The Christ in Prophecy Journal

The New Tolerance: Root And Consequences

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This “New Tolerance” is a product of modern society’s rejection of God. You see, if there is no God, then there are no objective standards. Every person’s opinion is as good and valid as any other person’s. And no one has a right to judge or condemn any one else — unless, of course, the person is exhibiting some form of intolerance!

That is the reason modern society hates the Ten Commandments so much. They are constantly ridiculed in the press. Ted Turner, the media mogul, has rewritten them, converting them into humanistic platitudes which he calls “The Ten Suggestions.”

In colleges and universities across America, the worst thing that can happen to a student is to be accused of intolerance. Merely the accusation will often result in the accused person being required to take a course in sensitivity training, and this course must be finished before any other credit course can be taken! And what happens in the course? The person is bombarded with propaganda in an attempt to brainwash him into believing that all lifestyles have equal merit.

The Moral Consequences

The “New Tolerance” has created a moral vacuum that, in turn, has produced some very strange consequences.

A good example of what I am talking about can be found in the “Naked Guy” incident that occurred on the UCLA campus a couple of years ago. You probably remember seeing reports of it on television.

A student decided that he would start attending classes naked. For days he went from class to class stark naked, and no one was willing to stand up and say, “What you are doing is wrong. It is immoral. Put your clothes back on!” After all, to make such a statement would have been intolerant.

But when the incident got national attention through the media, the administration decided that something had to be done. So, the fellow was finally disciplined on the grounds of the politically correct charge of “sexual harassment.”

Again, when God is removed from the picture, objective standards collapse, and all truth becomes relative.

This was illustrated vividly in a recent article in The Journal of Higher Education. Two college professors reported independently of each other that they had discovered their students were unwilling to make any moral judgments, even regarding the most obscene things. One reported that his students were unwilling to condemn the Holocaust; the other reported that his students could not bring themselves to condemn the Aztec practice of human sacrifice!

In the next part of “The New Tolerance,” we’ll look at how it has affected academia and American culture.

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Dr. David Reagan

Dr. David Reagan is the Founder and Evangelist Emeritus of Lamb & Lion Ministries. He is a life-long Bible student, teacher, and preacher and he led over 45 pilgrimages to Israel. Dr. Reagan was the host of the radio then television program Christ in Prophecy for nearly 40 years.

12 CommentsLeave a Comment

  • Dr. Reagan – I understand what you are saying and my wife and I have talked about this a lot the last couple of months. It is amazing how the so called tolerance is the most intolerant way of thinking of all the philosophies of any period in time. Unfortunately, we have a neice who has a fine education that was evidently grounded in this philosophy and she has bought it lock stock and barrel, we pray for her mightily and her siblings who are also being taught this humanist garbage. It hurts our hearts so much to see how this is leading them away from Christ and will make it so much more difficult than normal for them to be reached with the Gospel. Our hope is in a God of miracles so will not despair. But what is your opinion of how seemingly intelligent people are falling for this lie? Why can they not see that the use of this mantra produces the exact opposite of its goal? I know it is sin and rejection of Godly standards but where is the root in the soul that allows such foolishness to be accepted? Is it pride in ones own self and their ability to make the rules? And how does one combat this – is there any way to turn the clock back on this horrible deception? I loved your book “America the Beautiful?” – do you see this as being a major vehicle for the beginning of persecution for the American church prior to the Rapture? Is this the primary philosophy that will allow the world to accept the Anti-Christ and allow them to persecute the Christians so horribly in the Tribulation?

    Rob from Alabama

  • The thin line has almost been erased. The line of sanity and insanity has just about disappeared and the free for all is next on the stage. And God will not strive with man forever. This I know is true truth.

