Revelation 2: Jezebel And The Tolerant Church

Oct 3, 2016 by Jill

by David Robertson, Christian Today:

What are the primary virtues of our culture? Diversity, inclusivity, equality and tolerance. That’s what progressive society is all about.

But is it? It is a demonstrable fact of modern life that in the name of tolerance we are becoming increasingly intolerant. Even Germaine Greer and Peter Tatchell have been ‘no-platformed’ by universities who think their opinions are not correct enough. The NBA decided that basketball could not tolerate North Carolina insisting that men and women should go to the restrooms of their biological sex and threatened to remove some of their biggest games and millions of dollars from the state. No, tolerance has a limit in our culture.

[…] Shouldn’t the Church be tolerant? In many ways yes. We could teach modern society a great deal about unity in diversity. But many times we get it wrong. And sometimes there is a place for the right kind of intolerance. Consider the church in Thyatira (Revelation 2:14-29).

Thyatira lay some 40 miles south east of Pergamum and was notable only for its industry. Thyatira was a city of craftsmen and merchants. “One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshipper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message” (Acts 16:14, NIV). The major problem for the Christians in the city were the many trade guilds, each of which had a patron god. The feasts of the guilds were held in a temple and were viewed as religious occasions, the meat was offered to the god, and the occasions frequently ended in debauchery. How could Christians participate in such meetings? Jezebel had an answer.

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Read also: Safe Haven: Why This Brighton Church Is Flourishing In Britain’s Gay Capital by Harry Farley, Christian Today