Gray versus Black and White

Gray versus Black and White

Christians disagree over many things, such as:
1) Whether women should be pastors.
2) Whether or not there will be a rapture, and, if so, whether it will be before, during, or after the tribulation.
3) Whether a person who is truly a redeemed believer can lose their salvation or not.
4) Whether or not Christians should expect to speak in tongues, and, if so, whether such utterance is or is not really a language.
5) Whether the days of Genesis 1 were literal consecutive 24-hour days or not.
Some of us like to see things in black and white. We want to know the answers -- the right answers. Some of us don't feel this need, or don't think there is enough evidence to make up our minds. We see things in gray. Generally, that would be me.

There are real dangers in being a black and white person.
1) Most obviously, you might be wrong.* The main reason being wrong is a problem is that if you are hard-nosed enough about your wrong belief, you may turn non-believers away from Christ.**
2) Vehement disagreements between believers will turn away non-believers.
3) God never commanded that we understand exactly what the book of Revelation predicts, for example. We can spend more of our time on such issues than we should, just as we can spend too much time watching TV. Christ has other plans for us.
4) You might disrespect a gray fellow Christian, because she hasn't made up her mind on something that you have. You might disrespect a black and white believer, because he doesn't agree with you. You might be proud of your own firmness.
There are also dangers in being gray:
1) You may be ignoring things that God wants you to know and act on, or you may doubt things that you should believe.
2) God commands that we take the scripture seriously.
3) You may not be spending enough of your thought life on God, lazily saying about whatever issue, "Well, we can't know, so why think about it?"
4) If we don't take our beliefs seriously enough, unbelievers will not consider believing as we do.5) You might disrespect a black and white believer as simple-minded, or be proud of the fact that you haven't made up your mind.

So, my friends, I submit to you that, generally, we should be intermediate between black and whiteness and grayness. I don't know what color that is.
*As Henry Neufeld recently said, there is a sort of unacknowledged doctrine that you have to be doctrinally correct to be eternally saved, but that is one thing we should be black and white about -- you don't have to have all your theological jots and tittles in a row to be redeemed, thanks be to God! (Neufeld's entire essay is splendid.)That's no excuse for not listening to pastors, not studying Sunday School lessons or the equivalent, not reading the Bible, or for ignoring other sources of light.

**For instance, if you say that the Bible says that Christ is returning before you die, and He doesn't, people who don't know much about the Bible, except what you say, will come to the conclusion that they can ignore it.
For another instance, non believing geologists are not likely to respond, if you tell them that the Bible says that they need to repent and believe, if you have also told them that the Bible teaches unequivocally that almost all geological phenomena are the result of Noah's flood.
I thank my wife for constructive criticism. Thanks for reading.

This essay was subject to serious editing on November 22, 2008, without changing the meaning significantly from that posted on the original date.

Gray (or is it grey?)

I think Thomas is my favorite bible character, but I’m not sure. Maybe it’s Gideon. Maybe not.

Some people never seem to doubt anything. They seem to have the answers to every question, and they think their answers are God-given. For example, some people say, in unequivocal terms, that the current Israeli regime is always right, and the Palestinians are terrorists, and always wrong, on the authority of scripture. They ignore scripture that indicates that God's promise of the land to Israel came with conditions. They are sure God brought the Israelis back, when it may have been earthly powers who did. Some people understand what the bible says about the origin of human beings, eternal security, baptism, church government, and speaking in tongues. They know what kind of church music is best. They have the correct answers all ready, with no exceptions or ambiguity. It’s all black and white. No gray. That’s not me. I’m gray around my face, and my brain has gray matter. I also think in gray a lot. I can see more than one side to most questions.

Part of my trouble is that I’m an academic. Academics are supposed to argue about questions and answers, and to present more than one side of an issue if they are teaching or writing about it. (They also often use parentheses, and maybe footnotes1, to set out contrary positions as fairly as they can.) But that’s not the whole story. There are academics who argue passionately for one side in some quarrel or other, and don’t seem to credit the other side with any sense whatsoever.

Am I right? Are the black and white people wrong? Naturally, I’m not sure.

One thing that I have noticed is that the black and white thinkers don’t always agree with each other. The question of eternal security will do here. There is scripture to support more than one side of the disagreement over whether, once saved, you are always saved, but you’d never know it from listening to many Christians. There’s only one way, and that’s it. Trouble is, someone else says the same thing about a different way. So there is a problem with being black and white on issues—you can be loudly and spectacularly wrong, or at least disagreed with.

On the other hand (of course!) there are problems with being gray. I can think of but two times when a biblical character is mentioned as being unsure. One of these is Thomas. The other is Gideon. That’s not very many. Paul and Peter, and the other writers of the New Testament, don’t seem to be exhorting us to be wishy-washy, or to nurse our doubts. Quite the contrary. So there’s also a problem with being gray.

I take some consolation from Gideon. Even though an angel appeared to him, and spoke to him, he still wasn’t sure. He asked for a sign. (More than one, in fact) And God didn’t strike him dead for testing Him. God gave him his signs. (I thought the angel was one!) God is not threatened or challenged if I’m really not sure about what He wants me to do, or believe.

I also take some consolation from Thomas. He refused to believe eyewitnesses. He wanted absolute proof. And then, Christ gave it to him. If I really need a sign, or a divine revelation, God can do that.

There are some gray questions, and some gray-thinking people. But there are some things that are certain. Even Thomas testified to that. He proclaimed Jesus as dead and risen Lord. My conclusion (I think) is that lots of things are uncertain, and it’s OK not to be sure of everything, but I’d better be sure of a few things, and the right ones. Thomas doubted, but he got the most important answer right. Jesus is the risen Lord and Christ. (John 20:28) That’s one thing I’d better be black and white on. The rest? Mostly gray.

1This footnote is to notify my regular readers that I intend to produce another post on Gray, at a later date, more or less like the one on, say, Green.

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August 24, 2009: That post is here.

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