Do not judge or you too will be judged.

Matthew
7:1

TOLERANCE
Tolerance can be defined as many ways, but the Oxford English Dictionary
defines it as, the ability or willingness to tolerate the existence of opinions or behavior
that one dislikes or disagrees with. In other words, tolerance can be interpreted as being
non-judgmental and open in ones thoughts and mind. This principle is a fundamental
pillar of the Christian faith because Jesus showed tolerance and instructed all Christians
to follow in his example. When He conversed with the Pharisees and showed them
respect, Jesus was demonstrating tolerance of men whose beliefs and actions He
disagreed with. Tolerance is needed in this world; tolerance of both people who look
different than us but also tolerance of people who have different beliefs than us.
As a minority living in a predominantly white area, tolerance of those different in
appearance is a very important ideal to me. I have judged people through harmful
stereotypes and I am sure the same has been done to me. However, I believe that the
passage I quoted, Matthew 7:1, is saying that we should wait to form an opinion on what
a person is like until after we know how they are. Even more importantly, no one should
be treated badly for the way they are; for example, Muslims, gays, etc. Perhaps these
people are not living according to the law of the Church, but that gives us Christians
even more of an incentive to be kind to them and live as children of God. Many nonChristians do not accept the Church because they feel that there is no presence of God.
But if they see the love of Christ living within each Christian through tolerance, they will

Do not judge or you too will be judged. Matthew

7:1
see that Christians can be both loving and open-minded. And, really, why should we as
Gods own children live in any other way?