Is Christianity an Intolerant Religion?
Years ago, when I was a young mom working in a church, another mom with a newly adopted baby boy invited me to lunch in her home. I remember that it was a cold, gloomy winter day. She lived down the road from the church, so it was easy for me to slip away from my work for a brief lunch.
Her home was small, and I remember stepping over toys in her living room in order to get to her dining area. A small table had been set for two. I was served a bowl of homemade vegetable soup along with warm, homemade bread. I still remember how good that soup and bread tasted.
As we ate, we talked about family, faith, and things in general. When I finished my soup, I asked her if there was anything specifically that she wanted to talk about with me; I had assumed that she wanted to tell me something or that she had a reason for inviting me. Her answer was, “no,” she just wanted to serve me.
I was surprised and said, “Oh! Thank you.” Then I asked for more soup (it was that good). Her gesture of kindness still impacts me to this day.
That simple story is, to me, an illustration of the Christian faith.
Christianity is about an invitation from a holy God who loves mankind deeply, to enter a relationship with Him. And, like my friend’s messy home, God does not call us to clean up our lives before we come to Him but rather in the messiness of our lives, come to Him, just as we are. His grace-filled invitation is only accepted through His gift to us of Jesus, our Savior. We are free to accept or reject Him. It is our choice.
Why is there a question of Christianity being a religion of intolerance? Because the truth is that there is only one way to know and to have a relationship with God.
“Jesus said, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” – John 14:6
When a person comes to realize this personally by faith they cannot help but want to obey and want more and more of His goodness in their lives.
“Taste and see that the Lord is good.” – Psalm 34:8
In Matthew 22:36-40, Jesus said the Greatest Commandment is to place God first, loving Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. God will not tolerate the worship of man-made idols or man-made laws of religion. Only through a personal relationship that is found in Jesus, can we keep that Commandment before us.
We might wonder if all religions can lead to God or ask why we shouldn’t tolerate other religions. The followers of Islam, Judaism, and Jehovah’s Witnesses believe in a version of God; but Muslims, Jews, and Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that Jesus is only a prophet and that the truth is found in their man-made laws. While these religions appear to desire peace, their focus is on their version of God’s Law. To them the idea of a personal relationship with a holy God is blasphemy. In Islam, especially, there is no tolerance but rather a death to those who do not obey their law.
Hinduism and Buddhism oppose each other. The Hindu goal for life is material happiness through good works to achieve freedom. We are left to wonder what works are good enough. A Buddhist has no God but rather a goal of achieving Nirvana where all individual desires are renounced. These religions are inward-focused, while the focus of Christianity is upward, to a God who is greater than man.
Other religions leave men searching inward and empty.
Jesus’ bold claim found in John 8:14, “I know where I came from and where I am going,” is intolerable to other religions. However, no one else ever made such a claim and then gave their own life for others in obedience to God. Jesus gave His life for all mankind, was buried, and walked out of a grave on His own. History proves that no one before or since Jesus has walked out of death on their own. He alone has conquered death and brings life to those who believe. Our God is not a God of confusion. He is Truth.
Jesus is not only our Savior but our example for serving others. The night before Jesus was crucified, He knelt before each of His disciples and washed their soiled feet; this was a servant’s job. In John 13:15 Jesus said, after he had washed their feet, “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”
The Second Greatest Commandment is to “Love your neighbor as yourself”. Christianity is about a relationship with God. By “washing feet” or caring, praying for, or doing good deeds, a believer in Christ is not trying to earn their way to an eternal reward. They are serving others as Christ served each of us. And sometimes, we serve the “intolerable” or those who practice other religions because our desire is for them to know the grace shown to us through Christ. When God’s attributes are displayed in our own lives, we will not focus on “converting” others to the Christian faith for the sake of merely winning them to our viewpoint, but rather to lead them to thirst for the truth and hope that is only found in Jesus.
We are called to reject any religion that is not about Jesus as the only way. We are not called to reject people but rather to serve even those who do not believe in the Trinity: The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We are called to His invitation of a relationship with God and to build relationships with others so that they too will desire to receive the gift of God’s grace that we have been freely given in Jesus.
