America's Gods

Merica's gods: Intolerance

I've spent the last several months thinking about the utter waste in our nation. We waste resources, education, and effort on a wealth of idolatrous pursuits that are at the epicenter of American culture. It makes me sad. It is deeply sinful. And one of the saddest parts about it is that the American church has done or is doing very little to call it's people to repentance. Shame on us. When I was a little kid my brother was an even smaller kid, and there were plenty of times he would do something that would make me want to slug him. Sometimes I did, which was quickly greeted by a parental reroof, but more often than not I simply tolerated whatever newly contrived annoyance he had come up with.

Our culture's working definition of the word tolerance is broken. Tolerance is a beautiful thing, but in recent years there has been a steady shift in just what that word means. No one really thinks of tolerating something as putting up with something you don't like anymore. Or at least that's not the way it is discussed in popular media.

We've sort of collectively replaced the definition of tolerance with the definition for acceptance, especially in terms of cultural squabbles. No longer when two parties disagree is there a mutually held respect, accompanied by a venerable tolerance based on the opposing side's inherent human dignity. Politically, socially, economically, and religiously, when someone inevitably disagrees with our ideas we label them as being intolerant.

We are so silly sometimes. By its vary nature, it is impossible to show tolerance for an issue unless we disagree with it. Christians should be the most tolerant people on earth. We should understand all too well that you don't, can't, and shouldn't attempt to force your beliefs on others. Of course we will regularly be at odds with practically everything about current trends in morality. But that doesn't mean we simply start demonizing everything and everyone. No, we don't have to remain silent in our disagreement, but we can voice our opinions without turning into crusading moralistic bullies.

The other side has a problem with this too. Often the far left labels Christianity as an incredibly intolerant faith because the vast majority of us refuse to sway from our historical core beliefs about God and moral issues. The truth is that our refusal to budge from our stalwart moral position, while still acknowledging the dignity and worth of those belittling us, is actually what proves the level of our tolerance.

Both sides of this issue of intolerance need to wake up. The level of vitriol and hate mongering that goes on today is disgusting. It's beneath us. We need to pull intolerance down off of its thrown and listen to what our neighbor has to say. It could be that taking the time to learn their opinion might give you insight into their basic human decency, even if you don't agree with their position.

More posts in this series:

Etiquette, Etican, Etican't

Football, Athletes, and Idolatry

Mirrors, Models, and Muscles

Education

Sex

Culture Wars

Religious Tradition and Dissidence

Intolerance

Greed & Consumerism

Merica's gods: Religious Tradition and Dissidence

I've spent the last several months thinking about the utter waste in our nation. We waste resources, education, and effort on a wealth of idolatrous pursuits that are at the epicenter of American culture. It makes me sad. It is deeply sinful. And one of the saddest parts about it is that the American church has done or is doing very little to call it's people to repentance. Shame on us. My family has some great traditions, especially around holiday time--traditions that I enjoy being a part of and look forward to every year. Chances are that your family has traditions of your own. It doesn't end there. Ultimately we are creatures of habit and comfort, and will almost inevitably create a tradition out of anything that gives us comfort or a feeling of success.

Politically our nation is experiencing this right now as the party convention season kicks into full swing. Relationally we probably experience tradition of another kind in the ways we enjoy spending time with our friends, family, and significant other. Religiously, well religiously is where tradition can really begin to be disastrous in our lives. I will go on record again to say that I don't think religion is a bad thing. Today its a dirty word in most conversations, but my personal belief is that it has been misused.

For the Christian we use religious activity to connect with God, which is a good thing; but sometimes we become more occupied with the idea of the religious activity and it's importance than we do with the God we should be trying to connect to, which is not a good thing. Jesus frequently butted heads with people who had engorged perspectives on the importance of religious tradition, but Jesus also did many religious things.

To finish this thought before moving on: the tradition must never trump the Trinity in our hearts and actions. We must never let our ideas about how we connect with God become more important than God or helping others connect to Him. The moment this happens we have created an idol.

And then there is the other side of this coin, dissidents. The dissidents among us, and many of us fall into this category at one time or another, are so fixated on the notion of abandoning tradition that we make a tradition of not being traditional. See how silly that sounds? And like the traditionalist who replaces God with his/her ritualistic thing, the dissident replaces God with his/her compulsion to ignore and abandon anything meaningful to be gleaned from tradition.

In my life the key to truly enjoying my relationship with the Father has been to embrace objectivity in my approach to the Christian religion. It's not always easy, and I don't always succeed in being objective, but I frequently find myself asking these questions: Why do I believe this way? Why do I do that? How does this help others see God? How would Jesus respond to this situation? Again, let me point out that I'm not always successful in my approach. Sometimes I become impassioned and rush into something without proper contemplation or prayerful discernment. Even so, it is my deepest belief that we can find the heart of God somewhere between the idolatrous extremes of religious tradition or dissidence. He is calling the Church to meet Him there.

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More posts in this series:

Etiquette, Etican, Etican't

Football, Athletes, and Idolatry

Mirrors, Models, and Muscles

Education

Sex

Culture Wars

Religious Tradition and Dissidence

Intolerance

Greed & Consumerism

Merica's gods: Mirrors, Models, and Muscles

I've spent the last several months thinking about the utter waste in our nation. We waste resources, education, and effort on a wealth of idolatrous pursuits that are at the epicenter of American culture. It makes me sad. It is deeply sinful. And one of the saddest parts about it is that the American church has done or is doing very little to call it's people to repentance. Shame on us. We love pretty people. We love strong people. We love people who are strong while they are pretty even more; and we love people who can make us feel strong or pretty most of all. The catch in this whole distorted thought process is that we have no idea what either or strong or pretty really are outside of our disastrously unhealthy presuppositions about physical appearance.

Guys often think we know what pretty is. We usually attribute it to a visually pleasing female image, after all, God did wire us that way, but that is really only one aspect of beauty...one that has been disfigured, embellished, and warped beyond recognition. This image most of us hold to about the nature of beauty is actually a sacred cow. It is an idol that our nation sacrifices billions of dollars to every year.

Sure, there is something aesthetically pleasing about attractive people, but that is only one aspect of a person's being. When it comes to strength and beauty we so often miss the mark by determining a person's worth based on their physical image. Another major pitfall here is how we measure our own worth based on these fickle indicators.

Anytime a person's image governs our reception of them, or our actions or attitudes toward them, we have made image an idol. Jesus plainly stated in scripture that how we treat other people is a direct indicator of how we treat Him.

Heaven help us to see people for who they are, to love them without condition, and to put to death the vulgar quest for the perfect image so many have become so consumed with.

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More posts in this series:

Etiquette, Etican, Etican't

Football, Athletes, and Idolatry

Mirrors, Models, and Muscles

Education

Sex

Culture Wars

Religious Tradition and Dissidence

Intolerance

Greed & Consumerism