  • Our church is wrapping up The Truth Project by Focus On The Family. It examines the history of mankind, our godly heritage as a country, and helps you to better communicate your biblical world view as it relates to where we’ve been and where we are headed. Truth vs. Lies, Tolerance vs. Intolerance, etc… are discussed in great detail. It is extremely thought provoking and has made me very aware of how The Truth is on trial in almost every facet of daily living. I would recommend it to anyone who would like to sharpen their communication skills to be better able to give an account for why you believe what you believe. God Bless

  • Today when I came home from work and turned on the TV, I saw a school had just elected a young openly gay man as the “homecoming queen” and the kids being interviewed said it was “cool”… this is a very current example of what is being said… we don’t just let them have their opinion, now we have to embrace it or appear intolerant? How sad for America.

    Claudia

  • The really sad thing is that the “tolernace” and endorsement of that lifestyle is that it is always the last thing to happen before a nation, kingdom, or empire falls.

    It’s our own adultery – our following after foreign gods – that is bringing our destruction down upon us. We have whole-heartedly embraced the demon/god Tolerance (even in our churches) and we are paying the price.

  • And what’s even more sad is that we are tolerating the demands of, according to the 2000 Census, get this, 1.5% of the US population.

    I recall reading a year or two ago about a grade-schooler, whose school was having a “gay” pride day, who got expelled for wearing a shirt that said “I’d rather be happy than gay”.

    I guess it’s like the old Ice-T song says: Freedom of speech, just watch what you say.

  • Well said Dr. Reagan. Its scary and frustrating that we live in this time where “truth will be lies and lies will be truth”. What is frustrating for me is people who tell me they are christians but they refuse to accept some of the most basic moral absolutes in the bible. Having there cake and eating it too. the truth is that they are snowed by what they hear on tv and in schools. and they are backed into a corner and start becoming “double minded” from the bombardment of worldly propoganda. what they really are is confused.

  • Son of Thunder – so you see this as a final act of a nation in decline? I would tend to agree with you based on my very limited understanding of the Roman Empire. I understand that as a society they were to the point of a headlong pursuit of entertainment above all else – hard work, industry, freedom, good and decent standards were passe'. And they were living out all kinds of indecent & decadent lifestyles (perhaps they were all too tolerant). Basically, they lost their underpinnings as a nation, they quit striving to uphold a common ground in their society – those things that made their government a model for our very own USA. Curious, do you think we have passed the point of no return – have we so lost touch that we will never come together as a nation with common goals and standards? Have we gone so far that we will not seek God's face and allow Him to heal our land?

    Unbelievably saddened at watching our great nation take this path,
    Rob from Alabama

  • Rob,

    You are correct on Rome. They lost their patriotic spirit. They instituted a law that said that families could pay a high tax to get out of military service, and most of Rome could afford to pay this tax, so they outsourced their defense to barbarians.

  • Alexander Tyler wrote: “The average age of the world’s great civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through the following sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependency, from dependency back to bondage.”

    The theory is that a democracy will last only around 200 years (the US is 233)and follows this pattern. Does any of it seem familiar?

    The only way the USA could be the great nation it was again would be to 1)return to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ; 2)kick out all the liberals; 3)close all borders; and 4)become self-sufficient again. And that would probably take at least 50 years to accomplish.

  • So, you think it is too late to turn back the tide of sin and national destruction? God can work miracles for sure, but anyone else think we have crossed the Rubicon where the end is a fait’ accompli?

    Rob from Alabama

  • Yeah, the Holy One of Israel can work miracles and He can restore a land, but they have to first turn to Him.

    What’s He say? “Return to Me and I’ll return to you.” If we were to submit ourselves as a nation to Yahweh, He would bless this land. But we won’t.

    In short, we have “crossed the Rubicon”, brother. There is no turning back. It’s like Billy Graham said: If God doesn’t judge the United States then He has to apologize to Sodom and Gamorrah.

    It’s an intersting thing, this. In the Talmud, the Jewish rabbis equate the hatred of Israel with the hatred of God (which is statement I agree with), because Israel is God’s chosen people. When we force Israel to capitulate to those who would murder them in their sleep, then we are saying, basically, “God, we HATE you!”

    How’s that for tolerance?

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