Love will lead us to tolerance. We humans are by nature and practice intolerant creatures. Differences in others are repellant to us. Even those of us who love nonconformity nurture a desire to conform others to ourselves. This is especially true within those social subcultures where [doctrine] is taken seriously. Certainly there are breaches of [standard beliefs] and [standard practices] which must merit our stern [disapproval], and, ifnot repented of, must receive our censure and rejection. This is Christian. But when censure and rejection are among our most immediately apparent traits, as individuals or as churches, something is sadly amiss. We must show tolerance for one another out of the motivation oflove (Eph 4:1)… In matters not directly related to the faith and life of the gospel, freedom in a non-threatening environment must predominate. There must be no contempt; there must be no judgmentalism. There must be love. There must be tolerance. Or to illustrate it in another way: It is not just the smart members of a church who have something to say to the life and direction of that church.
Those members who are not so cerebral, but who pray and who listen to the voice of the Spirit in the Scriptures have something vital to contribute to the church’s life and health. This is surely in keeping with Paul’s argument in 1 Corinthians 12. Tolerance will lead us to respect one another.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One