I’m partially colour-blind. I can see quite a lot of colour but I don’t see red very well at all and I can’t really tell a lot of the time whether something is green or brown. I am red-green colour blind. I have visions in my head of Steve Smith doing a take off of that one!) We live in a world of colour but what would it be like to live in a black and white world?
It seems sometimes as if some people do. For some people everything is either black or white. That is to say that for some people it seems as if EVERYTHING is either absolutely right or absolutely wrong. I need to hasten at this point to say that I am completely convinced that some things are absolutely right and some things are absolutely wrong. However, in keeping with the past few posts on this subject, I must also concede that sometimes there must be room for compromise. Now, I realize that even my use of the word ‘compromise’ will tempt some to immediately label me a ‘compromiser’ and dismiss me - those who live in a black and white world.
But maybe you will hear me out. I do realize the danger of compromise when it comes to some things and I do know that we have often compromised in areas where we should never compromise.
“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” Isaiah 5:20
But I also realize that not everything is either black or white. Absolute ‘black and white thinking’ creates a false dilemma or a false dichotomy. It is sometimes called the ‘either-or fallacy’. This error occurs when we unnecessarily limit the possible alternatives to two – black or white.
For example, Jesus said, “He who is not with me is against me”. (Matt 12:30) He can say that and it is absolutely true because He is God in the flesh, “who cannot lie” ( Titus 1:2) and “who does not change like shifting shadows”. (James 1:17) However, if I were to make a statement like that about myself, I would be stating a fallacy. Why? Because there are times when you should agree with me because there are times when I am right. But there are also times when you should disagree with me because there are times when I will be wrong. There are times when we actually do the truth a disservice by refusing to consider more than two mutually exclusive alternatives.
This actually happens all the time in Christian circles. You have to either be a Hybelite or despise the man. You have to either be a Warrenite or campaign against him. Some Christians like to set planning and prayer against each other. They feel that planning is a business function that has no place in the church and that we are planning when we should be praying. The truth is that planning can be wrong if it becomes a substitute for prayer but that need not be the case. The two are NOT mutually exclusive and there is another option. We can do both. And so we should. To attempt to coerce people to choose between the two is to err.
When it comes to interpersonal relationships, black and white thinkers are destined for failure because they see everything from their perspective and there is no room for the possibility that the other person’s view may have some merit. It has to be either their way or your way and since they don’t see it your way, conflict is inevitable and often irresolvable. They are colour blind.
The biblical term for discernment comes from the idea of dividing. To discern is distinguish between. However, it is not always the ability to discern between absolutely right and absolutely wrong.
“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” 2Tim 2:15
In the Greek text, the phrase translated ‘correctly handles’ is literally to ‘cut straight’. But this isn’t just separating truth from error, this is separating truth from truth! Biblical discernment includes the wisdom to be able to discern where there are other options. And sometimes the wisest thing you will ever discern will be in the form of a compromise.
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