We live in a black and white world. In New York, there are black and white cookies. Some great movies are in black and white. Newspapers are printed in black and white. Even Michael Jackson, before his death, was black and white! Is God’s law black and white? Is it a sin to drink or smoke? How about joining into the spirit of things au-natural at a nude beach? Is it okay to buy another Lamborghini, to go with your Rolls-Royce and Mercedes-Benz when your friend can’t get to work because his 1969 Volkswagen Bug broke down again?
Many people will bring up the concept of moral relativism. That is the belief that if you think that something is wrong, it is wrong, but if you think something is right, it is right. Problematic in that logical discussion is the importance of you and your conviction. What is more important, your law or God’s law?
16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,” 17 then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more." Hebrews 10:16-17
In the passage above, as well as in a very similar quotation of this passage in the Old Testament (see Jeremiah 31:31-34), God says that He will put His law on the minds and hearts of the Jews. Do all of us have the same understanding of God’s law now? As a man of faith and a believer in the inerrancy of God’s Word, I still can struggle with sin and even with the understanding of the definition of sin in my own life. However, whether or not I sin has nothing to do with my acceptance or understanding of the commission of that sin. For example, let’s say that I never have read the Bible and I have a sexual relationship with my neighbor’s wife. I can rationalize my behavior. “He doesn’t love her and their relationship virtually has been over for years!” “If it wouldn’t have been me, it would have been someone else.” Regardless of what I said or felt, it wouldn’t change God’s seventh commandment to not commit adultery, whether or not I ever had read those commandments.
While it is difficult to grasp this for some, God created us in His image. That doesn’t mean that we have His nose, His eyes and His jawbone. Instead, He has imprinted us with the knowledge of Him. There is a God-shaped vessel inside each of us. We can choose to fill it with God as He is the only perfect fit. Instead most try to cram in drugs, fame, money, or any host of things that simply cannot fill the void. Another common error is when we choose the parts of the Bible that we are willing to follow. When we do that, we create a god in our image, one we are willing to worship. That is exactly what idolatry is. God tells us exactly who He is. He tells us exactly what His laws are. What gives us the right to decide which law is good and which law is bad, when those laws were set by an omniscient God?
Yet there are gray areas. It doesn’t say smoking is a sin in the Bible. It doesn’t say that shooting up heroin is a sin, specifically, but we do know that the same root word we get for "pharmacy" is pharmakei, the Greek word for sorcery. In 1 Corinthians, Paul told us that we as Christians have freedom. One of the issues of their day was in eating meat that had been offered to idols. It wasn’t against God’s law, but it caused weaker brothers to stumble. So Paul said:
11 And because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died? 12 But when you thus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.
1 Corinthians 8:11-12
21 It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak.
Romans 14:21
In that regard, God tells us to stay away from the gray areas. When our concerns extends to the spiritual welfare of our brethren, we start to understand God’s love for us in a whole new way!
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