Reflecting on Tolerance

I've been thinking more about the importance of tolerance lately. Every time someone compares someone they don't like to Hitler it reminds me how much we all need tolerance (except when that person has tried to systematically commit genocide, in which case I think there are legitimate comparisons).

I wish that every person on earth could agree with this thought: someone can disagree with me and still be reasonable, intelligent, peaceful, and virtuous; some people just don't think the way I do. There are very few exceptions to this rule.

I believe that in doing this we make the Lord pleased with us. In fact, I believe that we are commanded to do exactly that in the sermon on the mount:

43 ¶Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.

 44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

 45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

 46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?

 47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?

 48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

Jesus taught us all to be better; with His sacrifice we are no longer held to a lesser law, but asked to rise above and follow Him. If we can't respect or even be civil to someone of an opposing viewpoint, how can we claim we are following Christ?

In a most precious passage of scripture we learn of Enoch, who saw "... that the God of heaven looked upon the residue of the people, and he wept." Enoch asked in disbelief how it was possible, and the Lord replied:

... Behold these thy brethren; they are the workmanship of mine own hands, and I gave unto them their knowledge, in the day I created them; and in the Garden of Eden, gave I unto man his agency; And unto thy brethren have I said, and also given commandment, that they should love one another, and that they should choose me, their Father; but behold, they are without affection, and they hate their own blood;

If we cannot tolerate those around us we cannot love them. In one eidetic moment of my life I thought I felt with clarity the profound love of God for another human being. It is deep and powerful beyond what I can communicate, and I know that we can never have it without tolerance.