Gray

"Thanks to TV and for the convenience of TV, you can only be one of two kinds of human beings--either a liberal or a conservative."
(Kurt Vonnegut, "Cold Turkey," In These Times, May 10, 2004)

This blog is called 'amazing grays' because I believe there is two much Black-and-White thinking in our world.
To over-simplify life is to 'bear false witness.'
Life is complex; people are complex.

Consider race.
'White' people are not even white; they are beige.
'Black' people are not black; they are brown.

Conservatives and liberals are usually a mixture of both.
I can't put myself in a nice, neat niche.
On some issues I am very liberal; on others I am very conservative; on still other issues I am in the middle.
Ever read a good novel? It was good because the characters are complex, not wooden. Good literature mirrors real life, not some make-believe black-and-white world.

The best of people are partly bad.
The worst of people are partly good.
We are all mixed up.

But we continue to use labels for people.
When we use labels we are refusing to see people as they really are.

The ministry of Jesus was one of calling the best out of people.
Jesus knew that everyone is good (created in the image of God) and bad (refusing to reflect God's glory).
We are sinners; but we are good sinners.
We are good people; but we are good people who do bad things.

At our core we are good.
I base this belief on Genesis one--where God creates everything, then says, "It is good."
Our goodness came before 'the fall.' Therefore, our goodness is basic.
Of course, our goodness is now tainted by sin.
But sin is not our basic nature--goodness is.
Human existence is now an entanglement of virtue and vice; of righteousness and unrighteousness; of light and darkness.
To view anyone as all good or all bad is an inaccurate analysis.

Reinhold Niebuhr's writings are very helpful in this regard. He understood the ambiguity of individual and collective existence.

Life is gray.
I don't mean that there is nothing absolute. There is: God.
But human existence must be differentiated from God.
Life is full of amazing grays.
The amazing complexity and ambiguity of life makes it interesting.
It also means that everyone must depend upon the grace of God for salvation; for only God is absolutely 'unmixed' and pure.

Vonnegut had a point.
We need to stop using labels for people and recognize
the ambiguity we all live with.
It's never 'us' and 'them.' It's always 'us.'
Commonality cannot be denied.

Self-righteousness likes to maintain the Black-and-White distinction.
(I'm good, you're bad.... I'm right, you're wrong.)
It's fun to be self-righteous. I know.