My reflection on my view of gray areas:
When you are thinking of doing something (gray area) that the Bible doesn’t state whether is right or wrong, ask yourself whether does it glorify God and whether it will stumble yourself and others around you.
After reflecting, I went ahead and use the power of Google to find this good article on the net regarding gray areas, and to summarize its key points:
Will it benefit me spiritually?
All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify. (1 Cor. 10:23)
Will it bring bondage?
All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. (1 Cor. 6:12)
Will it defile God’s temple?
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. (1 Cor. 6:19-20)
Will it cause anyone to stumble?
Food will not commend us to God; we are neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the better if we do eat. But take care lest this liberty of yours somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. (1 Cor. 8:8-9)
Will it further the cause of evangelism?
Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God; just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of the many, that they may be saved. (1 Cor. 10:32-33)
Will it violate my conscience?
He who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin. (Rom. 14:23)
Will it bring glory to God?
Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31)
John MacArthur, 2003. What to Do in the Gray Areas. Bible Bulletin Board, [internet].
Available at: http://www.biblebb.com/files/MAC/mac5.htm
[Accessed 15 June 2010]
