Christians are often accused of being narrowminded, or not very tolerant. Together with such an accusation, it is assumed that being narrowminded and intolerant are negative things. It is thought not very nice to be narrowminded, and not very nice to be intolerant. Therefore Christianity is a not very nice kind of faith to have, and makes one into a not very nice person.

As far as these things being not very nice, there are some important points to consider before one is quite so judgemental of Christians. Yes, those who like to call Christians judgemental (intolerant and narrowminded) are often being the judgemental ones themselves!

To be narrow in one’s thinking is quite essential in certain things. Broadmindedness has no place in the world of scientific facts where water always boils at 212°F and freezes at 32°F at sea level, gravity causes objects to fall rather than rise, the compass points to magnetic north rather than east or west, and the sum of 3 and 3 in the decimal number system is always 6. We rely on narrowmindedness in these matters. Give a broadminded response to a request for directions to a point on a map, and the one asking will be left misinformed and confused. In a great many instances, the narrow way is the only rational way to go, and being narrow about an issue defines it precisely, clearly and accurately.

The words of Jesus were far from broadminded here:

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
(Matthew 7:13-14)

And now that business of tolerance…

This is a favourite word of the day. It is considered a virtue to be tolerant, and of some things that is so. But is it really such a virtue to be tolerant (liberal, willing to put up with, permissive) of things that can be harmful to ourselves and society? This supposedly virtuous attitude has been made to cover too many aspects of life, and now in the name of tolerance we are accepting of bad behaviour that amounts to delinquency and criminal activity, slackness of moral convictions that have broken up families, and a welcoming of ideologies that promote self-serving attitudes fostering greed, poverty, disease, angst, hopelessness and despair.

Most caring parents know that loving a child does not mean being permissive, giving in to every want and whim, and withholding discipline. Being tolerant of bad behaviour gives permission for more of the same. Being tolerant in moral issues results in a lack of convictions. The more liberal and broad-minded, the more “anything goes”. Being tolerant is therefore not such a virtue after all. It is a vice.

One person who was decidedly not tolerant is Jesus. He was most definitely intolerant of a world that made us slaves to our appetites, covetness, selfishness, greed, lust, pride, and other sins. He was intolerant of hypocrisy and of falseness, of deception, of any form of unrighteousness. If one is looking for any kind of virtue in tolerance, one is looking in the wrong direction when these things are allowed to go unchecked. Thus there is virtue in intolerance, and we do well to be intolerant as Jesus Himself was of sin.

That leads one to being narrowminded, I hear. But if we are to be intolerant of such things as selfishness, then we are to be the opposite of that - selfless, unselfish, genuinely loving, giving what others truly and genuinely need. We are presented with a choice - to go the broad, easy, tolerant of sin, popular and secular way of the world, or to choose to follow the way shown by Jesus, the narrow way that is intolerant of sin, that is clear and precise and accurate in its way to He by whose grace we have life.

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
(John 14:6)

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