QUEST FOR TRUE TOLERANCE

Description

STEPHEN MCQUOID

Contemporary society prides itself on its veneer of tolerance. It is this attitude that apparently makes the liberal democracies of the west superior to other cultures. Looking below the surface, however, we discover that our society is actually superficial, amoral and prejudiced. The tolerance we espouse is no more than a sticking plaster covering a festering wound. It is to this society that we as Christians are called to stand for the truth and express the love of God.

The diversity of our society causes us great challenges. Some in the scientific community ridicule us because we believe in the existence of a creator. Others despise us because we claim that Christ is the only way to God. Still others criticize us because of the high moral standards by which we live. How are Christians to respond in such a society and how tolerant should we be? Do we simply accept evolution as a given, learn to live with the immorality within our community and accept that all other faiths are true, or should we say something about these situations? This book gets right to the heart of western culture and asks penetrating questions about the health of our societies as well as proposing answers that stem from a Christian worldview.

Stephen grew up in Ethiopia where his parents were missionaries. He then lived in Ireland where he qualified as a nurse before going on to study theology. He has a Dip.Th. from Belfast Bible College, a BA in Biblical Studies from Trinity College, an MA and a PhD in Theology from Trinity Theological Seminary, and is currently pursuing further post-graduate study with Spurgeon’s College. He has also written six books. Stephen is married to Debbie and they are both involved in a church planting situation in Bellshill. Stephen’s preaching ministry takes him throughout the United Kingdom and abroad.

We are dealing with ‘a culture that says all beliefs are true, even though such a statement is logically flawed’. Stephen presents a powerful challenge to us as Christians to speak out against the idiocy of a tolerance that tries to allow everyone to be right and do what ever he or she thinks is true. Tolerance of this kind can only lead to anarchy, and as believers in the Creator God of order we should seek his pathways of order. Yet
Stephen speaks not to promote a general intolerance, but a biblical tolerance embodied by God in Christ: of loving the sinner while clearly identifying the evilness of the sin. Read on and be challenged to embrace a godly tolerance such as that illustrated by Jesus with his stunning words to a lady trapped in a sinful lifestyle: ‘Neither do I condemn you … Go and sin no more.’
—Mark Davies, Academic Dean at Tilsley College, Motherwell, Scotland, and lecturer in Missiology and Biblical Studies.

McQuoid pulls no punches. He analyses, with devastating clarity, the shallow tolerance which passes as broadmindedness and exposes its intolerant superficiality. He argues that true tolerance and respect for others, in Christian understanding, is based on both on truth and love which are able, nonetheless, to distinguish between right and wrong … Both the serious and casual reader will find much here to stimulate and inform. The
Quest for True Tolerance is a much needed and long-overdue contribution to a critically important debate. Its author is to be congratulated for giving us such a succinct and insightful treatment of a difficult and confusing subject.
—Dr Alastair Noble, CARE’s Scottish Education Officer