Black and White

Black and White. That’s how I see the world. Black and White, right and wrong, good and bad. Good and evil. Truth and lies.

Growing up I was taught there was a right and a wrong way to behave. A right and a wrong way to think. A right and a wrong way to believe. A binary thought process. Ones and zeros. On and off. Right and wrong.

I still believe that way. In every situation there is a right way to proceed and a wrong way. You see right is Right just as truth is Truth. You don’t have to believe it for a truth to be true. Just like you don’t have to understand the right way for there to be a Right way. Where we have gone wrong as a people is moving away from the concept of Right and Wrong. A few years ago a creeping thought entered into our collective conscience. This way of thinking was called “situational ethics”.

Our whole society is built upon this new thought process. We have embraced this concept because it allows us to bypass our teaching and our conscience mind telling us not to do what we know to be wrong. This lets us enjoy those guilty pleasures we want but know we shouldn’t have. Hollywood is full of people who embrace this thought. These same people produce show after show of people doing wrong. Why? I suspect they are trying to influence all of us that this is normal. So we emulate them and strive to be just like them. Behaving badly is now the new norm. The most outrageous behavior is celebrated and is out there for all to see. So we have shows where people live together without the benefit of marriage. Children born out of wedlock. People having sex before they even shake hands. Men of God ridiculed for quoting the Bible. Show after show displaying bad behavior holding it up as noble. To embrace the phrase “if it feels good, do it” to the point that we behave like beasts in the field.

It is not just Hollywood.

As a people we allow ourselves to be sucked into this philosophy so we can temper the guilt and disdain that wells up inside us. And yet that little voice will not be totally silenced. The Bible tells us even the natural man has the Laws of God printed upon his heart. And so we are miserable when we do what we know to be wrong. Or put in another way “in our sin“. Taking it out on any who come our way and dare to place the mirror of Truth before us.

It has now gotten so bad that life has no worth. A young man in Peoria was killed for his iPad. The weak are preyed upon and beaten for sport as seen on video after video on you tube. Children are cut apart and sucked out of their mother’s womb because they are not wanted. Or they will hinder mommy from having a good time. Don’t we know that children are a gift from God?

Are we so rich we can reject God’s gifts?

Good and bad. Black and white. There is only one Right way. No Gray. Just the Black of evil. The black of death. What we see as gray is our attempts at deluding ourselves. Our unwillingness to do the right thing, the hard thing. We avoid the cost to ourselves at the expense of our souls.

Now we’ve reached the point. The point that our very souls are at stake. “What profit’s a man if he gains the whole world but looses his soul.” To do right is good and to do wrong is bad. The natural man referred to earlier is also know by another name. The “old Adam”. This “old Adam” must be fought against and as Luther says we must drown him in the waters of baptism daily.

I have a vision of myself holding a man under water. This man doesn’t want to drown so is fighting with all his might. Arms and legs are flailing and punches are being thrown. A mighty struggle is taking place. As I struggle I grow weaker as he grows stronger. I peer into the water and see it’s me I am fighting against. Just when I can’t fight any longer God places his hands on mine to help me drown this “old Adam” of mine. As long as I don’t reject His help and shake off His hands the battle is won. But only for today. Tomorrow it begins again. I must surrender to God and His Truth daily so I can use His strength to defeat what’s in me.

There is only one Right.

There is only one Truth.