Perspective

This is a picture of Earth from Mars; it is also an example of how powerful perspective is.

The view of Earth from Mars is much different than the view from the International Space Station (ISS) or the view from the Moon. Both are views from space, but they are also views from different areas of space. All three are true in their respective contexts as well; an important point to be noted.

In today's world, we are entering, what I perceive, to be a very dangerous time. It is a time where one perspective is being presented as the true, moral, fair and right perspective. We live in a time where tolerance is being presented in the most intolerant of ways.

It is this idea of tolerance that is being used to reduce and devalue that which is perceived to be intolerant; it is this idea of tolerance that is being used to condemn, restrict and oppress other views not in line with the ideas of today's tolerance.

Today's tolerance is not really tolerance at all; instead it is intolerance masquerading as tolerance. Today's tolerance is against standards, anything Christian, and vehemently against anything with beliefs rooted in the spiritual. And, there is one simple reason for this... power. Labeling anything as immoral, wrong or sin is to remove from it a certain amount of power.

Now, as a Christian, I believe sin is sin. Whether it be a lie, pornography, stealing, adultery, or taking the Lord's name in vain... it is sin. Also, as Christians we are to love the sinner and hate the sin, but we are not to judge the sinner as if they are any better off than we are. That used to confuse me until I gained a new perspective on sin. We cannot judge the sinner because we are also sinners. What separates us from other sinners is Jesus. There is nothing in us that makes us any different than anyone else. It is only Jesus that changes us.

For too long, Christians have been overtly judgmental. As a collective group, we (I include myself as the chief culprit here.) have always looked to judge that sin which can separate us from other sinners because that is who we are... works-oriented egocentric beings. Any sin that will separate us from the pack and allow us to beat our chest like a Pharisee and state, "at least I do not sin that way God" will be a sin at which we hurl our rocks. Alternate life styles, murder and stealing are sins that allow us to beat our chest like a Pharisee and seemingly create a little space between us and everyone else, but do we really create any space? I am not sure we do.

This idea of tolerance is a nice idea, but it is absolutely impossible to achieve without standardizing perspective, and the only way perspective is standardized is with intolerance and oppression. How do you achieve tolerance? Well, you make sure everything is accepted and tolerated. How is this done? I am afraid its means are very much rooted in intolerance. I am not sure the idea of tolerance is even a collective idea meant for the many. To apply it in such way leads to places where I do not think we want to be. It is a vicious circle that we are about to enter, and once we enter, there are no easy ways out. I am open to being convinced otherwise, but I am doubtful of any convincing arguments. I know one thing... the perspective from Mars is only truthful from Mars, and Mars is a very long distance from here. It is still the perspective of a machine and will be until the first human visit.