This is Part 2 of a three-part series on the myths and misconceptions of the nature and teachings of Jesus Christ. Part 1 can be found here.
“TOLERANCE.” We see the bumper stickers in traffic, each letter of the word represented by the sacred symbol of a different religion. “COEXIST,” another universally preached message, lectures us all to get along.
Tolerance is a Christian virtue, no? It was Christ Jesus who told us to love our enemies and do good to those who persecute us, to turn the other cheek.
In a world of bumper-sticker philosophers, it behooves us as Christians to safeguard against committing the same error: reducing complex moral principles to feel-good one-liners that we can slap over a stock photo and email to grandma.
A common exegetical error is to frame Jesus and God the Father as a “good cop-bad cop” duo. God the Father was mean! He had rules. He would smite people. He hated those who practiced evil.
Jesus, on the other hand, is nice. He came to set things right, to apologize for His angry Dad. He preaches love and mercy, not hate and justice. Our enemies get cuddles, not fire and brimstone.
But above all else, we must be tolerant. Unlike the Old Testament God, New Testament Jesus offers nothing more than a polite invitation. He really loves you, so He wouldn’t tell you what to do or force your hand. You do you, and you’ll likely find His goodness in whatever you choose to pursue.
That may sound familiar, but none of it is true.
If we’re to believe Scripture, Jesus was seated at the right hand of His Father as God rained down fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, slaughtering thousands. And it was Father God’s own rescue plan that Jesus executed when He substituted Himself for us on the cross.
The two are coeternal, along with the Holy Spirit. The Trinity is made up of three persons, but one essence, and that essence cannot contradict itself. This means we must learn to reconcile the Old Testament God whom people seem to hate with the New Testament God whom people tend to love — because they’re the same.
And most importantly, we must learn that tolerance is not a Christian virtue.
What God Hates
If we Christians are honest, there are some books that we tend to avoid when looking for our next Bible study plan. For example, when was the last time your men’s group read through Leviticus? What about the fascinating lists and records found in Numbers?
The only time you’re likely to hear from the book of Isaiah is at Christmas when your pastor whips out the messianic prophecy verses for his annual nativity sermon. And let’s not even get started on the minor prophets, most of whom you probably couldn’t even name (except for Jonah, of course — he had a VeggieTales episode).
Hidden away in the middle of your Bible is a collection of sermons from a shepherd-turned-prophet named Amos. Unlike Isaiah (who was likely a priest), Amos was a simple man who left behind his blue-collar vocation to bring a word of judgment and warning against the people of the Northern Kingdom of Israel.
For generations, the Northern Kingdom had been straying from God, led by evil leader after evil leader. They brought sacrifices to their demon gods, sold their own poor into slavery, perverted justice in the courts, committed rampant sexual debauchery, and much, much more.
(A parallel between this kingdom and our society might be hard to imagine, since we’re only sacrificing our children to Planned Parenthood, selling our young, poor people into OnlyFans and pornography addiction, sending police to prison for doing their job and committing rampant sexual debauchery.)
The Northern Kingdom was a nation in a decline cycle. Each generation tolerated a little more and a little worse than the last, until they had transformed into a people unrecognizable as children of God.
The patience of God had just about run out. Amos was sent to give them one final warning, one last call to repent before God sent destruction upon them. He pleaded with his countrymen to understand the severity of the impending wrath. God will not be mocked.
“‘I destroyed some of your cities,
as I destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.
Those of you who survived
were like charred sticks pulled from a fire.
But still you would not return to me,’
says the Lord.‘Therefore, I will bring upon you all the disasters I have announced.
Prepare to meet your God in judgment, you people of Israel!’”Amos 4:11-12 (New Living Translation)
How God Loves
“Yes, I understand, but that was before Jesus came. God doesn’t get angry like that anymore.”
Oh, what a grave misjudgment.
When God’s wrath was satisfied on the cross, we were reconciled to the Father and received the Holy Spirit — promises that our co-heirs in the Old Testament never realized in their lifetimes. God will no longer punish His people for their sins because He already punished His Son.
But God won’t necessarily rescue us from the consequences of our decisions. This, contrary to capital punishment, resembles a parent disciplining his child. It’s the discipline and “punishment” referenced in Hebrews 12 — not a death sentence, but a course correction.
The biggest difference is that God will never again turn His face from us. Even if we are suffering the consequences of our decisions or the discipline for our errors, we know that God still loves us and has redeemed us.
You see, this is the lens through which God’s love must be viewed: a parent raising children. Sometimes that love means blessings and gifts; other times it means discipline so that we may understand we’re pursuing something that isn’t good for us.
The one thing a parent should never do is allow his child any and every liberty he desires. Sometimes love may mean restricting that child’s rights to protect him from himself.
You as a parent possess something your child does not — wisdom. So, founded in wisdom and executed in love, your actions may appear very unloving. But, by God’s grace, your child will thank you for them later in life.
How God Hates
“OK, so I was right. God doesn’t get angry at us.”
Don’t forget that the only reason we are no longer recipients of the wrath of God is the righteousness of Christ that we have appropriated. Most of the people we share this world with do not share that righteousness with us.
America in particular is a nation chock-full of evildoers bearing overflowing cups of God’s wrath, and the proper Christian response is not to tolerate them.
We must use the wisdom given to us in the Scriptures to craft and protect a society that God will bless, because it is only through God’s blessing that human life will flourish and multiply. We must use this wisdom to avoid steering our society into the same ditches that have wrecked God’s people for thousands of years.
Yes, Jesus did say we are to love our enemies, but that requires a biblical understanding of what love actually looks like — as the Proverb says, “to fear the Lord is to hate evil.” Not who is evil, but what is evil.
So, in love, we must stand firm against that which God hates — the LGBT agenda, the murder of children, the corruption of government, and more.
Loving our enemies might look like buying them a coffee and inviting them to church, and it also might look like marching into our children’s school board meeting and, in the spirit of Amos, telling them of the wrath that is coming for them.
Many of us seem to think that the decline of this nation can continue indefinitely — that things can keep getting worse, and worse, and worse, and never reach a breaking point.
Or perhaps we pridefully think that God will spare our nation for the sake of His remnant, believing ourselves to be heroes of the faith like Job, and not in fact the people for whom persecution was prophesied by Jesus Himself.
I will leave you with this warning — not a warning meant for an evildoer or a pagan, but a warning meant for a child of God who sits idly by, enjoying a comfortable life without a worry in the world:
“What sorrow awaits you who lounge in luxury in Jerusalem,
and you who feel secure in Samaria!
You are famous and popular in Israel,
and people go to you for help.
But go over to Calneh
and see what happened there.
Then go to the great city of Hamath
and down to the Philistine city of Gath.
You are no better than they were,
and look at how they were destroyed.
You push away every thought of coming disaster,
but your actions only bring the day of judgment closer.
How terrible for you who sprawl on ivory beds
and lounge on your couches,
eating the meat of tender lambs from the flock
and of choice calves fattened in the stall.
You sing trivial songs to the sound of the harp
and fancy yourselves to be great musicians like David.
You drink wine by the bowlful
and perfume yourselves with fragrant lotions.
You care nothing about the ruin of your nation.
Therefore, you will be the first to be led away as captives.
Suddenly, all your parties will end.”Amos 6:1-7 (NLT)
Check back next week for Part 3 in this three-part series on the common myths and misconceptions of the nature and teachings of Jesus Christ.
