by Elder Peter Lim
Perhaps no subject stirs up more controversy within the church than the topic of “gray issues” or Christian liberties. I’m certain that I don’t know all there is to know about this topic. However, I must continue with my life and so must you so let’s deal with this. In my search through scripture, I’ve been somewhat frustrated by the lack of clarity and definitive answers to my questions. I’m sure that the fault of this lack of clarity is mine alone. Certainly the bible has been written by God the way He meant to communicate to people and He’s perfect and therefore His word is perfect. Issues are only gray in our own mind. God is able to search our hearts and know its condition accurately. We are not. Therefore, our task will be to try to look at ourselves from His perspective.
The incident that prompted me to write this article is that some male and female college students were said to have shared a hotel room during a trip during Spring break in order to save some money. Should we as a church ignore this? Should we speak out against or in support of it? Is this issue even worth mentioning at all? I believe that the day-to-day dilemma of most Christians is related to this issue. We are constantly making decisions that deal with wrestling through gray issues. For example, when was the last time you struggled with whether you should commit murder or not? Hopefully never. But when was the last time you looked at someone with hatred? (1 John 3:15) Now was it really hatred of a brother (which would be sin) or was it merely being upset at him? (which would be gray whether it was sin or not) How upset does one have to be before it’s considered hate? The process of thinking through gray issues is something that I believe most people have not really thought through biblically.
As an elder in the church, I have the responsibility of making sure that our church supports biblical principles. If our people are advocating a lifestyle that is inconsistent with the bible, I have the responsibility of steering people toward the bible and propagating a biblical lifestyle through our church environment. This means that at some point in time, people in our church who disagree with the elders on the attitudes propagated through our church culture have to make the difficult choice whether to submit to our views (without necessarily agreeing with them wholeheartedly) or leaving a church that they love otherwise in their stand for their opinions on gray issues. In the coming months, I hope to shed some biblical light as it applies to these everyday situations.