CHRISTIANITY IS INTOLERANT, JUDGMENTAL AND NARROW MINDED

Transcription

1 SERIES: THE BIG CON SESSION THREE, FALL 2017 CHRISTIANITY IS INTOLERANT, JUDGMENTAL AND NARROW MINDED Christianity is intolerant, judgmental and narrow minded: therefore, Christians should keep their views to themselves. The culture we live in and the elites who fashion its ethos want to you for your beliefs, shut down your voice, and stop you from influencing the direction of society. In the first decade of the 21 st century the New Atheism attacked the Christian faith for being not just irrational and unfounded, but for being to human progress and scientific advancement. Hitchens: faith is a deadly threat to the survival of humankind. Dawkins: faith is one of the world s great evils, comparable to the smallpox virus but harder to eradicate. Harris: even the most enlightened religion is one of the principal forces driving us toward the abyss. For all of its fury and vitriol, the New Atheism at this point is spent. After all was said and written, atheism was exposed for what it is: not the rational conclusion of unbiased, intelligent people seeking the truth, but a system based on the philosophy of naturalism an unprovable presupposition that requires faith in something that cannot be proved. In this decade the attack on Christianity has morphed into the claim that Christianity is abhorrent and dangerous because it is intolerant, judgmental and narrow minded. And Christians should either change their beliefs to get with the culture or they should keep their divisive, offensive views to themselves. The agenda behind this lie (stopping Christians from sharing their beliefs) is working. According to the Pew Research Center, when orthodox, Bible-believing Christians were asked what they do when someone disagrees with them about religion % said they try to persuade the other person to change their mind 70% try to understand the other person s beliefs 18% avoid discussing religion altogether In other words, only 1 in 10 would try to share their faith with a nonbeliever in hopes that he or she might believe in Jesus.

2 2 1. IS CHRISTIANITY INTOLERANT? A. Tolerance: The recognition that people have the legal right to believe whatever they determine is true and to practice their faith as they see fit or not practice any faith at all. Of course Christians support this form of tolerance. B. Tolerance: The recognition that people should be treated with dignity and respect regardless of their religious beliefs or lifestyle. Not only do Christians support this kind of tolerance, but we aspire to an even higher standard. Jesus told his followers to love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 19.19) and even commanded that they should love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you (Luke ). It s a given that we should respect and tolerate those who believe differently than we do or practice a lifestyle we cannot condone. C. Tolerance: The notion that no belief about ultimate reality should be evaluated as being false or inferior to any other belief. All beliefs should be granted equal status as a claim to truth. Why is it intolerant to say and why does it make Christians awful people to believe that what Christ taught is the truth and that contradictory beliefs are incorrect? All religions claim to provide us with actual, information about a reality that exists beyond our senses. C.S. Lewis: Christianity claims to give an account of facts to tell you what the real universe is like. The chief purpose of a religion is not to tell people how to live or to bring us comfort. The primary purpose of a religion what makes it a religion, rather than a philosophy is its claim to tell us the about the divine. When Christians say what Jesus revealed is the truth and that contradictory teachings are not, we re not condemning people, we re truth claims. That doesn t make us arrogant or intolerant of others. It makes us and intolerant of error. One of the most caring ways you can help someone is respectfully to show him where he may be mistaken about what matters most. 1 Peter 3:15: Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect Share the faith in a way that is arrogant or condemning and even if we get the answers right, we end up being wrong.

3 3 2. IS CHRISTIANITY JUDGMENTAL? The reason our culture is so adamant that being judgmental is wrong is because it has been influenced by. Matthew 7.1: Do not judge, or you too will be judged. The context in the time of Jesus: Everyone had their place and everyone knew their place. The worth of an individual was determined by his outward characteristics ethnicity, wealth, social standing, being clean or unclean. Jesus taught that this kind of judging one another was wrong. We are called to others because God is love. And we cannot love people when we are judging them as being of less worth than ourselves. Loving everyone was a completely radical idea when Jesus proclaimed it and lived it, caring deeply for the poor, the diseased, the despised, the sinful and the outcasts. You can easily argue that it is because of the teachings of Jesus that the West has proclaimed that all persons are equal and that a society is judged by how it treats its most. Christian theology says that evil is much worse than anyone else on the planet because it not only harms others but it against a good and holy God. But we also say that people who do evil are more loved than anyone else of the planet. The Context in Our Time: We live in an uber-tolerant culture which shuns the idea that there are absolute moral truths that apply to everyone. The meaning of judge in our time has a different context than it did in Jesus day. The culture tells us that if you cannot a person s decisions, behavior or lifestyle, you are judgmental. Rick Warren: Our culture has accepted two huge lies. The first is that if you disagree with someone s lifestyle, you must fear or hate them. The second is that to love someone means you agree with everything they believe or do. Both are nonsense. You don t have to compromise convictions to be compassionate. THE VERB TO JUDGE HAS TWO MEANINGS. 1. To view or treat another human being as possessing less worth than ourselves because of some trait he possess or some action he has committed. 2. To or to differentiate. Judging in this sense is not only acceptable, it s a must for Christians. We are to judge between right and wrong, good and bad, truth and falsehood. In the same chapter, Matthew 7, where Jesus tells us not to judge, he warns us about false prophets. He tells us that we will know them by whether they produce good or bad fruit.

