Tolerance and diversity

My guess is the words "tolerance/diversity" trigger different emotions in all of us. In our culture those words get jammed down our throats. We who are Christians are for tolerance and diversity, but we'd also all agree that there are limits to both. One of the presenters at a retreat I just attended talked about our need to get a handle on 3 things:
1. The essentials of what I believe--things I'm willing to die for that are clearly taught in Scripture.
2. Things that I feel strongly about but am not willing to die for (beliefs that are important to me yet aren't clear enough in Scripture for me to get fanatical about, therefore I agree to disagree with others in these areas).
3. Things that fit in the "who-gives-a-rip" category. Things not worth fighting about or wasting time on.

As I look over the church landscape I'm saddened. So many of our churches are fighting and dying for things that I believe fall under number 2 or 3. I'm not talking about things like the deity of Christ (a category #1 all the way). I'm talking about things like "your opinion of Rick Warren" or "views of baptism" or "speaking in tongues" or "worship styles" or "the role of women" or "end times views" or....

You may not believe this but we have had people (a few, not many) walk into Crossroads, ask what our opinion is of Rick Warren, and then either stay or leave according to our response!! How does that grab you?

I'll stop for now and post some other musings later. Let me know what you think of the whole "tolerance and diversity" thing.