The Intolerance of God

Calling someone "intolerant" is one of the worst insults you can give to someone these days. And rightly so, because so much prejudice and violence arises out of intolerance. Of course, we need to be careful how we define tolerance. Tolerance does NOT mean that anything goes, that everything is true, or that everyone is right. Tolerance means that, even though you and I may disagree on this issue or that belief, we will tolerate each other. As long as no one is harming, belittling, and/or impinging upon the rights and freedoms of others, tolerance means that we will agree to disagree, that we will not resort to violence or power struggles to force our views and beliefs on others. This is a crucial part of living in a free and open, democratic society like Canada.

One of the difficulties Christianity faces in our society today is the belief that God is extremely, even punitively intolerant of anyone who doesn't follow His rules. When we look at certain passages of Scripture, especially passages from the Old Testament, this is hard to argue against, because God does seem to be rather intolerant at times.

This Sunday we will look more closely at one of these passages -- Exodus 34.10-16. Without going into too much detail here, what we find in this passage is that, yes, God is intolerant. But the intolerance of God is not aimed primarily at people, it is aimed at practices, habits, and perspectives that lead people away from the fullness and abundance of life that is found only in Him. Remember the context of this story: God has just freed Israel from 400 plus years of slavery in Egypt and, the thing is, He wants His people to stay free. So yes, God is intolerant... intolerant of everything that will lead His people into slavery once again. This isn't the forced labour they experienced in Egypt. It's far more dangerous and debilitating than that. It's a slavery of heart, mind and soul, a slavery with eternal consequences. God's intolerance is actually yet another expression of His steadfast, faithful, unfailing love.

So, maybe we need to be a bit more intolerant too. But not intolerant of people with different beliefs, lifestyles, and points of view -- not at all! We need to be intolerant of the subtle (and not so subtle) pulls of culture; intolerant of our unthinking habits of self-centredness; intolerant of everything that leads us away from God and, ultimately, into slavery.

Please join us this Sunday if you want to go deeper into the ideas we've touched on here. If you can't make it, you will be able to listen to the message next week at www.nassagaweya.com, following the links to the "Sermons" page. Hope to see you all soon!