I was reading an article a while back where it was said that two of the ways people try to brainwash someone or a group of people is through black and white thinking and the “us vs. them” arguments. Yes, this has been used to turn people against each other for ages. Politicians use it to divide the country into different races, economic groups, genders, and, yes, religions to have us fighting each other. They want us so busy fighting each other that we don’t pay attention to their wickedness.
Despite it all, there is a problem. People that expose this “black and white” thinking fall into their own form of it. They, by the way they live and what they say, put forth the attitude that every time someone uses the “black and white” thinking, it is a form of brainwashing. Well, there is an old saying I heard a long time ago. “If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.” The problem I have is they don’t allow for the law of excluded middle, principles, and compromise. Well notice three “north star” passages in this post.
First, let’s look at the law of excluded middle.
Wikipedia says, “[The law of excluded middle] states that for any proposition, either that proposition is true, or its negation is.” Basically, either something is or it isn’t. There is not a third option. It becomes a problem when taken too far. Either you eat or you don’t. There is no middle ground. Even if you eat one bite of food, you eat. Now, what you eat is up to you. Christians are to worship God on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7). Either you do it or you don’t. The order of worship, whether you pray or sing first, is up to you. The black and white thinking goes to far when we add to or take away from God’s word, binding what has been loosed and loosing what has been bound. However, the law of excluded middle always applies when God has stated His will on the matter.
Our first “north star” passage consists of three passages.
John 14:6, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. “
John 14:15, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”
John 15:18-19, “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.”
Jesus gave three great examples of the law of excluded middle. He said that no one comes to the Father except by Him. I remember seeing an excerpt from the Oprah Winfrey show on youtube where she flat out states that there are many paths to God. Jesus said there is only one way. Keep in mind what you just read (John 14:6) when you view the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmOmapP57vI Either there is one path to God or there are many. There cannot be both one and many paths to God. Either Jesus is a liar or Oprah is. I’m not about to call Jesus a liar. Sorry, Oprah.
In another segment of an interview she had with Joel Osteen, she basically said the same as before. He skirted around the issue by saying that while Jesus is how we get to God, there are many paths to Jesus. Well, Osteen always smiled too much for me and you know what also smiles? A jackal. Ad hominem fallacies aside, there is a major problem where he said that there are many paths to Jesus. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XXUfTNCkzc Osteen was pretty much saying that we can live however we want and it’s okay. Let’s spell it out for what it is. He was saying you can live in sin and still go to heaven. He was saying that you can live in sin and still love Jesus. Jesus said that if we love Him, we’ll keep His commandments. Either we love Him and keep His commandments or we don’t. There is no loving Him and not keeping His commandments. There is no middle ground. As far as living in sin and going to heaven, if we can do that, why did Jesus come? Why have repentance (Acts 17:30)? Why have to be covered by his blood through submission to Him via baptism (Romans 6:3-4)? Friends, think of it like this, if we can go to heaven living in sin, then Jesus, who was crucified for us, and all who preached and died in His name, died in vain. They all wasted their time, according to Osteen. Osteen, you need to repent and get right with God for telling everyone, including Him, that He spilled His blood in vain.
Lastly, we’ll notice the third point. If we are Christians and the world does not hate us, something is wrong. Jesus said that if we truly live for Him, then the world is going to hate us. If the world doesn’t hate us, then we’re not living for Him. There is no middle ground. This is because when we live for Him, we’ll have to have what we’ll discuss next – principles.
What are principles. According to Webster’s 1913 dictionary, a principle is, “A fundamental truth; a comprehensive law or doctrine, from which others are derived, or on which others are founded; a general truth; an elementary proposition; a maxim; an axiom; a postulate.”
A principle is a moral absolute. It is wrong to lie. The Bible is filled with warnings against lying. Just some of the passages that speak out against lying are Exodus 20:16, Proverbs 6:16-19, Ephesians 4:24-25, and Revelation 21:8. I use both Old and New Testaments to show that the principle of lying has always, always been sin in God’s eyes, so it should be with man. Friends, if your helpmeet lies to you about the mundane, how can you expect them to be honest about the big things? If your boss wants you to lie to customers about the safety of a product, what else does he have no problem lying about? You see, lying is always a problem because dishonesty, by it’s very nature, destroys trust. What principle are we, as Christians, suppose to stand by? The Bible. Let’s look at our next “north star” passage.
Our second “north star” passage is two passages.
Philippians 3:14-21, “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.) For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.”
