The last couple of days, I was involved in a discussion on Facebook that got on to the subject of Biblical absolutes and principles.
A couple of people said that there are clear stances that the Bible takes on issues that are eternal and unchanging, which is the reason they vote and campaign the way that they do.
That the best way to deal with these unbiblical things is to make them illegal. That these things are non-negotiable and that as a Christian, there should be no other way of approaching this subject matter.
That Used To Be Me
I understand this. I like having clear answers. In years past, I was an absolutist – I knew what the Bible said and it was obvious what was right and what was wrong.
As time’s gone on though, I’m becoming less sure about all these “clear” Biblical absolutes and principles. Ironically, the Bible’s the reason for this.
Huh?
Look back at when Jesus came to Earth. Everyone was absolutely sure what was involved when it came to following the law. In fact, there were Teachers of the Law who were experts in this – people who clearly knew what scripture said and how God wanted everyone to act.
Except Jesus showed them how wrong their understanding was. That those absolutes are actually a bit more nuanced. That there are other things to consider rather than just the strict letter of the law. This then continued as the early church spread after the Resurrection.
There were many things that everyone knew to be absolutes, but which turned out to be not quite so absolute after all:
- Circumcision was an absolute…until it wasn’t
- Not working on the Sabbath was an absolute…until it wasn’t
- Not eating pork or shellfish was an absolute…until it wasn’t
- Not eating rare steak was an absolute…until it wasn’t
- Women wearing head coverings was an absolute…until it wasn’t
- Not associating with Gentiles was an absolute…until it wasn’t
- Not touching lepers was an absolute…until it wasn’t
- Stoning a woman to death who was caught having an affair was an absolute…until it wasn’t
- An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth was an absolute…until it wasn’t
The Most Important Principles
Ultimately, Jesus said the most important principles are to love God and to love others – everything else needs to be seen in that light.
The religious people of His day were convinced they had everything right, except they didn’t. I’ve not seen anything in my 32 years to think that we’ve solved the problem of knowing with absolute certainty what’s right and what’s not.
The Danger
Something else that’s interesting to note is how nearly all the “clear” Biblical absolutes and principles relate to what God’s against, rather than what He’s for. The Gospel’s meant to be Good News, yet we often make it Bad News.
This can prove to be a danger in youth ministry. As Ben Kerns has been pointing out on his blog recently, youth today have no time for the absolutes that are currently being preached. It’s not Good News to them and goes against their experiences and beliefs.
I’m not saying we should just teach that everything’s OK and anything goes. But how about we approach Biblical absolutes from a positive stance and the good that we can do, rather than simply the avoidance of all the actions and behaviors that the current Christian culture frowns upon.
Positive Opportunities
So why not explore some of these positive absolutes and principles that will engage and connect with your young people – topics that will lead to interesting and profound discussions and provide an opportunity for genuine positive change in the lives of your youth:
- We should allow foreigners to live in our land without oppressing them. Not only that, but we should also help provide food for them – even food that we’ve worked hard to grow ourselves. What does this say about our immigration laws? (Exodus 23:9 / Leviticus 23:22)
- Jesus said that if we’re physically attacked, we shouldn’t retaliate. How can this influence our behavior at school? What does this say about how we should react when there’s a terrorist attack? (Matthew 5:39)
- God created man to be vegetarian, so even though meat is allowed, we shouldn’t eat it. (Genesis 1:29) (n.b. I’m not vegetarian myself – I’m just making the point that this was how God intended humans to live.)
- We should take care of the poor. What are some ways we can do this? How does this affect the way that we look at people on welfare? (Matthew 25: 34-36 and too many more to list here!)
- Given that Jesus and the disciples healed people for no charge, what does this say about healthcare availability? Given that we’re commanded to take care of the poor, what does this mean for them having access to healthcare (and not just emergency treatment)? (Mark 5: 26-34, Acts 5: 15-16 and many more)
- God put man in charge of looking after the world, so we need to take care of the environment. How does this affect whether we recycle, the fuel efficiency of our cars, leaving the TV on if we’re not watching it, etc. (Genesis 1: 26-30, Genesis 2:15, Proverbs 12:10)
Tricky Questions
Biblical absolutes also raise some tricky questions:
- Abraham, David, Gideon, Solomon and many more men in the Bible had sex with concubines – i.e. women who weren’t their wives. This was regarded as a normal and positive thing. Does that mean it’s not sinful to do that?
- Similarly, polygamy was an accepted practice in the Bible. Does that mean it’s not sinful?
- Jesus said it’s pretty much impossible for rich people to enter the kingdom of heaven. Does this mean that a billionaire who keeps his money isn’t going to get into heaven, even if he confesses Jesus as Lord and Savior?
Now, I’d just like to point out that I’m not saying it’s fine to sleep with hundreds of women if you’re married (I don’t think Shae would like that one!). Nor am I saying that I think men should be able to have many wives. And I’m also not saying that there’s no way a billionaire can be a Christian.
My point is that it could be argued that the three statements above are Biblical absolutes, but I’m sure most of us are uneasy about believing that’s the case.
We therefore need to be careful about what we label as “clear” Biblical teaching, as experience has shown that it’s not always so black and white.
Question: What do you think? Is the Bible always 100% clear about what’s right and wrong, or is there more nuance in so-called absolutes? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
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