Should Christians be tolerant of other people's religious beliefs?

I do not wish to allow an unkind thought about them, and I have not one. There is no Roman Catholic in the world I would not serve as far as I could for God's glory, without the cheat of torturing or burning heretics, and calling it an act of faith and God's service. One could not be expected to join them in what he believes to be wrong: for why should one do wrong for any person under the sun? But to do good to them — or even for that matter to a Turk or a Jew — surely such is the business of a Christian man in this world; to magnify the Lord Jesus in well-doing to others, and in bringing the truth to bear upon them. But take care to do so in a loving way, and not so as to hinder the very truth you desire to commend to their consciences. Such was the way the Lord Jesus took with this poor man. For is it not absolutely certain that there is not a single sheep ever brought to God that the Lord Jesus does not personally pursue? does He not go after till He finds it? does He not lay it on His shoulders, and bring it home rejoicing?

"A. D.," Norfolk. We deeply sympathize with you in your present very trying position; but we believe your path is plain, namely, to walk according to the light which has shone in upon your conscience and understanding. One of the greatest practical difficulties of the present moment is to keep a wide heart while treading a narrow path. Some one has well said, "I must be as wide as Christ, and as narrow as Christ." Here is the difficulty. We live in a day in which we are in danger, on the one hand, of shutting ourselves up within the narrow enclosure of our own opinions, tastes, and predilections. Hence the value and force of the first clause in the aphorism just quoted. But, on the other hand, we meet with a great deal of what the late Mr. Hewitson so justly designated "An every-body-liking and everything-approving spirit;" and hence the need of the second clause. We are clearly called to walk in grace toward all, even toward those who, as we believe, are in error. To exhibit an intolerant bearing, a morose or sour temper, a bitter spirit, is not Christian-like, but the very reverse. But then we must be faithful as well as gracious. There is great moral beauty in Lydia's words to Paul in Acts 16 "If," says she, "ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide." There is a great principle wrapped up in these words. To accept of hospitality, where there is manifest and positive unfaithfulness to Christ the Lord, is to prove that He has a very low place in our hearts.

You do not well to be angry if those who enjoy eternal life and peace in believing desire the same for others who are either insensible to their misery, or intensely sad, as I trust some of Israel are in their present desolation under the evident judgment of God. I admit that Jews might try to spread their Judaism or Gentiles their heathenism, and that Christians ought to compassionate efforts so futile for those who have faith. It is however no question of any right of ours, but of His authority who commanded His servants to preach the good news to every creature. It is one of the many points of contrast between the law and the gospel.

Our conduct to them should be courteous, kind, affable. There should be no sanctimonious air as if we were better than they. We should act so as to win their respect for the Master we serve, and if possible to win them for Him.

First of all as to our relation to men generally. Though converted, we are left for a longer or shorter period in this world, very often amid the same surroundings as in our unconverted days. In any case, we are constantly rubbing shoulder to shoulder with men who have their portion in this life. How are we to behave to such? The Word of God gives us a general principle to guide our conduct. "Esteem all men," it says. Naturally we are prone to go to one of two extremes, just according to our bent. Either we sink too much to the level of other men, or we are apt to 'assume an air of superiority, and act the Pharisee. Scripture points out a middle course, which, if adopted, would prove both a safeguard to ourselves, and a help to those who are at present outside. All earnest Christians, who desire to follow the Lord fully, have doubtless felt a difficulty as to their precise attitude towards worldly friends and neighbours. It is easy enough to treat people with cold indifference, to avoid them, or pass them by with only the slightest recognition. In doing so we can never hope to win them for Christ, nor do we give them an opportunity of seeing what Christianity has done for us. On the other hand, it is equally easy to form worldly acquaintanceship and fall under its influence, rather than, as the children of God, shining as lights in the world. But if we seek to carry into practice the injunction to "esteem all," we shall neither be looking down upon people, nor yet defiling our garments, but we shall be letting our light so shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven.

But let us not, in wrong narrow-mindedness, think only of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Paul writes to the Galatians: “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith” (Gal. 6:10). The power of our testimony for the Lord depends more on our actions than on our words! The world may not study Scripture, but often it knows how to judge our behaviour. How many a soul has been broken down, not only by the pure gospel, clearly presented, but also by the mercy shown!