1 Corinthians 1:10-13, “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?”
Within the two passages, Paul tells the Christians at Philippi and at Corinth that they are to, “speak the same thing.” They are to, “walk by the same rule.” They are to be of the, “same mind.” Paul understood that to serve God, you have to stand by principles. And it is only by standing with God’s principles do we have true unity. One of my teachers at preaching school once said that denominations are like two cats tied by the tails and thrown over a clothes-line. You have a union but you sure don’t have unity. This is because while they often agree that they are “following Christ” they don’t stand on any of the same principles. You have all of them opposing each other in teaching and even within some of the same denomination, you have various sects. For example, the Baptists and the Catholics have very little in common and, for the most part, oppose the opposite’s teaching. However, within the Baptist denomination, there are at least over 200 different sects. On one Catholic (ironic, huh?) forum, a poster wanted to know exactly how many there were because they interacted with 4 different couples, all of whom were Baptist, and yet had no common beliefs. In reference to the law of excluded middle, either we walk by the Bible or we don’t. If we walk by the Bible, it will produce Christians. If we don’t, we get all kinds of divisions. Just as the Constitution of the United States doesn’t produce hyphenated Americans, God’s word doesn’t produce hyphenated Christians. I’ve never met a Baptist, a Presbyterian, a Catholic, or any member of a denomination who called themselves Christians, yet they all proudly claim the name of their denominations.
Acts 11:26, “And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.”
Again, if we can violate the principles and just live however we want, then God wasted His blood and His time by giving us the Bible. The Bible is the sole standard by which we can go to heaven. If you don’t follow it, you can’t go to heaven. No other religious book will do. If you don’t have a standard, then worship is just a waste of time. And, no, just going to worship doesn’t make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a mechanic. Christianity is not dressing up on Sunday to impress God or man. Christianity isn’t even a lifestyle choice. Christianity is who you are. Like Abram to Abraham, God has changed His people’s names from their given names to Christian. Either you are Christian or you are not. If you live the Bible, you are Christian, not “a Christian.” When it comes to matters of sin, Christians don’t compromise.
Webster’s dictionary defines compromise as, “An amicable agreement between parties in controversy, to settle their differences by mutual concessions.”
The prophet Amos said in Amos 3:3, “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” This is our first “north star” passage.
Our next “north star” passage is Jude 3, “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”
Our third “north star” passage is 2 Corinthians 6:14-18, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.”
Compromise is a huge buzzword in our society. We talk about compromise a whole lot. You will hear on the news where conflicting parties compromised. Generally, it happens when two nations want to avoid all out war. When this happens, everyone is at ease because the controversy doesn’t escalate.
However, in reality, they didn’t compromise anything. They just agreed to not go to war. There are two types of compromise, the good and the bad.
A good compromise is one where both parties give up a little something to win. However, this must come from the same principle. A good example is when you and your friend want to watch a movie, but you want to watch one and he or she wants to watch a different one. If you can’t agree on which one to watch, then you could both give up a little and pick a third movie that you both wanted to see. You didn’t get totally what you wanted, but you did get what you wanted in the end.
Another good example is that of carpets in the church building. It isn’t worth splitting over. Why not give up a little to go with a color that is acceptable to both parties?
But there is the bad type of compromise. This is between good an evil. Ayn Rand has a good quote on compromise. He said, “In any compromise between food and poison, it is only death that can win. In any compromise between good and evil, it is only evil that can profit. In that transfusion of blood which drains the good to feed the evil, the compromiser is the transmitting rubber tube.”
Think about that for a minute. In a compromise between good and evil, only evil wins. I’ve made this point in the political realm for a while now. Both sides kept voting for the lesser of two evils (in their own perception). They did this and evil still won. Why? Because a vote for evil, no matter how “less evil” it is, is still evil! You cannot vote for evil and expect good to win. People vote for the “lesser of two evils” and things have progressively gotten worse.
The same thing applies to the religious realm. Every time we compromise with evil, evil wins. In Jude 3, we are told to contend for the faith. I’ve heard it described as we are fighting for the faith. It is a fight. And in this fight, it doesn’t matter about us trying to win because the truth and God ultimately win. It does matter what side we are on. We can’t back down, either. In Acts, time and time again, we read of how Christians were persecuted for taking a stand. And yet, they continued. In Acts 17:16-17, Paul disputed with the Jewish teachers. He didn’t do this once or twice and back down when people, undoubtedly, made fun of him or told him to stop. He got back up and did it again, and again, and again. He did it daily.
And if you continue reading the account in Acts 17, Paul preached to the men of Athens…and put down their false gods. Part of taking a stand and speaking out for what is right is tearing down falsehoods. Jeremiah 1:10 reads, “See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.” 2 Timothy 4:1-5 reads, “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.” If we are going to take stand for what’s right, we have to be prepared to address a few of the lies of men. How can we get to heaven if we aren’t willing to speak out against what’s wrong? Paul, in Ephesian 5:11, told us to, “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.”
If we live the kind of life that God would have us live, there are a few natural, inescapable, consequences. The road will be difficult (Matthew 7:13-14). There will be enemies (many of whom will be of our own families). There will be contentions. There will be people to hate you. There is no way to live the life of a Christian and have peace with people of the world. The laws of excluded middle, principles, and compromise stand.
Let’s close on this passage. Matthew 10:32-40, “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.”
Hear what God says – Romans 10:17
Believe in Jesus – John 3:16
Decide to stop living a sinful lifestyle – Acts 17:30
Publicly pledge your allegiance to Christ – Romans 10:10
Be buried with Jesus in baptism – Romans 6:3-4
Ripple Thoughts 