"RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE"

Good day everyone and welcome to another devotion from God's Word. Today I would like to begin a look at the idea of religious tolerance. We hear it mentioned often enough in the news and media around us, but how are we to deal with it as it comes close to home in our communities and neighborhoods?

First of all we may need to define the word "religion" and then the word "tolerance" as defined from two different sources.

religion noun [C/U]
the belief in and worship of a god or gods, or any such system of belief and worship

religious adjective a religious holiday. He is deeply religious.

religiously adverb If you do something religiously, you do it regularly: I exercise religiously, I really do. (Cambridge Dictionary of American English)

(Religious) tolerance:

Among religious conservative, this means that one must accept all religious faiths as equally true.

Among others, it means to grant full religious freedom to persons of all religions, including those different from your own faith. From http://www.religioustolerance.org/gl_r.htm.

This is what we are being taught and what our children are learning and told from an early age to believe and accept. IS THIS CORRECT TEACHING? No, no, a thousand times NO!! Not that we should become like the Muslims and do all we can to annihilate, kill and wipe from the earth all who believe differently. Even Jesus The Christ did not go that far. He allowed people to believe what they chose in the face of TRUTH but knew there was ONLY ONE WAY, through HIM!! No one comes to The Father unless they go through Him. No one enters glory if they deny Him as the ONLY begotten of The Father.

We may have to live among different beliefs and religious practices, but we do not have to accept any of them as Truth. In accepting another religion as true or equal, we are really saying that what we believe in ourselves is not necessarily the right way. If all religions are equally true, they are all equally false. With this line of thinking there is no standard, no basis other than what any individual or group decides within their own life to be true. Jesus said in John 17:17, Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. (NIV)

God's Word is THE standard and to tolerate or accept "other" religions not of God is to deny God, HIS Word and all HE has done to bring salvation through HIS Son Jesus The Christ.