Intolerance has become society's unforgivable sin. We hear "only bigots are judgmental." Seemingly the intolerant do not deserve to be tolerated. Tolerance is attractive to our society because it is permissive. It is pleasant because it doesn't require hard thinking. Cliches and bumper stickers can deal with it. Best of all, it's non-confrontational. Our society has lost the willingness to confront error in search of truth.. We have created virtue out of weakness and bought into sin. As usual, sin gives the benefit first and extracts the price later.
Blaise Pascal warns us, "It is false piety to preserve peace at the expense of truth." We must ask, "Is tolerance a divine virtue or a contrived value that accommodates our present society?" I am convinced that the way in which society now practices tolerance is a manufactured value that, when practiced to excess, will ultimately prove harmful. Probably the worst thing that can be said about an individual today is that he is "judgmental."
Self-righteousness is sin. Scripture warns us repeatedly against judging others as if we were better than they. Christ condemned the Pharisee who was judgmental toward the publican. Paul laid down the principle that even small sinners are not to condemn big sinners, since we all are sinners. Oswald Chambers tells us that we are not to see the wrong in others in order that we might criticize them, but that we might intercede for them.
One of the most saintly women I've ever known was also one of the most sophisticated. She showed spiritual discernment when she said, "Fred, there's not a sin of which I am not capable. I could be a prostitute. I could be a drunk. I could be a murderer." I thought that was a humble thing for a saint to say, so I condescendingly said, "You're being very humble." She said, "You don't believe me, do you?" I said, "No." She said, "If there's any sin that anyone has committed of which I am not capable, then I'm incapable of loving that person. The same sin that is in him is in me. The God who loves that person has told me that I must love him too." Rather than being self-righteous, we are to be discerning.
Howard Butt ,Jr., founder of the Laity Lodge and a lay minister, preached a great sermon in his early years, proclaiming Christians to be fruit inspectors rather than judges. We are told to inspect the fruit of others, not to belittle them or to demean them—even to the point of being told not to call them fools for fear of judgment. Yet we are told in Scripture, "By their fruit ye shall know them." It is one thing to know fruit, another thing to judge individuals. Fruit inspection is our job; judging is God's.
I believe that discernment is one of the spiritual gifts, and if we were not to be able to tell the differences between good and evil, there would be no point in our ability to discern. When we accept total tolerance as our rule, we deny discernment as our gift. Discernment is not given to us so we can criticize but so that we can coach; it is not given to us to point out weakness but to help build up strength and to avoid error. Our fruit inspection must always be according to the principles of Scripture — the authority under which both we and the person observed live. When a minister holds the Bible up to an audience and says, "The Bible says," he is not pronouncing his judgment but God's judgment. He is not the author of judgment, he is the reporter—and under the same judgment.
When dealing with a subject like this, a leader can be exceptionally emotional or exceptionally logical. I prefer logic to emotion. Raising my voice, demeaning, or ridiculing the other person or cause only solidifies the opposition. I can't say, "Don't be self-righteous," and then be so myself. I can't insinuate that everybody with intelligence holds my position. At times I will even say, "Now, I changed my position here after rethinking it."
Another reason for fruit inspection is that we might see our own sins in others and correct our sins, not theirs. Paul constantly reminded us that as we see the other person's sin, we are really seeing our own. Again, Paul says, "He who is spiritual judges all things." He did not say all people. We are called to discernment — not tolerance. We are to lead with an attitude of self-assessment while judging the quality of the fruit. Maturity leads us to a clearer understanding of the subtle differences between judging and judgmental.
