(March 2011)
Facilitated by Ashley Vinil http://www.google.com/profiles/jpashley
Gray areas you have struggled with (participant’s inputs)
1. Manipulating data / figures in reports (forced by managers)
2. When my team-mate asks me daily, ‘when Jesus will come and I could not answer’
3. Giving fake excuses to my customers
4. Software piracy okay?
5. Tattooing okay?
6. Performing the best at work place
7. <14% alcohol consumption
8. Dating with a seeker
9. Rash driving
10. Not obeying traffic rules
11. Difficulty in convincing others about the gospel
12. Tolerance to harmful talk
13. Close relationship with non-believers
14. Listening to cinema / secular songs
15. Struggle between yes and no
16. Saving finances like LIC, Mutual funds etc
17. Eating prasadam – food offered to idols
18. Fasting regularly
19. Putting make-up?
20. Is it Christian to be successful / rich in life?
21. Is it normal not to be willing to get married?
When deciding on the execution of a gray area, where are you on this scale?
Abstain(Play it safe) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Participate (without any guilt)
Mark Twain in 1903 wrote ‘a new crime’ – where murderers where proved innocent because of insanity causes.
Harvard university business ethics professor explains ethics as “never do anything bad that you think might end up in the newspaper”
Gray areas exist in world because Truth is relative and not absolute in the secular world
• Truth and values are changing or being redefined even as we speak
• Morality is considered a state of mind and hence subjective
• It is bound by places and situations
• It depends on circumstances and perspective
in Christianity because there are no rules for many new things, only guidelines
• We live in a pagan environment
• We enjoy the secular lifestyle with lots of loopholes
• We have a relative allegiance to God and world
• We face fresh challenges each day
Group discussion:
Christian freedom with relation to gray areas
Christian rules and convictions
People who tried to overcome the gray areas:
Story of Simeon Stylites
Lonely living – the Bosci
Monasteries
The legal living vs Lawless living
Participant’s views: What is SIN?
"Son, whatever weakens your reasoning, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes away your relish for spiritual things; in short, if anything increases the authority and power of the flesh over the Spirit, then that to you becomes sin, however good it is in itself." Susanna Wesley explaining SIN to young John Wesley
When Jesus was on earth as a human being, people asked him questions on many gray areas – instead of just answering them, he made them THINK and brought their focus on 2 commandments:
Love the LORD your GOD
Love your neighbor as yourself
He not only spoke, he also showed them this - by dying on the cross for our sins
THINK – SAY – DO what is GOD’s will in your life (keeping the 2 simple yet HUGE commandments) even as you face the many gray areas of your life.
Testing your gray area: Look up 2 Peter 1:3-10 and the see if you can apply the test to each of your gray area. Virtue, Knowledge, Self-control, Endurance, Godliness, Brotherly kindles, Love, Faith in GOD, diligence to do His will.
3 ways you can handle gray areas:
PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE
Are the gray areas developing habits which can lead to bondage (drinking, smoking, lying, lusting etc) Is it creating situations for me to be tempted and fall in temptation? How is it affecting or influencing my character? Will it defile God’s temple (me)?
HORIZONTAL PERSPECTIVE
Will the way I handle the gray areas help others or cause them to stumble? Will it promote good for others? Will it help me to share the gospel message?
VERTICAL PERSPECTIVE
After concluding the gray area, will you be able to thank GOD sincerely? Will I be delightfully praise GOD during the performance of the gray area? Can I give it as a testimony to other believers? And finally Will it bring GLORY to God?
The call for us is to be DANIELS in a secular world. Will you be the ONE?
