Tolerance Vs. Acceptance: Losing My Voice

I am told that I must be considerate of all people, no matter what their moral stance may be. I am ignored and yelled at, if I even whisper my protest. I am labeled, never getting to say my part. I am a Christian, bond and tied by our society, by an idea of tolerance that has been twisted by time.

People accuse me of not being tolerant. They are offended if I do not affirm what they do, or how they act. I understand this, because in a sense I am condemning their lifestyle. And it is due to this that I am scorned, because I choose to live differently then they are. I am called intolerant.

Yet, I am not. In fact I am very tolerant. The definition of tolerance is the ability to endure by Webster's dictionary. So I ask you, how can you endure some that you accept? To endure is to do your chores, not because you want to but because you have to. Tolerance is not acceptance, yet that is what America names it as. Instead tolerance is understanding the other person's point of view with out pulling shots. But our society turns around, persecuting me because I have the audacity to say no, I do not believe that it is right.

Tolerance is having some degree of respect, but it is respect for the person, not for the action. I will not degrade someone who chooses to walk down a different road, but in the same respect I will not say that their actions are right.

The sad thing is, there is no longer tolerance only acceptance. And it is because of this, that I as a Christian am slowly losing my rights: the right to disagree and the right to drawl the line between right and wrong. Those rights are no longer mine, because this idea of tolerance has changed to acceptance.

I am losing my voice, to a society that is so caught up with the conflicting rights and morals of people that it can not state any action as right or wrong, least they offend someone. This then aids to help erode Christian morals with the passing of time, because Christianity has a set of morals that will never be accepted in a world that does not want a line to be drawn between right and wrong; a world that speaks of acceptance instead of tolerance.