The Great Tolerator

I had a sinking feeling as I watched the news this morning. On the news they were saying that some conservatives were opposed to a new video coming out that uses cartoon characters that sing a version of the 70’s song “We Are Family.” Apparently this video is to be distributed to thousands of schools.

But that’s not what has got the conservatives all worked up. Apparently the problem is with the group that made the video. You see they have as part of their values that they tolerate…. well, people, including homosexuals. They have not tried to smuggle “Suzy Has Two Mommies” into the school system but they tolerate homosexuals. Therefore, the assumption is that they must be using Sponge Bob and the like to push a hidden agenda. Gee, I hope no one discovers the secret message embedded in the background of this blog’s title.

At first I thought I must not understand the word tolerate. But according to Webster it means to endure or put up with. I suppose it is possible for one to follow roots of the word and somehow get it to mean endorse and encourage but I don’t think that is the typical understanding. I then discovered that the actual wording is “in” the “Toleration Statement” and actually calls for “respect .” Can’t we be respectful of people in spite of each others sin.

The sinking feeling I had was that as a Christian who believes that homosexuality is wrong I would be associated with this attack on this video. I held out some hope because after all the host did say “some” conservatives. But that hope was shattered when I checked out the CNN website this morning. There it was. “Christians issue gay warning on Sponge Bob video.”

What I don’t think people like Dobson understand is how foolish this looks. Remember they still haven’t shown any part of the video as promoting the homosexual agenda. What they are doing is handing over every cartoon character on the video to the other side. Probably the thing that got this going was the fact that Sponge Bob appears in the video. The gay community apparently took a liking to him several years ago so now anything that has to do with him must be gay. Now every Christian probably feels guilty if they let their kids watch him even though there is no gay content in his cartoons. I personally get a kick out of him and I’m not giving him up.

The next thing you know we will be back to playing rock n roll records backwards looking for hidden messages from Satan. In fact this brings up a new tactic that the other side could start using against us. All a gay rights group needs to do is make a perfectly innocuous video using popular characters to deliver a good message. They know that they can produce a perfectly acceptable video and it will be attacked by "Christians" because of their association with it. In the eyes of the world it will look like Christians are against something good.

All this brings us back to the word tolerance and the greatest tolerator of all. Scripture tells us that God hates sin but it also shows us His incredible ability to tolerate people in spite of that sin. In fact isn’t that basically the Good News that we talk about so much. I’m sure glad he tolerates me. By the way, there is no hidden message in this blog’s title background.