There are two popular bumper stickers in town. One says “Tolerance” using a clever combination of religious symbols. Another states unequivocally, “Zero tolerance for child abuse.” Both have a point that most of us endorse, even though they appear to be mutually exclusive. We can accept them both because they are both expressions of a more complex matrix of values and principles to which our community generally subscribes…even if we cannot clearly state what that system is or why we subscribe to it.
Despite our love for tolerance, we cannot tolerate everything. For example, parts of our own community are at odds over what we will define as child abuse and what we will define as consensual social exchange. To answer that question, each of us must go to some source of ultimate values. The debate is not just an intellectual exercise. It has important social implications. While all are welcome to the dialogue, our community must make choices that will inevitably affirm some values systems and reject and frustrate others.
As an evangelical, I return over and over again to the Bible as the basis for my ultimate system of values. I often read that it is foolish to lavish such attention to a book that is thousands of years old. I would be more convinced by such arguments if I felt that God or, for that matter, humankind had changed much in that time. But I don’t think either has.
The daily newspaper headlines of self-absorbed injustice, cruelty, and greed discourage any hope in our modern institutions of politics, education, or economics. I confess that even the institution of religion has not been the beacon of insight it could or should be because it suffers from the same malady of all institutions… people.
We quickly learn the rules to every system and adapt ourselves to play those rules, not according to their intentions, but according to what we perceive to be our own best interests. We rationalize extraordinary misbehaviors, adeptly finding loopholes because each of us believes that we are exceptional, exempt from the rules we apply to mere mortals.
The Genesis creation account tells us that God created humankind in His own image. The history of religion, Christianity included, tells us that humankind has been trying to return the favor ever since, trying to reverse the process and make God into our image.
My point is this: our society and our learning has not advanced us spiritually or even socially beyond our ancient ancestors to whom much of the Bible was written. We just don’t like to be challenged to look beyond our vision for ourselves any more than they did. We don’t like answering to a God that will not be manipulated by the games we want to play. The Scriptures, taken as a whole, challenge everyone’s personal and cultural assumptions.
In all of this, from what I have read about Jesus in the Gospels, I am certain that He would rebuke me without reservation if I were to speak or act hatefully or even disrespectfully towards anyone, even if I disagreed with their lifestyles or moral choices. I believe this because I also believe we are made in God’s Image.
Still, the fact that truth is not easily found doesn’t make finding it less urgent. There are questions we can’t skirt forever. At some point we have to put down our money and let it ride.
Christians should continue to base their conclusions regarding the meaning and dignity of life on what God has revealed in Scripture. But this is not just an intellectual enterprise. The Bible is the written portion of a dialogue with a living God who will meet with us in that Word if we remain humble enough and desperate enough to listen for Him.
Each month a member of the Cook County Ministerium will offer Spiritual Reflections. For August, our contributor is Pastor Dave Harvey, who has served as pastor of Grand Marais Evangelical Free Church since February of 2008.
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