Imagine a world in which homosexuality is legal, but only to an extent. In your own home, in private spaces, anywhere you may be relatively hidden from society at large, you may legally express your sexuality. If you want to call a gay relationship a marriage, go for it. If a man wants to identify as a woman and use female pronouns, cool. But you must keep it out of the public eye. You must keep it in your own homes. Furthermore, if someone waves a straight pride flag, you're not allowed to say anything, or it's a hate crime. Social media will ban you for any dissent from heteronormativity, and you get immediately shunned, even "cancelled", if you dare suggest homosexuality is normal.
Does this world seem very tolerant of homosexuality? Evidently not. I can virtually guarantee, any Leftist reading the above paragraph will, if not completely close the article in anger, feel nothing but contempt for the suggestion that such a world is even possible. It's bigoted, and it's oppressive. Yet, for Christians, this is our reality. Gay pride is constantly waved in our faces, with the entire month of June now being designated "Pride Month". We are commanded to keep our opinions to ourselves, being allowed them privately in our own homes, but whereas we were once told "keep it in your churches", we are now being told "let us in your churches", because of course it's "homophobic" to refuse to "marry" a gay couple. And you can forget about running a catering business according to Christian principles. If you're a florist, if you're a baker, you must cater to gay "weddings", no matter what your conscience says, because otherwise, it's considered "discrimination", and absurd amounts of money will be stolen from you.
This is not a tolerant society. This is an oppressive society in which Christians are oppressed, and gays are celebrated. Tolerance, that is, real tolerance, goes both ways. I disagree with you, you disagree with me, we can peacefully exist together anyway. Logic dictates that tolerance requires dissent, and the right to express it equally. If you agree, that’s not tolerance, that’s approval. If you disagree, but only one of you may voice that disagreement, that’s not tolerance, that’s oppression.
As a Christian, I absolutely believe in tolerance. My Bible, which the intolerant demand I keep out of any conversation (or just not have the conversation), tells me to live at peace with all men, if possible, and so far as it depends on me (Romans 12:18). Therefore, I actually have to tolerate you, unless you make that impossible.
Of course, there are situations when tolerance is simply not an option. Take, for example, the recent politically correct term "MAP" (Minor Attracted Person). The actually correct term is pedophile. And no, it is not possible to tolerate such detestable acts. Thus, this is the only context in which I will ever use the term "MAP". I will never actually apply it to a pedophile, and if the term pedophile becomes politically incorrect, tough. The only concession I will ever make to pedophiles is that there is a difference between a man who rapes a 5 year old and a man who has "consensual" sex with a 14 year old. But a rapist of any kind, much less a child rapist, should literally be cast into the sea with a heavy rock tied to him.
We should never tolerate pedophiles, and I will always push for stricter laws against the practice. This, in the mind of any rational person, should show just how tolerant Christians actually are. I would never advocate drowning someone for being gay (especially since I, myself, have a history with homosexuality). It is possible to peacefully coexist with gay people, and so Scripture says we must.
However, I must also go one step further than mere tolerance: I must love you. What that means is I have to have your best interest at heart, even if you don’t. It is not loving to believe someone is harming themselves, and then to affirm that self harm as a norm to be celebrated. You don’t give diet pills to an anorexic, for example. You tell them the truth: You’re not fat, and you’re doing far more harm to your body by actively starving yourself than you would if you just ate a healthy diet.
In the same way, if you believe there is a perfect and Holy God who has the entire human race dead to rights, because we all break His laws, we don’t say to specific lawbreakers “oh yeah, that’s cool, you live your truth”. There’s a reason “go to Hell” is an insult, and it is for that reason I will not tell you “go to Hell” by celebrating your sin with you. I disagree with you, and voice that disagreement, not because I’m a hateful bigot, but because I would rather offend you and potentially bring you to the Kingdom of God than flatter you and have your eternal damnation on my already seared conscience.
And I want to emphasise that last point, because I am a sinner, too. I'm not going to Heaven because I'm a good man who deserves it. The typical analogy here is a crashing plane. There are enough parachutes in the plane for all of us to survive, just put one on and jump. In that case, I'm not surviving because I can fly, I'm surviving because I trust in something beyond myself to get me safely to the ground. By contrast, anyone who stays on the plane will die in the plane, and anyone who jumps from the plane without a parachute will fall to their death on the ground.
In the same way, the Bible tells us all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), and the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). I've sinned, in some ways similar to you, and in some ways different. Thus, I am as worthy of God's wrath as you are. But by His grace, God credited all our sins to Christ on the cross, punishing Him as we deserve. Therefore, though we are anything but righteous, He can declare us righteous. There is one criteria: Faith. Without faith, it is impossible to please Him (Hebrews 11:6), but we are saved by grace, through faith, and that faith leads us to good works (Ephesians 2:8-10).
If tolerance is what you're looking for, you will find it in Christianity. But anyone who only tolerates you is not your friend. That is someone who will watch you walk to your death without saying a word. Therefore, Christians will preach a truth you find offensive. If you're tolerant, you will swallow your pride and accept the offense, just as you expect us to. But if you are wise, you will also not merely tolerate us. Hear our message and be saved!