Religious Tolerance

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Miles
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Religious Tolerance

Post #1

Post by Miles »

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Religious tolerance as I see it amounts to allowing people to worship according to the tenets and practices of whatever religion they choose, and without interference. A "Live and Let Live" philosophy as it were. Or, as The Concise Oxford Dictionary (1960) defines religious tolerance:
  • "recognition of right of private judgment in religious matters,
  • liberty to uphold one's religious opinions and forms of worship, or
  • to enjoy all social privileges etc. without regard to religious differences."'

Nice, right? Of course it is. So why doesn't the Bible adopt such an attitude? I ask because it often seeks to do just the opposite: Forget religious tolerance, pick up your stones, swords and shunning skills, and take your cue from how the Bible approaches those of other faiths:



2 Timothy 4:1-2
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.


2 John 9-11
9 Everyone must continue to follow only the teaching about Christ. Whoever changes that teaching does not have God. But whoever continues to follow the teaching about Christ has both the Father and his Son. 10 Don’t accept those who come to you but do not bring this teaching. Don’t invite them into your house. Don’t welcome them in any way.


Deuteronomy 7: 5-6, 9-10
5 “This is what you must do to those nations [the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites]: You must smash their altars and break their memorial stones into pieces. Cut down their Asherah poles and burn their statues. 6 Do this because you are the Lord’s own people. From all the people on earth, the Lord your God chose you to be his special people—people who belong only to him.
9 “So remember that the Lord your God is the only God, and you can trust him! He keeps his agreement. He shows his love and kindness to all people who love him and obey his commands. He continues to show his love and kindness through a thousand generations, 10 but the Lord punishes people who hate him. He will destroy them. He will not be slow to punish those who hate him.


Deuteronomy 12:2-3
2 You will take that land from the nations that live there now. You must completely destroy all the places where the people of these nations worship their gods. These places are on high mountains, on hills, and under green trees. 3 You must smash their altars and break their memorial stones into pieces. You must burn their Asherah poles and cut down the statues of their gods. Wipe out everything that would remind you of those gods.


Exodus 22:20
20 “Whoever makes a sacrifice to a false god should be destroyed. The Lord is the only one you should make sacrifices to.


Psalm 79:6
6 Turn your anger against the nations that do not know you,
against the people who do not honor you as God.


Deuteronomy 13:6-10
6 “Someone close to you might secretly persuade you to worship other gods. It might be your own brother, your son, your daughter, the wife you love, or your closest friend. They might say, ‘Let’s go and serve other gods.’ (These are gods that you and your ancestors never knew. 7 They are the gods of the people who live in the other lands around you, some near and some far away.) 8 You must not agree with them. Don’t listen to them or feel sorry for them. Don’t let them go free or protect them. 9-10 No, you must kill them with stones. You be the first one to pick up stones and throw at them. Then everyone must throw stones to kill them, because they tried to pull you away from the Lord your God. And it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, where you were slaves.


1 Kings 18:19, 18:40
19 Now tell all the people of Israel to meet me at Mount Carmel. Also bring the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of the goddess Asherah, who get their support from Queen Jezebel.”
40 Then Elijah said, “Get the prophets of Baal! Don’t let any of them escape!” So the people captured all the prophets. Then Elijah led them down to Kishon Creek and killed them all.


So, so much for Religious Tolerance. Anyone care to defend all this hatred?


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Re: Religious Tolerance

Post #21

Post by Miles »

JehovahsWitness wrote: Sat Nov 13, 2021 11:40 am
Miles wrote: Fri Nov 12, 2021 4:35 pm You, for instance, have every right to kill practicing male homosexuals because god has deemed it a morally excellent thing to do.
I don't believe that God has given me that right.
Then what do you think

If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them. (Leviticus 20:13)

means?

Do you simply shrug off your obligation to follow god's commands and push his dirty work off onto someone else? Is that how a good Christian operates?


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Re: Religious Tolerance

Post #22

Post by JoeyKnothead »

In my experience, "religious tolerance" refers best to how much tolerance the religious are willing to provide.

