Tolerance has been redefined, culturally in the West, in the last hundred years or so. The Christian variety of tolerance means everyone is free to believe what they want, however not everyone is right. As Christians, we believe God calls to each and every individual, but few end up responding. It's too bad, but human nature is to reject God and the calls He makes to their conscience. The secularization of "tolerance" however, means that only what the secularists say is to be tolerated, all serious believers in Christ are to be ridiculed. Other religions are much more tolerated, Christianity being much more ardently persecuted. Just look at Hollywood today, there's no one screaming about the "intolerance" of movies putting Buddhism in a positive light. The thought-police of Hollywood are goose-stepping to their own definition of "tolerance". The watering-down of a belief in God is somewhat acceptable to that flavor of "tolerance", but absolutely no one who really believes in salvation through Jesus Christ by faith. Often the loudest voices against Christians are the ones whom God has called to repeatedly, and they take it out on Christians who prick that conscience the same way God does.
Some readers of slashdot might have once lived in places like Russia, Romania, China, etc and other communist countries over the last century who took great pains to stamp out Christianity. The communists were in favor of ecumenicalization (ie ultra-watering-down, still keeping the "form" of religion without the substance) and recruiting the "pastors" of the ecumenicalized churches to spy on their own parishoners. People who became too serious about Christ were reported, and went to "re-education facilities" for "sensitivity training". Many never came out. Those who did come out have the marks to prove what went on there. By and large, those who did survive got sent back again, because the truth of Christ became even more evident during their imprisonment.
The same tactics used by some other slashdotters to disparage Christians is really no different than those used in many of these "re-education facilities". Communists proclaimed that religion of all forms would be stamped out in a few generations. Russia had 70 years, but never succeeded. Today, people in Russia are hearing about Christ for the first time "legally" and believing in Him. China has an underground church that is estimated to be about the size of the US population (~ 200-300M). All these slashdot-like efforts to discourage and ridicule Christians in countries where owning a Bible brings a prison and torture sentence, and what has resulted? So much effort to stamp it out, and what has happened? Christ is being preached and people are coming to know Christ like never before.
Your soul is hungry, it was designed to be hungry to know God. Do you honestly think all the efforts to buck God will be fruitful? Does it really bring wholeness to your soul to deny and ridicule Christians and God?
Slashdot Mirror
Does anyone know if SCS is the vendor? They make custom newspaper software and mention having the Chicago Tribune as a customer.
Tolerance has been redefined, culturally in the West, in the last hundred years or so. The Christian variety of tolerance means everyone is free to believe what they want, however not everyone is right. As Christians, we believe God calls to each and every individual, but few end up responding. It's too bad, but human nature is to reject God and the calls He makes to their conscience. The secularization of "tolerance" however, means that only what the secularists say is to be tolerated, all serious believers in Christ are to be ridiculed. Other religions are much more tolerated, Christianity being much more ardently persecuted. Just look at Hollywood today, there's no one screaming about the "intolerance" of movies putting Buddhism in a positive light. The thought-police of Hollywood are goose-stepping to their own definition of "tolerance". The watering-down of a belief in God is somewhat acceptable to that flavor of "tolerance", but absolutely no one who really believes in salvation through Jesus Christ by faith. Often the loudest voices against Christians are the ones whom God has called to repeatedly, and they take it out on Christians who prick that conscience the same way God does.
Some readers of slashdot might have once lived in places like Russia, Romania, China, etc and other communist countries over the last century who took great pains to stamp out Christianity. The communists were in favor of ecumenicalization (ie ultra-watering-down, still keeping the "form" of religion without the substance) and recruiting the "pastors" of the ecumenicalized churches to spy on their own parishoners. People who became too serious about Christ were reported, and went to "re-education facilities" for "sensitivity training". Many never came out. Those who did come out have the marks to prove what went on there. By and large, those who did survive got sent back again, because the truth of Christ became even more evident during their imprisonment.
The same tactics used by some other slashdotters to disparage Christians is really no different than those used in many of these "re-education facilities". Communists proclaimed that religion of all forms would be stamped out in a few generations. Russia had 70 years, but never succeeded. Today, people in Russia are hearing about Christ for the first time "legally" and believing in Him. China has an underground church that is estimated to be about the size of the US population (~ 200-300M). All these slashdot-like efforts to discourage and ridicule Christians in countries where owning a Bible brings a prison and torture sentence, and what has resulted? So much effort to stamp it out, and what has happened? Christ is being preached and people are coming to know Christ like never before.
Your soul is hungry, it was designed to be hungry to know God. Do you honestly think all the efforts to buck God will be fruitful? Does it really bring wholeness to your soul to deny and ridicule Christians and God?