Yet in many ways the teaching of the New Testament has been degraded to something merely earthly and social. Instead of repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus, only charity is preached, and this often with a political flavour. This, however, is not the meaning of the “Sermon on the Mount” or the gospel of the grace of God! On the other hand it is no testimony to the grace and mercy of our God if one thinks that preaching the gospel is the only task of a Christian with regard to the world. As our Lord Himself helped those in their different needs to whom He presented the good tidings, we too can tell our neighbours of Him and at the same time show them the power and blessing of our faith practically.

Even if there be plain evil, good is that which alone will overcome it; in any case we are not to return evil for it, but to pursue always what is good; and that not only towards one another, but towards all. We are not permitted in such things to have one rule of conduct towards those inside and another towards those outside the Christian circle. We are not to have one face in the Church and another in the world. The love of God goes out to the world; and with the reflection of that divine love we are to love it too; all the more because we know the real and immense distance which the grace of God has made between us, and the certainty that as to those who remain in it, eternity will only confirm and increase that distance. Of that love of God from which they must break away to share the portion of the devil and his angels, we have the happiness and the responsibility of being representatives.

Christians should always be ready to show help and sympathy to those who require it; but there should also be that determination to oppose anything that is contrary to the claims of Christ. This is seen in John's epistle when he says to the elder lady, 'If those professing the name of Christ do not come with the truth, if they come with another gospel, a perversion of the truth, do not show them the slightest courtesy or hospitality, do not let them into your home, do not even bid them God speed or you will become a partaker of their evil deeds' (2 John 7-11). These are very stern words, not our own words, they are the words of Scripture, and all through the New Testament we will find this very stern and ruthless teaching in relation to evil in ourselves, or in other people, or wherever it is found.

Verses 27, 28. "If any of them that believe not bid you to a feast," etc. The dainties of him. that has an evil eye are not to be desired by the righteous.1 And the world's eye is evil, under all disguises, toward the children of light. If Jesus sat at meat in the house of an unbeliever, He was watched; nor can His disciples, who desire to walk godly, be exempted from the like unfriendly gaze. While, therefore, the fullest liberty of intercourse is conceded to the Christian who desires to remain on terms of social intimacy with his unbelieving neighbours, he is plainly warned that his doing so is a voluntary exposure of himself to danger. A good motive or a bad might induce him to receive an unbeliever's courtesies, and according to his motive would be the measure of his risk. When in such company he. is to act still as becomes his calling. He is a Christian, and a saint of God, wherever he is found. Let him, then, keep this well in his remembrance. If any one calls his attention to an idol-offering,2 he is to refuse it, as a testimony to the truth. For the idol is a lie. The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof.3 What is in such a case to be considered is the conscience, not of the believer, but of the idolater. His false worship is to be boldly disowned, in the hope of convincing his soul of its true condition in the sight of that God who made both him and the vanities which he adores. This is plain from what follows.

Now this appears to me a fact of very great importance. The use which the Gentile makes of his power is to set up a religion connected with the polities of the kingdom, a religion for present earthly purposes. Where this is the case, religion cannot be left between God and the conscience. It is no longer a question of having a real conviction as to God and His truth, nor is there liberty to judge the imposture. The worship devised by the Gentile king is bound down upon the subject under penalty of death.

There may be certain things which hinder, for a season, the natural results of the world's will in having its religion condemned. And this has been the case for some time. For the last fifty years and more, every one knows there has been a certain system of opinion, commonly called "liberalism." This has got hold of men's minds. In no way does it respect God and His word as such. Its great stock-in-trade is the rights of man. Its cardinal virtue is, that all should be left free to think, act, and worship as they please. As long as the idea of man's rights is allowed to have play, the mercy of God turns it into an occasion for Christians, having a conscience towards Himself, to pass quietly through, and worship God according to His will. And as it was always unquestionable that God claimed the right over His own people; as His revealed will alone can rightly govern them; so, as the Father, He now seeks His children, that they may worship Him in spirit and in truth. The renewed heart and conscience delight in His will and find the chief blessedness here in exalting Him. To the believer, that will is more peremptory than the absolutism of the heathen king. Liberalism really dislikes this exclusive claim over the conscience. Still, it has led to a sort of calm in the world; and the full exercise of its authority, as to religion, is in abeyance for the time. For, apart from temporary circumstances, none can deny that, wherever there is a religion introduced by the monarch, for the guidance of his realm, necessarily it does not admit of difference, contradiction, or compromise. This would defeat the purpose for which it is imposed. But it is to fight against God. The monarch himself may have a conscience, and he is, of course, bound to worship God according to His will. But the using the authority of the realm to coerce others is the denial, practically, of God's direct control over the individual conscience.