They want others to tolerate em banning abortion, tolerate em banning gay marriage, tolerate em using government to advance their religious agendi.

"Religious tolerance" is little more'n "close your eyes to our oppressions against those we hate."

Then don't it be all, they think we're the haters when we push back.
I might be Teddy Roosevelt, but I ain't.
-Punkinhead Martin

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Re: Religious Tolerance

Post #23

Post by JehovahsWitness »

Miles wrote: Sat Nov 13, 2021 2:32 pm... no verse can be disregarded, which is what you are doing here.
Recognising correct application of law doesn't amount to "disregarding" law (if by disregarding you, mean injustifiably ignoring and demeaning said law). Nor does it imply the law was/is faulty. Are you "disregarding" British law which mandates one drives on the left or are you simply recognising it, but also recognising if you live outside the UK it simply does not apply to you?



Miles wrote: Sat Nov 13, 2021 5:19 pm
Then what do you think

If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them. (Leviticus 20:13)

means?

It means than under the Mosaic law system which was ONLY in operation while the kingdom of Israel was a theocracy, homosexuel acts were punishible by death; so if found guilty in a court of law, the authorities at that time had the God given right to execute those guilty of such acts.

Since the earthly kingdom theocracy came to an end in 70CE , I have not been authorised and said law has been abolished, I have no right to exact such a punishment from anyone.
Last edited by JehovahsWitness on Wed Feb 02, 2022 7:04 am, edited 1 time in total.
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http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 81#p826681


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Re: Religious Tolerance

Post #24

Post by JehovahsWitness »

DOES EVERY WORD OF THE BIBLE HAVE TO APPLY TO EVERYONE TO BE INSPIRED AND FREE OF ERROR?
Miles wrote: Sat Nov 13, 2021 2:32 pm By putting it in the Bible god is, in effect, saying: this legitimately applies.
No I dont believe that to be the case. Every word in the bible is valuable but not everything applies to everyone all of the time. To illustrate:
  • Peter and John were sent by Jesus to go and get a donkey. That instruction does not apply to me or anyone other than those two first century disciples.
... another example
  • There was a mandate for the Israelites wandering the desert, to go outside the camp, dig a hole in the ground squat over it when they need to defecate; and when done to bury their waste. This law existed to protect the people at the time from disease but does not apply to people with modern plumbing not living in a tent.
Even when the Mosaic law was in force certain laws only,applied to certain people, for example ...
  • Mensruating women were required to self-isolate for seven days. This law did not apply to men.
In short, it is not true to say just because something is divinely inspired and recorded in the bible it must automatically apply to everyone, forever.








JW



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Last edited by JehovahsWitness on Wed Dec 15, 2021 1:15 am, edited 4 times in total.
INDEX: More bible based ANSWERS
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 81#p826681


"For if we live, we live to Jehovah, and if we die, we die to Jehovah. So both if we live and if we die, we belong to Jehovah" -
Romans 14:8

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Re: Religious Tolerance

Post #25

Post by Miles »

JehovahsWitness wrote: Sat Nov 13, 2021 8:06 pm
Miles wrote: Sat Nov 13, 2021 2:32 pm... no verse can be disregarded, which is what you are doing here.
Recognising correct application of law doesn't amount to "disregarding" law (if by disregarding you, mean injustifiably ignoring and demeaning said law). Nor does it imply the law was/is faulty. Are you "disregarding" British law which mandates one drives on the left or are you simply recognising it, but also recognising if you live outside the UK it simply does not apply to you?
I'm quite convinced you know what "no verse can be disregarded, which is what you are doing here" means, and that you know you're doing it. So I'm not at all interested in your tap dancing here.


Miles wrote: Sat Nov 13, 2021 5:19 pm
Then what do you think

If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them. (Leviticus 20:13)

means?

It means than under the Mosaic law system which was in operation while the kingdom of Israel was a theocracy, homosexuel acts were punishible by death; so if found guilty in a court of law, the authorities at that time had the God given right to execute those guilty of such acts.

