolerance levels..hahah
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