tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19678732.post114143259328482900..comments2023-07-31T10:39:53.182-05:00Comments on The Blog of the American Chesterton Society: Post Modern GeniusNancy C. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06169395014931291729noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19678732.post-1141736564290802722006-03-07T07:02:00.000-06:002006-03-07T07:02:00.000-06:00An amusing anecdote about tolerance and stupidity....An amusing anecdote about tolerance and stupidity.<BR/>You know those Feng Shui posters (they have nothing to do with real Feng Shui), the ones with the Chinese characters for various ideals like love and peace and wisdom, and whatnot?<BR/>Well, in a New Age bookstore, I found one labelled "Tolerance", and I nearly doubled up laughing.<BR/>The character they used (if your PC can read Japanese, here it is: 忍) is called Nin in Japanese, and Ren in in Chinese. It means "perseverence," and one of its secondary meanings is "tolerance"...but only in the sense of "A high ~ for alcohol". The concept, as we use it, is not so easily expressed in Chinese or Japanese.<BR/>But wait, it gets better. It's <I>also</I> the first half of the Japanese word "ninja", as in "Teenage Mutant ~ Turtles". The role of ninja in history was anything but tolerant; the Iga and Koga ninja were spies for the Tokugawa and Sanada warlords, and the Oniwabanshu were spies in service of the shogunate. They were basically the 17th century equivalent of the KGB or the GRU, making sure none of the nobles were plotting against the supremacy of the Tokugawa clan. Oh, yeah, <I> real</I> tolerant!<BR/>"The Liberal<BR/>That no belief constrained<BR/>Opened his mind too far<BR/>And thus was scatterbrained."<BR/>That wasn't Chesterton, was it? Nobody I ask seems to know.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19678732.post-1141664385948775332006-03-06T10:59:00.000-06:002006-03-06T10:59:00.000-06:00The truth of this article is illustrated perfectly...The truth of this article is illustrated perfectly by the fact that while all of this tolerance and so forth is so cherished, the old Burke quote about evil remains as popular as ever <I>among the very same people</I>. I guess they won't put two and two together, because that might not be what two wants to do or something.Nick Milnehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15677481833245634421noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19678732.post-1141613638539753822006-03-05T20:53:00.000-06:002006-03-05T20:53:00.000-06:00I love Touchstone!I love Touchstone!Maureenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01306638938982553941noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19678732.post-1141536348444399332006-03-04T23:25:00.000-06:002006-03-04T23:25:00.000-06:00How did that GKC quote go? "Of all the graces in ...How did that GKC quote go? "Of all the graces in the Garden of Eden, the one rule was perhaps God's greatest mercy." I had never really thought of freedom properly until I began reading Chesterton.Tom Farmerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17385416664257535069noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19678732.post-1141507141107720102006-03-04T15:19:00.000-06:002006-03-04T15:19:00.000-06:00Tom: I searched, but this article is not on line. ...Tom: I searched, but this article is not on line. However, if you click on the link (on my post) and go to the Archives, there is plenty of good reading available, even though this particular article isn't.<BR/><BR/>I agree with you that tolerance is usually a front for an avoidance of our sins, denial of behavior being sinful, or a wishfulness that we could get away with what others who don't have convictions can get away with.<BR/><BR/>When a professed atheist claimed that the Church barred his freedom, I asked if he rebelled this hard against the police for barring his freedom to go 100mph on the freeway, or for painting stripes on the highway and making him stay in the lines.<BR/><BR/>People usually think they have complete freedom *except* for those awful rules of the church. It doesn't take many examples to show them that our lives are restricted daily by rules and regulations designed to keep us safe or others safe from us.<BR/><BR/>And Chesterton said something like that there were hundreds of ways or perhaps even thousands of ways to get to God, we can't know them all, we know ours and can't assume that is how God leads everyone. I think this comes with age, and patience. After 20 years of New Age, a sister converts back. After 23 years of atheism, a brother-in-law is suddenly lighting vigil candles in church. You see these things and it gives you hope, and you know that you can't "hurry up" someone's journey to God.Nancy C. Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06169395014931291729noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19678732.post-1141487489839259782006-03-04T09:51:00.000-06:002006-03-04T09:51:00.000-06:00Thanks for posting this, Nancy. Is there an elect...Thanks for posting this, Nancy. Is there an electronic copy of the article available?<BR/><BR/>Our embrace of tolerance is seemingly a way of avoiding responsibility. So much of modern thought seems to simply provide a justification for what we are already doing. We are “tolerant” because we are afraid of being bound by a coherent philosophy. In this ethos, where all ideas are considered equal regardless of merit, truthful discernment is impossible and we are left with no other choice but moral relativism. Our culture of death is the fruit of this intellectual fear.<BR/><BR/>This does not mean that we cannot respect or, in the true sense of the word, tolerate differing religious convictions; the pendulum need not swing to the opposite extreme. I truly believe that the Lord reveals himself in different ways to different people. While no one gets to the Father except through the Way, Truth, and the Light, the Son has many faces and it is foolishly conceited of me to think that I know one of them, much less all. Yet, I absolutely reject moral relativism. To the extent that any religion or moral philosophy does not embrace God’s gifts, perhaps the greatest of which is life itself, it is wrong and should not be tolerated.Tom Farmerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17385416664257535069noreply@blogger.com