God: "I looked for someone to take a stand for me, and stand in the gap" (Ezekiel 22:30)
When we respond rightly to trials, they actually have the capacity to increase our joy. Through them: God instructs us, we learn to depend on Him more, we experience a greater grace, we are being conformed to the image of Christ and we are learning the contrast with the glories to come.
"Tolerance" gives me room to say, "I think you're wrong, but I'll defend your right to be wrong." "Pluralism" suggests, much more strongly than most folks admit, that there isn't such thing as right and wrong - and no such thing as truth and error. As it is practiced more and more in America, pluralism tends to require that you not only leave room for your neighbor to believe what he believes, but that you also refrain from disagreeing with it. There's a world of difference between the two perspectives. Tolerance promotes civility combined with clear thinking. Pluralism promotes civility combined with mushy-headedness.
