Does Grace Equal Tolerance?

The world today see Jesus as merely a good man, denying that He's the Saviour, but using Him as an example to follow regarding 'grace' and 'love'. In doing this, sins are being justified and wrapped up in the the new buzz word, 'tolerance'. This too is where the church is heading, and this should not be surprising because it has been predicted in the Bible.

1 Timothy 4:1 "The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons."

2 Corinthians 11:4 "For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough."

As this warped teaching progresses, views become distorted as to who Jesus really is, and the danger is when people begin to see Him as someone He's not, attempting to reinterpret the Scriptures to suit their own desires. Sugar-coated words are spoken and truth is changed and re-packaged so as to be more palatable to the hearers.

2 Timothy 4:3 "For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear."

Once a wrong belief has been established, this in turn begins to spread throughout one's whole doctrine like a disease. In order to be a 'loving Christian' and show 'grace' towards others, surely that means we should be supportive of those who are living in sin--and questions begin to arise in their way of thinking, 'Who am I to say that there is only one way?'

Not wanting to insult others in their religious beliefs, the only obvious conclusion would be to 'ease up' and not be so 'intolerant' and 'unloving' by standing firm on what the Bible teaches. 

This ultimately ends up with the view of denying Jesus is the only way, the only truth and the only life, denying God's sovereign law.

Although we are no longer under the law (Romans 6:14), the law is holy, just and good (Romans 7:12). If we didn't know the law, we wouldn't see the need for a Saviour in the first place because we wouldn't know we were sinners.

Romans 7:7 "What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law." 

But because God has revealed His law, we now know His goodness, and Jesus fulfilled the law (Matthew 5:17), so that goodness is now written on our heart. (Hebrews 10:16). His law shows us what is right and what is wrong. This truth is evidently undeniable. However, when we adopt the attitude that it's wrong to call a sin a sin, and in doing so, is being unloving and offensive, in effect, what we're actually doing is watering down God's Word. And once the Scriptures have been changed to be perceived so that sin is justified, the truth has just been eliminated.

So we can see then, that as soon as we begin to believe even a small lie, that it only leads to a path further and further away from the truth. And although this belief, which is becoming stronger throughout the world right now, is seen to be loving and graceful, it is a huge trick of the enemy, because it is the exact opposite.

To accept sin and use the term 'supportive' to excuse one's position, is in actual fact, supporting them to hell.

To say it's 'loving' to not mention truth when the opportunity arises, is really hating with lies.

And to say it's showing 'grace' to keep quiet about what the Bible teaches so people aren't insulted or offended, is to delete Jesus from your lips, and to delete Jesus is to delete grace, because there is no grace without Jesus.

As followers of Jesus Christ, let us stand firm in the faith, always speaking the truth of God's Word because this my friends, is true love!

- By Jen Ayling