We've had it wrong for two thousand years

[scarfman]

scarfdad spent a few years right out of high school in a Jesuit monastery. When I was growing up in Omaha, where Creighton University is, it seemed to me like he knew every second Jesuit in the world. But during the seventies, eighties and nineties he lost his faith in the Catholic Church as an organization, and went searching for the root of Christianity to try and find out what Jesus Christ really taught unfiltered by corporate corruption - a sort of believer's historical Jesus. Many years of research has led him to the conclusion that we've been getting it wrong all this time. Jesus taught not forgiveness but tolerance, between which there's a subtle but important distinction: Forgiveness requires that a judgment be passed and tolerance requires that it not be.

Comments

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Forgiveness requires that a judgment be passed and tolerance requires that it not be.

Oh, that's very good. I've sensed the distinction, but this is a very clear putting-into-words.

Test of the definition:

"I forgive you for being gay." vs. "I am tolerant of your gayness."

Yup. That fits.

[westrider.livejournal.com]

Very nicely put. I love it when someone manages to nil those crucial little semantic distinctions that make all the difference.

[dave-iii.livejournal.com]

This time it was right, it would work, and no one would have to get nailed to anything...

Makes sense to me. Altering that little detail certainly widens the "We" and "They" gap (WE are the righteous, THEY are the forsaken, etc.), and strengthens the grip of the Powers on all of 'em.

[blinovitch.livejournal.com]

I've had the feeling there was a distinction like this. For me, even "tolerance" has a hint of disdain to it. Is there a step between that and acceptance?

[stoplookingup.livejournal.com]

This is such a difficult issue. *sigh* Because you're right, forgiveness requires judgment, and the next thing you know, you have way more judgment than forgiveness -- the Spanish Inquisition and pogroms and witch trials, for example. On the other hand, tolerance must have its limits somewhere and judgment must come into it somehow, or else we have to tolerate everything, like human sacrifice and female genital mutilation and...the Spanish Inquisition and pogroms and Witch Trials.

That's the atheist in me talking. I confess to being a bit paranoid about religion -- seems like any way you go, you wind up with the Spanish Inquisition, pogroms and witch trials.