I used to view Christianity as oppressive, prejudice and intolerant toward all other belief systems. When I became a Christian I continued to struggle with the exlusivity Christianity claimed. I could easily admit I was a sinner. I strongly believed in God as the creator and power of the universe. I even believed Christ was God incarnate (made human), born to die for my sins. But I couldn’t allow myself to be as narrow-minded as “other” Christians and claim Christianity as the only way to believe.

Why would God be so exclusive if He loves everyone and wants everyone to be saved?

 God has a given us (most of us, anyway) a fine working mind with the ability to learn and respond to the world He created. I wanted to discover the truth of this matter. The first thing I learned during this process was this:

God created us to be FREE THINKERS because faith IS NOT thoughtless, careless, or irrational.

Using this ability to feely think I humbly and liberally approached this matter from a strictly Biblical point of view. I defined the words oppression, prejudice, and  intolerance in the dictionary, compard them to the Bible and my Bible-based Christian faith and understanding to better define and explain these issues.

 

  •    OPPRESSION: to dominate harshly, to subject a person or a people to a harsh or cruel form of domination.

Here are just a few verses discussing the topic of oppression. Some Christians may misuse their title of faith to dominate people lacking fellowship with God but the Bible clearly doesn’t teach any doctrine of oppression nor does it reveal God’s character as oppressive.

Exodus 22:21 (regarding social responsibility of God’s people, the Israelites): ”Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens from Egypt.”

Psalm 9:9: “The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.”

 Pslam 72:4 “[God] will defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the needy; he will crush the oppressor.”

Pslam 31:5 (regarding national leaders that abuse power): “lest they drink and forget what the law decrees, and deprive all the oppressed of their rights.”

Luke 18:4: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed.” (Jesus said this)

 

  • INTOLERANT: refusing to accept differences, showing an unwillingness or refusal to accept people who are different from you, or views, beliefs, or lifestyles that differ from your own

 I focused on “accept differences” and “accept people” to clarify the word ACCEPT phrases. Acceptance doesn’t mean that I’ve adopted the views, beliefs, or lifestyles differences of other people but have ACKNOWLEDGED and COME TO TERMS with these differences.

Because I have not adjusted my Christian views, beliefs, or lifestyle to that of another is not being intolerant. That would be comprimising to my faith (Romans 12:2, 1 Peter 1:14). I do, however, need to WELCOME and  ACKNOWLEDGE and RESPECT the persons having differing views, beliefs, or lifestyles. Ephesians 4:32: “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as Christ forgave you.”  also Romans 15:7 “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.”

God has standards for His people. As a follower of Christ, anything less than what God expects of me isn’t acceptable for me. (Although it doesn’t mean I’ll be able to perfectly follow.) The same standards may be “accpetable” for people not following Christ even if God intends His standards for them also.

When I accept another person regardless of differences, I am not adapting or adjusting my beliefs to comform but loving them the way love Christ loves me since he died for the world while Iwas still a sinner and not because I attained some kind of holy glory.

 

  • PREJUDICE: a preformed opinion, usually an unfavorable one, based on insufficient knowledge, irrational feelings, or inaccurate stereotypes

First of all Christianity :

1) only seems unfavorable for those who don’t follow Christ. God desires to show us favor when we favor Him.  

2) is based on the sufficient knowledge of a Sovereign God accessible by the spritual rebirth through God’s Holy Spirit and the inspired immutable Holy scriptures. 

3) is not based on irrational feelings but the experiences of God through Spiritual rebirth through the Holy Spirit.

4) is not based on inaccurate sterotypes but by the perfect example of Christian living based on the life and teaching of Christ.

 

 

Conculsion: 

Christianity is neither oppressive, prejudice, nor intolerant. Only people are.