by Elder Peter Lim

Last month we introduced the discussion regarding “gray issues.” Some may wonder why the topic of gray issues even needs to be discussed.

• Isn’t it just an individual’s choice where to draw a line and stick to it?
• Isn’t it called “gray” because scripture is not so clearly black and white?

It would be a mistake to think that this issue is as simple as each individual so arbitrarily defining the line between right and wrong, not-sin and sin, light and darkness. To think so would indicate a clear lack of understanding of the link between the actions that we take and the heart behind those actions.

• So why isn’t God’s word written more clearly for us?
• Why doesn’t it draw more well-defined lines between sin and not sin?
• If sin is so serious, wouldn’t God want us not to venture across the line?

I believe God chose to write it this way because our sinful tendency is to go as close to the line as we can without sinning without regard to the attitude of the heart. If God had written the bible as a list of dos and don’ts, people would Pharisaically obey the letter of the law rather than the spirit of the law. Just like the Pharisees, we would think that we are righteous if we stop short of crossing the line into sin. Then we would forget that the law was given to people to help us see that we are sinners in need of God’s grace. That’s what Romans 7:7 is all about:

What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “You shall not covet.”

What this means for us is that sin happens before we cross the “sin border.” That is, we shouldn’t consider ourselves to be safely in the “white” category before we cross the line into “black” territory. This is what Jesus meant when He said that one who hates his brother is guilty of murder. Murder is the sin border but sin happens before you get there when you harbor hate and bitterness in your heart. So before we cross over, we need to examine our hearts and interrogate our minds to discover the motivation why we would want to stay in the gray area. This examination doesn’t stop at our own hearts. We need to consider at least two other issues: not causing the weaker brother to stumble, and being above reproach to avoid even the appearance of evil. Hopefully we will examine each of these issues in more detail in future articles. An example here will help to illustrate the concept. I shared this illustration recently at church:

The king wanted to hire a driver for his daughter, the princess. He wanted to hire the very best driver since his castle was located high on a hill and the road leading up to it was a wall on one side and a cliff on the other. Three coachmen appeared before him for their interview. The first driver bragged that he can get within 12” of the cliff and not fall over. The second driver boasted that he can get within 6” without falling over. The third driver humbly said that he’s not sure how close he can get to the edge but one thing that he does know is that he will stay as far as he can away from it so that he doesn’t even get close to it. Of course the king hired the third driver. Now let’s add another factor: It’s always foggy and you can’t tell exactly where the cliff edge is. Wouldn’t you want to stay as far from the edge as you can then? Sin is often like that. You can’t see it coming until it’s too late. Therefore, why wouldn’t you want to stay away from it?

To summarize, if you say “If it’s not sin, it’s okay to do,” you are not being wise. If you say “If there’s no verse saying we can’t do this,” you are being a Pharisee. Let us be careful to make decisions that would reflect a desire to stay far away from sin and glorify Christ.