4 4 Clearly we are meant to be discerning when it comes to the message that people preach and to the lives they live. We cannot affirm all personal choices as long as no one is being harmed. Jesus personal choices and practices like greed, sexual immorality, lust, hypocrisy, and unbelief even if no one was being directly harmed. A righteous life is defined by what views as right not by what our culture condones or what people feel is right for them. In our uber-tolerant culture where people feel entitled to whatever they desire, when we say there s a right way to live, they will feel judged and often become angry. 3. IS CHRISTIANITY NARROW MINDED? This attack usually accuses Christianity of believing that it s the only way to God. Practically all religions have some truth in them that we can learn from. Most of them teach that we should be kind to others and honest in our personal affairs. But religions differ greatly in their teachings about the most topics. In fact, they could hardly be more different when it comes to who God is and how we become right with him. Christians describe God as a personal being with a will and an intellect who acts purposefully in time and space. Hinduism teaches that God is, possessing none of the those qualities. Hinduism teaches that all that is is divine, including you and me. Buddhists some are, others believe there are many gods, and some are atheists who believe that there is no god at all. Muslims and Jews believe in a personal God, but neither believes in the Trinity or that Jesus was or that his death on the cross has anything to do with our salvation or that he rose from the dead. All other religions and atheists believe that Christianity is wrong. Does that make them narrow minded? No it makes them either right or wrong, but it s childish to say you re narrow minded because you believe you have found the truth and you propositions that contradict that truth. Is Christianity narrow minded? The truth we have found: God so loved the world that whoever believes in Jesus should not perish. Look at the cross: the arms of Jesus are open wide open to all who will come.

5 5 UPCOMING OPPORTUNITIES FOR GROWTH AND SERVICE Fall Mission Trip to Honduras: November 2-5, $1300. You can register on the church website under Missions. Always a great trip. And we always need scholarships can t go. The Conqueror Series: A 5-week program that offers proven principles and practical tools for overcoming addiction to pornography and other sexual compulsions. The Conquer Series lays out helpful strategies for men seeking sexual purity. A separate support group for female loved ones who have been hurt due to the sexual activities of a spouse, boyfriend or child will be held concurrently in a different space. Thursdays, 6:30-9 pm, Room D210, October 5 November 5. Contact Rev. Cliff Ritter for more info. critter@twumc.org Prison Ministry October 26-29: Eastham Unit, Contact John Van Fleet jvf24810@comcast.net October 5-8: Polunsky Unit, Contact Dave Mefford dmefford12@gmail.com October 5-8: Wynne Unit, Contact Bob Bunch bunchdad@gmail.com November 2-5: Estelle Unit, Contact Guy Barba gbarba51@gmail.com November 3-5: Lewis Unit, Contact Bob Lukefahr Bob.Lukefahr@gmail.com November Lychner Unit, Contact Bob Lukefahr Bob.Lukefahr@gmail.com To see if this might be a ministry for you, you can attend a closing service on October 15, October 29 or November 5. Contact Bill Awalt bawaltk34@gmail.com. Mentoring Inmates Contact Rick Neville rickneville384@gmail.com Two different opportunities, both very structured with support. One is via physical mail correspondence. The other is a 14 session course on accountability, repentance, restitution, etc. You can attend a graduation ceremony on Dec 7 to get a feel for this ministry before you sign up. Fly Fishing in Broken Bow, OK. Nov 2-5. Mountain Fork River and tent camping in Beavers Bend State Park. Cost is $175. Campfire talks will be themed around Joshua's Stand "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Food is provided but men are responsible for all other gear. Wesleyan Covenant Association Global Gathering 2017: A dynamic group of pastors, theologians and laypersons will cast a powerful vision for the future of Methodism, centered on the theme Move: On Mission with God. The WCA is a global association of Methodist pastors, parishioners and churches committed to the orthodox Christian faith and a vibrant Wesleyan witness to the world. The conference will stream to over 50 regional sites. October 14, 9 am to 3 pm. Register at The Woodlands United Methodist Church