Wholeness: The truth is blood red

Some people say the truth is black and white, many of them being Christian educators and theologians. So let me outline black and white doctrine for you in the most literal sense. Righteousness should be rewarded, wickedness should be punished, period. There really is no room for much else with such a rigid definition. So it’s no wonder that is the world’s stark perception of the church and feels unwelcome in it.

When we hold to a strictly black and white doctrine, we don't really leave room for forgiveness since we just haven't earned it. Maybe that is why legalists deny it to others, they don't believe they deserve it and expect them to earn it through obedience. So they condemn sinners for their failures, instead of offering the forgiveness we ourselves rely on. We could never truly make restitution for all the people we have treated so badly for the sake of self. Not to mention shutting the door to the kingdom of God in their faces. (Matt. 5:22, 6:33 & 23:13)

According to strictly black and white theology, only the righteous deserve love. So no wonder legalists are so hateful, choosing to be contemptuous of the lost. Yet, if God denied us, love, we would be left to the wolves for straying from the path of patience, kindness, politeness, and agape. (Luke 15:1-7)

In a strictly black and white view of Christianity, holiness has but the singular dimension of holiness that is righteousness. Denying that it is built upon a foundation of wholeness, or it setting us apart for a place in God's kingdom beyond just obedience. Yet, we wonder why people are knocked over so easily with only one leg to stand on. (Matthew 15:17-20 & 23:25-26, Romans 12:3-8)

For many of these strict people, they know of such concepts, but they are not put into action; they are just given lip service. (Matthew 15:8) For that reason, their gospel is functionally incomplete.

That is why I never say the truth is black and white. Rather I say the truth is black and white and red all over. It is the red blood of Christ that blots out the darkness and allows us to approach God despite our sin. It's the red blood that wipes the slate clean and gives us a chance to start over. What but the unconditional love of God would he offer up the cleansing blood of Christ to such undeserving people such as us? (2nd Timothy 1:9) So if we dare call ourselves Christ-like, we cannot deny forgiveness and love to the undeserving. Who are we to expect people to live up to a standard, yet not show them the way to do just that as Christ did for us? (Ephesians 4:11-13) For our hearts need to be renewed, to make way for a transformation of the mind to have any genuine desire to seek said standard. (Ezekiel 11:19-20, Romans 12:1-2) It's only through the red blood of Christ who grants us access to the Holy Spirit, which gives us the strength to do what we cannot in the flesh. (John 16:7) Again, nothing but the red blood of Jesus makes any of this possible. Not a critical black and white standard that only defines right and wrong and judges those who fail to live up to it in the strength of the mere flesh. (Matthew 7:1-12)

The Old Testament was the sad story of the Israelites failures to live up to a black and white standard. Yet, we want to continue to live out this same scenario without the benefit of the tools granted to us by the New Covenant. Tools that can make us whole again, tools that can dramatically change the course of our story, the red tools of renewal and rebirth.

The Visual PARABLEist.