Black and White... and Gray

So it's been about 2 years since I've attempted to blog anything. But, my therapist thinks it would be a good idea for me get some of my thoughts out. Okay, so I don't have a therapist. I've just watched too much TV and so that sounded like the right thing to say. No, really I'm just blogging to get some of my random thoughts out of my head.

Anyways, I've been thinking about the concept of things being black and white, right and wrong, good and bad, etc. I've recently been listening to some of Mark Driscoll's sermons and if you've ever heard him speak you know that he's very...direct and to the point. You might say that wishy-washy is one way you could never describe him. One of his most recent rants...er sermons I listened to was one about what kids read these days Twilight and Harry Potter and the like. And let me be clear here because I like to poke fun at Mark Driscoll, but most of the time I agree with him although I'm not always a fan of how he presents what he says. Back to what I was saying though, no I don't want to open a debate about whether Harry Potter and Twilight and good or bad, I only mention this because it's what got me thinking about this question of "Is there a gray area?".

As I was listening to Mark speak on this topic I surprised myself by thinking "Can you really make a judgement on that? Isn't that just kind of a 'maybe it's good, maybe it's bad' situation? Yeah, in real life sorcery and such are bad, but this is only fiction for fun, so can't be that harmful. It's just kind of gray area." That's when I stopped myself and thought. "Did I just think 'gray area'?" The reason I stopped in my tracks like this is because when I look at Jesus and the what he taught and how he lived, he never gave any indication that there could be room for a gray area. He was very...direct and to the point. "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to Father but through me." Jesus always spoke with clear black and white. So is there room for a gray area?

I think that there is no gray area, there is only laziness. What I mean is that I believe that the tendency to put things in the category of Gray results from us not taking to time to deeply evaluate the decision. When it comes down to deciding if a decision or action is right or wrong, if we would just take the time to evaluate it holistically and Biblically and consider the implications, consequences, attitudes, motives, etc. involved, ultimately I think we CAN decide wrong or right, black or white.

Gray areas simply arise from our inability or refusal to evaluate every aspect from God's point of view and take into account all the principles of the Bible as well as all the implications, consequences, and attitudes involved.

Some things are simply stated in the Bible as black and white. Many things can be determined black or white by applying Biblical principles. But some things require an evaluation taking into account several principles, the attitudes and motives involved, the spiritual and the physical aspects, etc. to truly come to decision that will honor God and stay true to his Word. Most of the time though we're either too lazy to take that time to figure it out, or we're afraid of what the outcome might be, so we just label it as "gray".

That's my take, at least. What are your thoughts?

In Christ,
Ryan Fillinger
Fusion Church
Fountain, CO