Since the earthly kingdom theocracy came to an end in 70CE , I have not been authorised and said law has been abolished, I have no right to exact such a punishment from anyone.
Considering your two paragraphs here together I assume you forgot to put an "only" in your remark above so as to read "It means than under the Mosaic law system which was ONLY in operation while the kingdom of Israel was a theocracy . . . "

My question of course is what do you do with

Matthew 5:17-20
17 “Don’t think that I have come to destroy the Law of Moses or the teaching of the prophets. I have come not to destroy their teachings but to give full meaning to them. 18 I assure you that nothing will disappear from the law until heaven and earth are gone. The law will not lose even the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter until it has all been done.

19 “A person should obey every command in the law, even one that does not seem important. Whoever refuses to obey any command and teaches others not to obey it will be the least important in God’s kingdom. But whoever obeys the law and teaches others to obey it will be great in God’s kingdom. 20 I tell you that you must do better than the teachers of the law and the Pharisees. If you are not more pleasing to God than they are, you will never enter God’s kingdom.


.......................................
?



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Re: Religious Tolerance

Post #26

Post by JehovahsWitness »

Miles wrote: Sun Nov 14, 2021 12:16 am My question of course is what do you do with

Matthew 5:17-20
I accept it, correctly understood.



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"For if we live, we live to Jehovah, and if we die, we die to Jehovah. So both if we live and if we die, we belong to Jehovah" -
Romans 14:8

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Re: Religious Tolerance

Post #27

Post by JehovahsWitness »

JehovahsWitness wrote: Sat Nov 13, 2021 8:56 pm DOES EVERY WORD OF THE BIBLE HAVE TO APPLY TO EVERYONE TO BE INSPIRED AND FREE OF ERROR?


No I dont believe that to be the case. Every word in the bible is valuable but not everything applies to everyone all of the time. To illustrate:
  • There was a mandate for the Israelites wandering the desert, to go outside the camp, dig a hole for their excrement. And cover it over with dort. This law only applied while they lived in camp (see Deuteronomy 23:12, 13)
Even when the Mosaic law was in force certain laws only applied to certain people, for example ...
  • Mensruating women were required to self-isolate for seven days. This law did not apply to men.
In short, it is not true to say just because something is divinely inspired and recorded in the bible it must automatically apply to everyone, forever.








JW



RELATED POSTS
Is it "cherry-picking" to recognise laws must be legally applicable ?
viewtopic.php?p=1055839#p1055839

Does Mat 5:18 not indicate that none of the Mosaic law would ever pass away?
viewtopic.php?p=1042911#p1042911

Does every word in the bible have to apply to everyone? [this post]
viewtopic.php?p=1055876#p1055876

Do bible writers always apply the whole scripture?
viewtopic.php?p=1059551#p1059551
To learn more please see other posts related to...

THE BIBLE , HERMENEUTICS* and ... BEST TRANSLATION
* bible interpretation
INDEX: More bible based ANSWERS
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 81#p826681


"For if we live, we live to Jehovah, and if we die, we die to Jehovah. So both if we live and if we die, we belong to Jehovah" -
Romans 14:8

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Re: Religious Tolerance

Post #28

Post by Purple Knight »

Miles wrote: Sun Oct 24, 2021 12:45 amSo, so much for Religious Tolerance. Anyone care to defend all this hatred?
I don't think it's necessary for individual religions to be tolerant as long as the government is above all religions, has more power, and is tolerant to all religions.

I also don't think it's fair to single out Christianity here as other religions are also intolerant. And again, that's fine.

In the past, it was necessary for religions to be intolerant, because people of other religions would kill you. This isn't circular. Nature works like this. You need an aggressive male lion in your pride because other male lions are aggressive.

Religion served an important function to protect you and bring your community together so it could protect itself.

If we can sustain the modern system, however, that function will no longer be needed and people will simply become less religious over time.

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