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Wednesday, 10 March 2004
Intolerance for Jesus

Author Ryan Dobson, son of Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, calls for Christians to be more intolerant of others. "Christians are the only ones asked to be tolerant in this culture," he complains.

Now let me think, who asked Christians to be that way, anyway?

Posted by godfrey (link)
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"Christians are the only ones asked to be tolerant in this culture," he complains.

More like, "Christians tend to be the only ones who have to be asked to be tolerant in this culture"!

Posted by Ginevra on 21 Jan 2004 09:44
Don't they go to hell for not following the book exactly?
Posted by Lisa on 21 Jan 2004 10:03
It really all depends on your interpretation; even in some flavors of Christianity, there's room for great variance.

For example, the first church (Methodist) I was in as a small child was led by a fire-and-brimstone minister who taught his congregation that God was to be feared, and whose nature revolved around wrath and retribution. My parents didn't want their kids to be raised with that sort of belief, so they switched to a different Methodist church where the pastor emphasized God's loving and forgiving nature, to the exclusion of the less palatable bits.

Actually, that pastor was quite different from most men of the cloth that I've met. He encouraged questioning, on the basis that any belief which couldn't withstand direct scrutiny probably wasn't worth holding, acknowledged that there were contradictions in the Bible, and he never answered any of my questions with crap like "go pray for an answer". He freely admitted that many parts of the Bible (the Creation story, for example) were probably allegorical rather than factual, a result of early Man's attempt to explain the universe without the benefit of scientific knowledge.

It's probably a good thing for him that Methodists don't practice excommunication. :-) I wonder whatever happened to him.

Posted by Godfrey on 21 Jan 2004 10:30
"It doesn’t mean that people are bad. It means that that sin is bad."

Intolerant of evil, not intolerant of others.
Posted by Meredith on 21 Jan 2004 21:30
"But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." Matt. 5:39

Posted by Godfrey on 21 Jan 2004 21:54
Growing up, my parents were told "Don't look into that church! If you look in and see the holy rollers you'll go to hell!"
Posted by Lunchbox on 22 Jan 2004 06:56
I think it's interesting how just seeing or hearing something is enough to bring instant salvation or damnation.

For example, in Mark 4:10-12, Jesus explains that the reason he speaks in parables is so that the unworthy might not hear his message and be saved.

Posted by Godfrey on 22 Jan 2004 07:49