Tolerance or Compromise

[stmatthew]

Received this in my email the other day, and thought it might be an interesting discussion topic. How would you differentiate "Tolerance" and "Compromise"?

This question was asked about Tolerance or Compromise and below is Elder James Groce's answer.


In a discussion about Apostolics and tv, the idea was being kicked around about allowing time for people to acclimate themselves into the church.

So how long before church standards are expected to be followed?

15 minutes?

3 months?

6 months?

1 year?

5 years?

So when, if ever, does tolerance become compromise?

Maybe some one can define the difference between Tolerance and Compromise?


This is Elder Groce's answer...

There were two basic groups in the Roman churches according to Romans 14, those Paul characterizes as "weak in faith," and those who he views as "strong in faith." Obviously Paul viewed being strong in the faith as preferable, and he counts himself as part of those who are strong in faith. Notice that Paul wants all members of the church to "accept" those who are weak in faith. The Greek word "accept" here means "to welcome." Paul is calling for genuine tolerance. Tolerance assumes we disagree or object to something. We tolerate, for instance, the inability of a child to read -- until they have had sufficient time to learn to read. We do not, however, tolerate WITHOUT teaching -- to do so would not be true biblical tolerance - it would be a crime! So where there is NO teaching there is no tolerance only compromise. Compromise does not deal with teaching-it only accommodates-it leaves the unschooled in spiritual ignorance.

A time factor?? -- once the subject(s) have been throughly taught - it is time to take the test.

Authentic Christian tolerance is an issue in the establishing of a church body that is designed for "the perfecting of the saints."