Church Voices

I am convinced that one of the most harmful things the Church has done to itself is limit its pallet to two colors: black and white (forgetting for a second that black and white are not technically colors). Of course it is not just the Church who paints with only these colors. It is a natural tendency for everyone to see things dualistically. Either this, or that. This is bad, that is good. McDonald’s vs. Burger King. Coke vs. Pepsi. Republican vs. Democrat. This is black, that is white. This isn’t surprising—dualisms provide a convenient way of seeing and getting around the world. Gray areas are sticky, complicated, and lack solid definition. So we prefer black and white, thank you.

I have had 5 different jobs dealing in some way with customer service. In my experience I have observed that people often complain about there being a lack of options available to them. Then, nearly in the same breath, they’ll also complain about having too many options to choose from. What this tells me is that people want variety, but without confusion. People want to venture beyond black and white, but they don’t know how without losing the clarity of dualisms in the process. Is there a way to add a little more color to our lives without adding confusion and complication?

One example of the sort of dualistic thinking that has brought the Church harm is the “of the world vs. not of the world” dichotomy. This is a valid dichotomy, but many Christians are severely confused about how to understand it. I suspect the confusion is due to mainly two things. First, it is because this dualism, correctly understood, does not always have black and white options. Rather, it contains many grays. The harm has come by presenting it the former way. A solid result of this can be seen by noting how the “Church” has universally condemned things like drinking, tattoos, piercings, cussing, smoking, gambling, etc. “Either it’s of the world or it is not,” they say. Naturally, everything that is not explicitly Christian becomes worldly. So out goes secular music, film, and art also. Throw in Dungeons and Dragons, Harry Potter, and Halloween while you’re at it (or anything else that doesn’t jive with your own personal understanding of Christian morale).

Second, it is because of a general misunderstanding of the term ‘world’ and how it is used in the Bible. This has been wonderfully captured by English Journalist Steve Turner in his book Imagine: A Vision for Christians in the Arts. Turner writes:

The Bible does warn against “the world” and “worldliness” and so if we are to be faithful we have to find out what that means. Extremism comes from confusing two Biblical usages of the word world. On the one hand there is the created world that God deemed “good,” [Gen. 1:31] which is contrasted with the rest of the universe. “For God so loved the world” is as much a statement about our globe, distinguished from the rest of the universe, as it is about love. On the other hand, there is the rebellious system of thinking we might contrast with the kingdom of heaven. “Love not the world” means neither “Don’t care for the planet” nor “Drop out of society,” but “Don’t embrace anti-God thinking.”

Confusing these two usages can lead to disaster. Some strict fundamentalist sects show disdain toward creation and culture, and yet in doing so become proud, arrogant, and uncaring. They therefore become worldly in the very way the Bible condemns and yet are not worldly enough in the way the Bible commands. We are told to be in the world but not of it. People like this are often of the world but not in it…We become worldly not by engaging with the world but by allowing it to shape our thinking. Jesus was clear about this. His prayer for the disciples was “not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one” (John 17:15). (p. 43)

I want to suggest further that the Christians who confuse the two understandings of the word ‘world’ not only become worldly by becoming proud, arrogant, and uncaring, but also by deeming that which does not necessarily promote anti-God thinking worldly. To do this is to slip back into thinking as the Judaizers did—in black and white. They forget that something harmful to one’s Christian walk might not be to another’s. Jesus wasn’t afraid to step into the gray. In Luke 20, the Pharisees approached Jesus with a black and white dualism. They ask “is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” By saying yes, they would understand Jesus to be condoning the oppression of the Jews (God’s people) by financially supporting the oppressors, the Roman army. By saying no, they’d arrest and execute him on the charges of him refusing to pay his taxes. Jesus’ response: “Show me a denarius. Whose portrait and inscription are on it?” “Caesar’s,” thy replied. He said to them, “Then give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” He refused to paint with their pallet of only black and white. He did this by showing paying taxes didn’t mean compromising holiness, for holiness is giving to God that which is God’s, which is perfectly compatible with giving to man what is man’s.

Here Jesus gives us the answer to our question, Is there a way to see the world with more colors than just black and white without losing clarity in the process? Yes—by maintaining personal holiness. Personal holiness is how someone relates to the world without allowing it to shape their thinking. The nastiness comes when someone judges another based on their own personal holiness. Have you ever worshiped God during a secular song? Have you ever cussed during a prayer? Remember when David danced and Michal rebuked him? She was judging his personal Holiness. David’s reply, “I will become even more undignified than this.” We often understand that comment as our reply to the world outside looking in on us. But how often do we note that David said it to a fellow believer? If you’ve read this far, do yourself a favor. Read Romans 14.