"Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it." Henry Ford
There was recently a court case where a Christian couple would not celebrate a homosexual "wedding" because of their deeply held religious beliefs and was fined $135,000 for being "intolerant". If this sounds contradicting, it is. All Americans should be able to live and work freely without fear of being punished by the government.
So many people lack intellectual honesty. For some reason, perhaps due to the social media instantaneous kind of world in which we now live, we have become lazy in our thinking. Critical thinking among many Americans is unheard of. We often hear something that sounds good and in our laziness, we agree. Yet if we took 3 minutes to think objectively we would find much of what we initially thought was good to be ignorant or unwise. For example, we often hear calls to "stop discriminating" or "quit being intolerant". Sounds so compassionate and tugs at the emotions. I don't know anyone who enjoys being accused of discrimination or being intolerant. We don't actually take the time to consider what we are being accused of. We immediately begin to tip toe as if we were walking on egg shells. We may even get mad but we seldom think about these flippant quotes critically. Lets take a look at two of these weightless, empty, and many times, two-faced quotes.
"Stop discriminating"
When someone tells another to stop discriminating don't they realize they have just become a discriminator? The person who says "you should not discriminate" is practicing discrimination on someone else for "discriminating." Crazy right? Can we please have some intellectual honesty here? That's like telling someone smoking will kill them while that same person holds a lit cigarette. Although it sounds compassionate, it's contradicting. Next time you hear someone use this quote, take a mental note and subtract 10 points from their intelligence for not being intellectually honest with themselves.
"You are Intolerant"
Keep in mind there are many other silly quotes like "you're judging me" but I feel like these two are enough to make the point. When someone calls another person intolerant it means they themselves are intolerant about the other's alleged intolerance! For someone to punish or put fear in someone because they have different beliefs than another person is the real intolerance. Where is the intellectual honesty here? It sounds smart at first but after a little critical thinking we see it has no substance. Allegations of intolerance are themselves declarations of intolerance. The next time you are called intolerant ask the person where their own tolerance has gone. Try to explain what was discussed in this blog with grace in the hope that intellectual honesty will prevail.
No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. (2 Corinthians 11:14)
Satan is the master of confusion and disguise. Don't let him trick you. Don't be lazy in your thinking either. Be honest with yourself and ask God for wisdom. God has given us His Word to guide us in humility, grace, and truth.
