As the blog title states, “coexist” doesn’t mean “co-agree.”

But, sadly, especially when it comes down to issues like politics, sexuality and religion, there are those who believe it does.

It is arrogant, myopic and (to use the trendy term) intolerant for anyone to believe they have the right to impose their convictions on another person.

Jesus never did.

Jesus simply spoke the truth and then invited all who would to trust and follow him, never forcing a single person to accept or reject him.

But make no mistake – although Jesus “co-existed” with everyone, he clearly didn’t “co-agree” with everyone.

And therein lies the tension…

We live in a generation that believes the lie that to disagree with someone means to hate them.

Chip & JoAnna Gaines host HGTV’s No. 1 show, Fixer Upper. Recently under attack for their Christian convictions, Chip rightly stated, “Disagreement is not the same thing as hate, don’t believe that lie.”

When Jesus said, “Love one another,” he was not implying that “agreeing with one another” was a prerequisite.

I love what I heard one preacher say: “Jesus had the ability to profoundly disagree with people while simultaneously profoundly loving and caring for them.”

There are those, however, as one blogger wrote, who “don’t just want freedom for their view but aggressively try to impose their view on others.” That’s called (among other things) intolerance, not tolerance.  That’s not exercising freedom of speech – that’s called bullying.

My favorite quote on this topic comes from Rick Warren: “Our culture has accepted two huge lies. The first is that if you disagree with someone’s lifestyle, you must fear or hate them. The second is that to love someone means you agree with everything they believe or do. Both are nonsense. You don’t have to compromise convictions to be compassionate.”

Soli Deo Gloria, Nick