Some Christians believe that there are no gray areas. To them everything is either black or white, sin or righteousness, good or evil. Now that is actually a rather difficult expectation to have from the Christian life or even from the Bible. It would have to mean that the Bible spells out every situation in life with such detail that we are in no doubt as to how we should act. But, that is not the real world.
Paul dealt with a grey area, when he wrote of the "meat offered to idols" situation in 1 Corinthians 8. He said that it is not wrong to eat, after all it's just meat. But then he said, under certain circumstances it may cause offense or a stumbling block. It was, in short, a judgment call.
We don't often run across meat offered to idols today but there are similar dilemmas. Dancing, television, gambling, alcohol, investing in stocks, music tastes, abortion, voting, clothing styles, going to war or not, and a whole list of other things, can fall into gray areas.
Some churches ban dancing altogether. The Bible does not, but there may be a time or type of dancing that a Christian might judge to be sinful. Some churches ban TV altogether, but most of us use our judgment, and we even disagree among ourselves on what is fit to watch.
Some churches ban gambling, alcohol, investing and rock-n-roll. The Bible does not. But there are examples when they are wrong, and we could discuss that until the cows come home.
We probably all agree that abortion is normally evil. However, there is a time when even the most conservative Christian, might support it. For example, if the choice was either the baby's or the mother's life.
So, yes, there are definitely gray areas. We must choose, and no amount of church rules invented by all of the elders on earth will ever cover every situation.
Maybe that's why grey can be spelled two ways. We have a choice to make.
