gray areas

I recall a moment in The Simpsons Movie where the family is gathered in church, and Grandpa Simpson is rolling on the floor, supposedly uttering a prophecy of the impending doom of Springfield. Homer whips out a Bible and frantically flips through it. "This book doesn't have any answers!" he says.

To Matt Groening and anyone else who participated in writing the screenplay, I would, quite respectfully, beg to differ.

I spent all of my life avoiding questions. Whatever answers I found were through my own experiences and thoughts. Yet this past year, through various struggles, I was shoved out of the comfortable niche I had built for myself. I came to a fork in the road. I had only two choices; I needed to answer certain questions - or have myself turn away from the narrow path.

Spending time with people of other religions, even for a few minutes, has been beneficial. I've begun to ask myself some of the questions I tucked away. "Why is it that people believe in all these different religions if Christ is the truth? If they hear it, shouldn't it be clear?"

The question isn't about the truth. Out of the millions of opinions and beliefs people have, one must be right. That supernatural being out there has to be intelligent enough to bestow at least one person with the truth. The truth is out there. Then why do people refuse it?

We forget. Our perspective is narrow, it is all about the now, not the future. The Israelites who quite literally saw the presence of God, still worshipped idols because they needed instant gratification. People would rather have six-figure salaries, judging happiness and success by the nine-to-five, luxury beach homes, two-year-long marriages and abortions than eternal life. Do they have to get to their deathbed to realize that there has to be something more to live for?

Needless to say, I fall on the wrong side of that question too. Countless times, I've pushed aside what I believe is true for the sake of instant gratification - looking for gray areas and loopholes. But what I've found is that it's not so important whether what I'm doing is a sin or not.. I feel I've racked up enough sins to condemn me. The question is not "Am I doing something wrong? Am I abusing grace?" but rather, "Would I be willing to give up this thing, even if it is not necessarily wrong, so that I can enjoy Christ?"

"'Everything is permissible' - but not everything is beneficial..."
- 1 Corinthians 10:23a