The Times in Which We Live

Each one of us live in our reality composed of our surrounding, our perception of those surroundings which is informed by the experiences we have had throughout our life. In the world where we live today there is heard the continual cry for tolerance by those whose agendas eschew legal and moral standards of the day. As they speak of tolerance they really are asking everyone to tolerate their aberrant behavior. The difference between tolerance and tolerate is distinctive. The definition of tolerance from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary is: sympathy or indulgence for beliefs or practices differing or conflicting with one's own. Whereas the definition of tolerate from the same source is: 1) to allow (something that is bad, unpleasant, etc.) to exist, happen or be done. 2) To allow to be or be done without prohibition, hinderance, or contradiction.

Russell M. Nelson, and apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, has said: An erroneous assumption could be made that if a little of something is good, a lot must be better. Not so! Overdoses of needed medication can be toxic. Boundless mercy could oppose justice. So tolerance, without limit, could lead to spineless permissiveness.

Also in the words of Jesus Christ as found the book of scripture called the Doctrine and Covenants we read: For I the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance.

(Doctrine and Covenants 1:31)

Tolerance is a two-way street; it goes both ways for those who believe in and practice it and are sympathetic to that which may be contradictory to their personal beliefs. However tolerate is a one-way street where one cannot countenance something bad or unpleasant in their eyes or permit themselves any indulgences therein. An example may be a piece of legislation that is morally in opposition to what someone believes. They may have no ill feelings for those who support it but they would never vote for it or support anything like unto it their society.

We live in a time when these two concepts are so confused they have been wrapped into one package called tolerance but are defined tolerate. Four hundred years B. C. there was a prophet of God who lived upon this continent, his name was Moroni he was the son of the prophet Mormon who had abridged a sacred record that covered a thousand years. Moroni was given charge of the record after his father's death. In his custody he added some of his prophetic utterances which I will include below. He saw our time when our beloved Jesus Christ showed the last days to him in a vision. This is, in part, what he recorded about the time when the Book of Mormon would come forth which is in our season of history:

 Yea, it shall come in a day when there shall be heard of fires, and tempests, and vapors of smoke in foreign lands;

 And there shall also be heard of wars, rumors of wars, and earthquakes in divers places.

 Yea, it shall come in a day when there shall be great pollutions upon the face of the earth; there shall be murders, and robbing, and lying, and deceivings, and whoredoms, and all manner of abominations; when there shall be many who will say, Do this, or do that, and it mattereth not, for the Lord will uphold such at the last day. But wo unto such, for they are in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity. . . .

 Behold, the Lord hath shown unto me great and marvelous things concerning that which must shortly come, at that day when these things shall come forth among you.

  Behold, I speak unto you as if ye were present, and yet ye are not. But behold, Jesus Christ hath shown you unto me, and I know your doing. (Book of Mormon, Mormon 8:32-36)

Maybe a few headlines from a recent newspaper may illustrate this point:

"Disgusting" case puts focus on scams targeting the elderly

Michigan gay ban struck down

4 die in New Jersey shore fire

Russia formally annexes Crimea, E.U. pulls nation closer to separate deals

And again from the Book of Mormon:

And the words which I have spoken . . . are sufficient to teach any man the right way; for the right way is to believe in Christ and deny him not; for by denying him ye also deny the prophets and the law.

And now behold, I say unto you that the right way is to believe in Christ, and deny him not; and Christ is the Holy One of Israel; wherefore ye must bow down before him, and worship him with all your might, mind, and strength, and your whole soul; and if ye do this ye shall in nowise be cast out. (2 Nephi 25:28-29)

And another prophet from the Book of Mormon said this:

And now, my beloved brethren, I would that ye should come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him, and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end; and as the Lord liveth ye will be saved.

Each of these speak to the condition of the world in which we live.

And also this comment from an editorial in the local newspaper:

For the past decade, I have seen some of our policy makers appear to lose their moral sense--our caring for each other, and the love-thy-nieghbor thing. Now, we see lawmakers more concerned about material things, instead of how we live and care for each other. They say one thing and do another, especially when it comes to health and welfare of our people. They take great pride in the growth of our economy and how they are able to subsidize building hotels and attract business to our state. They tout our healthy and growing economy, our natural resources and their beauty, but what about 

the health and well-being of our people?

Any foundation we build upon other than Jesus Christ will crumble and falter in time. The Savior could have no allowance or tolerance for sin because that is the way we can return to Him. However, the Savior does have tolerance for the sinner, it is through that tolerance that He affords us the repentance process which brings us closer to Him. The world may be a very unsettled place but we need not be unsettled in it when we exercise our Faith in He who created this world and Whose hand is recognizable in all things. Therefore, it is His words found in all holy writ that teach the right way to live as spoken by the prophet king Benjamin in the Book of Mormon when he said:

And the words which I have spoken . . . are sufficient to teach any man the right way; for the right way is to believe in Christ and deny him not; for by denying him ye also deny the prophets and the law.

And now behold, I say unto you that the right way is to believe in Christ, and deny him not; and Christ is the Holy One of Israel; wherefore ye must bow down before him, and worship him with all your might, mind, and strength, and your whole soul; and if ye do this ye shall in nowise be cast out. (2 Nephi 25:28-29)

And another prophet from the Book of Mormon said this:

And now, my beloved brethren, I would that ye should come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him, and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end; and as the Lord liveth ye will be saved. (Omni 1:26)

Thus in a world where lines between morality and immorality are fading into obscurity, there are voices crying for tolerance and are telling us we must tolerate that which is offensive to God. However we have a more clear voice inviting us to come unto Christ and to fear nothing of this world for did He not say to His apostles "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)

He has given us a supernal gift, "Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves—to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life." (2 Nephi 10:23)

We in wisdom may choose to have tolerance but that does not suggest nor imply we must tolerate that which is offensive to us or to our God. In fact we must stand against that which is offensive and morally reprehensible without condemning the individuals supporting such things but strive to be like the Savior for, "Jesus saw sin as wrong but also was able to see sin as springing from deep and unmet needs on the part of the sinner. This permitted Him to condemn the sin without condemning the individual." (Spencer W. Kimball)