Rob Witham

I received an invitation this week from Hopeful Spirit to participate in the new guest blogger program at On The Horizon. There is a story behind the guest blogging program (described here). In a nutshell, the program originated out of an experience with intolerance on religious blogs. I know, Christians are never intolerant…. I only wish.

I wrote an article titled Religious Tolerance As Christian Virtue as my guest contribution. You can read the complete article at On The Horizon.

I received a wonderful e-mail back from Hopeful Spirit after I sent her my article. I thought I would share a few lines here because it truly gives God the glory for how the whole process unfolded:

“I keep saying it over and over, but it is true: I am constantly amazed at how the Holy Spirit works. Blogger wiped out my post the other night, as I wrote about, and it was obviously the work of the Spirit because your post says what I was trying to say more succinctly and coherently. Bravo!”

I have seen this sort of thing happen far too many times to believe it could be coincidence. I accepted the invitation to guest blog with no idea what I would write about. As I read the story behind her guest blogger program my mind went to Paul’s statement recorded in Romans 14:

“Welcome those who are weak in faith, but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions…. Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand…. Let us therefore no longer pass judgment on one another, but resolve instead never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of another.” (Romans 14.1-13 NRSV)

We tend to be far too quick to silence and ridicule those that do not agree with us. A few quick thoughts:

1. Given the diversity of opinions on just about every aspect of the Christian faith it is fairly obvious that some of us are wrong about some things. In fact, I would suggest that we are all wrong about some things!
2. Intolerance is not a virtue just as tolerance is not compromise. It is quite possible to stand for what you believe without becoming intolerant of others with different views.
3. According to the Scriptures I do not need to make a big deal out of lesser issues. It is okay to disagree in love while we wait for God to straighten us all out.

Head over to On The Horizon and read the article. Be sure to comment and contribute to an important discussion that Christians involved in social media need to have!