He recalled, during the priesthood session of general
conference this weekend, as a boy being told that the world’s standards were at
one point, indicated with a fist held in the air, with church standards at
another point, indicated with a second fist. The two were apart, but not
terribly so.
Today, he cautioned, the world’s standards are far away, out
the door.
President Monson, even as I waited in anticipation for him
to wiggle his ears, did it for me.
He cautioned us not to pick and choose which commandments to
obey. Why adhere to one and not the other, he asked – a caution against
so-called Cafeteria Christianity in which we select the commandments that are
easy to follow, rejecting those that are tougher.
And Elder Packer, struggling with his health as he is, didit for me.
He cautioned us against falling into a “tolerance trap” that
I’ll leave him to explain because I don’t want to muck it up:
The permissiveness afforded by the weakening of the laws of
the land to tolerate legalized acts of immorality does not reduce the serious
spiritual consequences that result from the violation of God’s law of chastity.
Tolerance is a virtue, but like all virtues, when exaggerated it transforms
itself into a vice. We need to be careful of the tolerance trap so that we are
not swallowed up in it.
I admit, though, to struggling with some of this, most
particularly the tolerance trap. Elder Holland, of course, has an answer to
that. Paraphrasing again, he advises that some of us feel it’s more
faith-promoting to express doubts than to express faith. I need to show greater
faith, obviously. Not that we can’t ask questions – but that we should ask
questions in a context of wanting to understand the answers that come, not
stand in defiance when the answers that come don’t fit with our preconceived
notion of what the answer should be.
Some tolerance is a trap – because it becomes one-sided.
Some are expected to tolerate all while those pushing the toleration are
willing to tolerate but little. The hypocrisy of it all stinks to high heaven,
and yet those who are in that hypocritical stage can’t see it.
At the same time, Satan – who is real – tries to push us
into making apples-to-oranges comparisons in one of the many ways he tries to
get us to shatter the commandments with the logic of men. I came close to that
recently, pondering the perceived tolerance of the 1978 announcement of
granting priesthood to all worthy male members to wondering why the same
tolerance couldn’t be extended to gays seeking marriage. I see now the difference:
There was never any doctrinal basis to the priesthood ban, while there is clear
doctrinal evidence on maintaining marriage between man and wife, and in no
other way. The tolerance trap nearly had me.
That doesn't open up floodgates of hate, however. It just means true tolerance and love. I can love my brother, because he is and always will be my brother. I do not have to tolerate his pornography addiction. There again, the tolerance trap.
We’ll be persecuted for this stance, that is clear even
before we were reminded of that at conference. We can love. We can accept. But
we cannot and should not be forced to violate or invalidate portions of the
gospel because the logic or tolerance of man dictates we should do so.
Back to Elder Hales. The church and Christ have not moved.
So lots to think about. I want to maintain an eternal
perspective on all of this – because what we do in this life is only a part of
an eternity that can be endangered by what we do and do not do here. This is
where life becomes a test. I aim to pass it.
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