Do I truly believe that everyone has the right to their own beliefs or lack thereof?

Romans 1:20 & 21 says “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

All creation bears witness to the creator.  So the lack of a belief that God exists is not the debate, for that there is no excuse.  But I guess that isn’t the question is it?   “Do I believe that everyone has the right…” is the key part of that phrase.

Did God bestow us with free will so that some can choose to have “their thinking become futile and their foolish hearts darkened”?

The answer in this case is yes.  I do believe that everyone has free will.  They can choose to think or believe whatever they want.  It may or may not be true.  I can sing “I’m a little tea pot short and stout..” all day, but I don’t suddenly become a little tea pot, short or tall or whatever.

Can I respect the person, even though I may not respect their ideas?

Everyone spells respect differently nowadays.  Some believe if you respect someone you will abandon the idea of sharing the truth that they are not the little clay tea-time reservoir that have come to believe themselves to be.  I tend to think of respect as a love for one another that gives honor not out of obligation but because I myself have been loved by a loving God.  If I show this love and I disagree with their ideas, this self-same love that I show also is mixed with pity.  One whom I love who has decided to live in darkness when light abounds.

So if the question is “will I love the person regardless of whether I believe them to be in error?” the answer is yes.

Do I have the capacity to recognize my own fallacies?

This is the root of my faith.  I am wrong.  In and of myself, I will never be right.  It is only through God that I can come into any kind of right (righteousness).  This is called mercy.  Any person who says they have it all figured out is either a “Liar, a lunatic or Lord”.  I’ve met many liars and lunatics but I’ve only met one Lord.  Jesus Christ.

Will it kill me if I were wrong?

Yes.  Oh wait, I didn’t mention that earlier.  We have to die.  In the Garden of Eden, God made one law that said “Do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil or you will die”.  Adam and Eve ate of the tree and both Adam and Eve died.  We all die.  This is what is considered “The Law” (along with the first five books of the Old Testament).  God set up all these standards for sacrifice so one could be cleansed from their sins.  But Jesus came and paid His one perfect sacrifice so that anyone who recognizes the authority of that sacrifice can be saved from the death that results in separation for eternity from God.

Galatians 2:19 & 20 sums that up.  ”For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Am I able to hold what I believe is truth lightly in the interest of dialog?

A good dialog doesn’t need anyone to hold onto truth lightly.  If it’s true, it will facilitate dialog rather than thwart it.  I liken this question to “Am I able to close my eyes and find my way over a ravine so that we may both reach the bottom?”  Sure, we’ll find the dialog, but if I am holding too lightly onto truth, what is the point of the dialog in the first place if it isn’t for a clearer understanding of the truth?

Now, that being said, I will listen rather than condescend.  But I won’t back down because the truth is offensive.  Jesus said “I am the way the truth and the life” and they nailed Him to a tree over it.

I’d rather be nailed to a tree as well than hold too lightly onto my faith in Jesus Christ.

Can I overlook and maybe even appreciate the idiosyncrasies of others in order to hear what they have to say?

Check out Jesus hanging out with prostitutes and tax collectors.  I think a lot of people want to make out Jesus to be someone who wasn’t offensive in some way.  But when it came to matters of dealing with the scriptures, Jesus got pretty harsh at times with religious authorities even calling them a “brood of vipers”, “hypocrites”, and “whitewashed tombs”.  I guess there’s a part of me that says “why let evil be perpetuated through the spreading of lies?”  As more and more people have come to “alternate viewpoints” about scripture, I find myself more and more being preached to from Satan.

I love what scripture says in 2 Timothy 4 of what Paul believes to be some of his last words:

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men 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. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

Notice also that Paul states right along with “correct, rebuke and encourage” the statement to do it with “great patience and careful instruction” then talks about unsound doctrine, people with their own desires who want to “gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.”

Am I willing to discern the deeper currents rather than being distracted by the surface ripples?

I guess I have to answer this with a question.  What deeper current?  Compared to the Truth of God’s Word made flesh in the manifestation of Christ, there is no deeper current than that.  Everything else is surface ripples.

Can everyone play? In other words, will I not ostracize someone because of their beliefs or lack thereof?

I guess I wish it was that easy.  Jesus did say that “anyone who believes in Him would not die, but have eternal life” so yes, everyone can believe and be saved.  But the hard part comes that Jesus is the only way.  He didn’t say ” I am a way, a truth, and a life”.  It was, “I am the way, the truth and the life” and He didn’t stop there.  He went on to say “no one comes to the Father except by me” just to be a little more clear about it.

As for if I will ostracize someone because of their beliefs or lack thereof?

Once again, look at the people Jesus hung around with.  Sinners, every one of them.  The worst of society in many ways.  But Jesus didn’t bend for them either.  I hate this passage of scripture, but I must reference it anyway.  John 6: verse 60-69 just after Jesus declared Himself the very Manna from Heaven that God had sent and essentially declares Himself the Messiah:

On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”  Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him.” From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.“You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.  Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”

I hate this scripture.  It would be much easier to say that many of the disciples agreed to disagree and everyone was fine with it.  Jesus no longer declared Himself as Messiah and told them “it’s okay”
we’re all going the same direction anyway.  It doesn’t matter what you believe.

He didn’t though.  He lost a lot of His disciples and ostracized them through their lack of belief and offended “many”.

Is personal harm to others the only prohibition I am willing to make?

Not if I love God.  Not if I love people.  Good example is what Jesus says in the sermon on the mount in the section called “The Beatitudes” Matthew 5:9  ”Blessed are the Peacemakers for they will be called sons of God”.  ”Peace making” and “holding the peace” are two very different things.  Sometimes in order to make peace, war does have to be fought.  Jesus even tells His disciples to go get a sword in Luke 22:36 then tells them two is enough (which is even stranger).  Or how about Matthew 10:32-36?

“Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.

“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn ” ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law - a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’

Do I love all beings, and if not, am I willing?

I think we’ve come full circle with this question.  If Jesus loved everyone enough to die for them and He is my example then as it is said in John 15:13  ”Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”  And if I am more likely to be held in contempt for my love than my prohibitions, then so be it.