Positive tolerance claims to be a logical synthesis which demands that both a thesis and its antithesis are true. Does such thinking carry any weight in Christian Theology?
The conclusion that "Jesus is God" is a natural consequence of classical logic based on the evidence of Scripture, tradition (history) and personal experience. Some in our time fail to be convinced by classical logic because of positive tolerance, a concept taught in many educational institutions and through the media. Positive tolerance is a construction of Hegelian dialectic reasoning in which we synthesize that both a theses and its antithesis are true. In other words, (a is b) is true and (a is-not b) is true; (Jesus is God) is true and (Jesus is-not God) is true. This means every individual's beliefs, values, lifestyle and truth claims are equally valid. Not only does everyone have an equal right to his/her beliefs but all beliefs are equally true. I may believe (Jesus is God) but I must also believe (Allah is God), (Buddha is God), (Brahman is God) and (God is a fictitious being). The concept of positive tolerance is incompatible with logic and reason. One of God's attributes is absolute truth; positive tolerance is absolute lie.
Classical logic is the logic of absolutes. Each thesis (e.g. proposition, statement, sentence, etc.) is either true or false in an absolute sense. Classical logic represents a two-valued or bivalent system. The 66 books of the Christian Bible suggest that classical logic describes that particular attribute of God called truth. For example, the thesis (Jesus is God) is either true or false. The truth of this thesis is not relative in the sense that Jesus may have god-like attributes compared to humans but not compared to other gods. The truth of this thesis is not situational in the sense that some other god may be legitimately worshiped if you reside in a country that prohibits Christianity. The truth of this thesis is not unknowable in the sense that the grace of God that brings salvation appears to only certain persons. The truth of this thesis is not personal in the sense that Jesus can be the legitimate God of some but not others. Finally, this thesis and its antithesis (Jesus is-not God) cannot both be true as positive tolerance would have you believe. Either Jesus is God or He is not, period.
The concept of sin provides another example of the Scriptural position on truth. Scripture ruthlessly reveals the sins of great men and women of God – Noah lay drunk and naked in his tent, Abraham claimed Sarah was his sister, Sarah attempted to hide her laughter, Isaac imitated his father’s lie, Jacob cheated his brother, Moses angrily struck the rock, Aaron made a gold idol, Joshua did not drive out the Canaanites, Gideon made an ephod, Samson lived a licentious life, David had Uriah murdered, Solomon worshipped other gods, Elijah became utterly despondent and Peter refused to eat with gentile Christians. Scripture never exercises positive tolerance toward sin even when the sin is committed by one whom God has appointed as His earthly emissary.
Because of its stand on absolute truth and its unswerving belief in one path of salvation from the consequences of sin, Christianity is viewed as the most intolerant religion in the world today. In truth, Christianity is highly intolerant of the decay, violence, disease, suffering, death and unmitigated evil that holds all creation in a vice grip.