What shade of grey will you defend?

That first comment on my last post prompted me to think about how we define black and white. To some maybe Poland was black, Russia was white, Germany grey. Or maybe it was white, grey, black respectively. Or maybe it was all black to some, all white to others. And on which issues are we assigning color to? Which issues matter?

I admit my knowledge of history is limited, but what emerges when you combine all of the blacks, whites, and greys across all the issues involved and all the levels of psyche for all the perspectives both local and global? Grey? How grey?

Now my knowledge of the Bible is no doubt more limited than that of history, so take this as however you'd like. Regarding Jesus, I tend to think he defined grey better than anyone in history. The pharisees would present him with the most clearly designed litmus tests they could think of, tests that would reveal once and for all where Jesus stood. Pick one answer and he'd be siding with them, pick another answer and he'd be siding with the devil. He'd find the third answer. One that restored grey to the conversation.

So if you stand in grey do you stand for anything? That's something I was recently asked. It's tricky because, yet again, that's a black and white question. Define "anything". If the definition of "anything" is left up to me, then I'm for a lot of things. I believe in the rule of law, the sovereignty of God, that pop rocks don't go with guiness and so on. I would even be willing to defend some of those views, especially the pop rocks.

However if, "anything" is the set of assertions that the questioner believes is fundamental to a peaceful existence, then question has become considerably more grey. What assertions matter to that person? Which assertions will stand the test of time?

To further complicate matters, usually what we say we believe isn't at all what we show we believe. This even goes for the deepest religious beliefs.

I know its true for me. Everything I say on this blog is what I think I believe, looking at a broad view of my life you might say that it is true, step closer to the canvas of my life and you'll see the uneven brush strokes, step even closer and you'll find whole swaths of inconsistency, step even closer and you'll see specks and grains of doubt and deception. Take out your microscope and you'll find layers and layers of black and white.

I guess what I'm coming to is this: Everything we think is a summarization. The previous sentence was a summarization. And so is this one. And this one. We have been created fundamentally grey, incapable of having a single boolean thought.

Now with all of that the question becomes, what shade of grey will you defend?