This is all about whether Christians should be tolerant towards each other and to others. Recently I was walking back from town and I bumped into a couple of fellow church members. I unplugged by earbuds and we said “hi” to each other and then a short but interesting conversation started….
“What are you listening to Doug?”
“Tom Waits”
Puzzled looks, followed by an enquiring question
“Oh we’ve not heard of him before. Is he a preacher?”
“No” I smiled to myself and explained “he’s a singer, blues and other stuff. Kind of thing you’d hear in a dingy, smokey run down bar serving cheap whisky”
Then there was a look of horror and surprise on their faces followed by
“Oh brother, we’ll pray for you” and then we went in our separate directions. I was smiling as I continued listening to the music as I carried on walking home. Were they serious? Perhaps, could be? Surely not?
Invitations to the blues
I should say the track in question happened to be Invitation to the Blues which is my all-time favourite Tom Waits track. I first clocked him in 1982 and I believe he’s still going. Invitation to the Blues combines a mixture of loneliness, drifting around and some real hope. Plus its a very atmospheric and stunningly beautiful piece of music which feeds the imagination – how did he write such a masterpiece? Why? Perhaps based on his observations, his own interactions? I will never know but it is, nevertheless, a great piece of music.
Should Christians be tolerant?
No doubt the friends who I’d bumped into are conservative, Bible believing Christians and we do belong to the same church. I believe the basis of our faith is just the same. Generally within the church there is an increasing readiness to accommodate different views and tastes, no longer influenced by an overbearing leadership.
Do we as Christians look out for each other, making sure no-one stumbles or is led astray? Do we accept different lifestyles and different points of view, different tastes and opinions about life, politics, music? The list could go on and on. We live in a society which is constantly changing and evolving, so how do we take this on board, or should we pretend it’s not happening?
We should be tolerant towards each other but within certain constraints, it should never be a case of ‘anything goes’. We should welcome and love other people, to embrace cultures and different points of view. In fact I think we should deliberately seek and welcome this. Without it we become isolationists and nationalistic. And yet we have to guard our foundations, the basis of faith in knowing who God and Jesus are and to never compromise our faith and everything that means.
And as for Tom Waits and Invitation to the blues, well that’s a masterpiece. It’s been with me for virtually all my adult life. I have listened to it everywhere I have lived. Even when I’ve been away from home and any form of music, I have hummed or sung it in my mind and often it has created a very special atmosphere that just gets me daydreaming of other things.
A couple of relevant sites arguing the point are here (and probably making the point far better than me!). Questions.org and Patheos