Gray Areas in Spiritual matters (i.e. drinking, dancing, music)

No. What God wants us to know and abide by He has revealed to us in His Word. Where Scripture is silent, we must be silent.

Rev. G

 

I was tempted to put "no" since I wasn't aware that drinking, dancing, and music were grey areas.

The simple fact that so many different theological opinions exist on this board (which represents at best few thousand of the millions of baptists out there) would indicate that.

Joshua

 

Scripture is very precise when it comes to some issues.

Ephesians 5:18 tells us that being drunk is wrong.

We know that David danced before the Lord out of celebration, dancing is not wrong. If one is doing a dance like a strip show or like some people do in clubs as a means to get people to think lustfully, causing someone to stumble, that too is a sin.

Parents are told to discipline their children, but fathers are also instructed to not provoke their children. So there is a fine line between loving discipline and abuse, physical or mental.

I see black and white in Scripture with little room for grey. I think that what many see as grey can be proven black and white by Scripture.

 

No I do not think that there are any grey areas. The Bible is clear on what we should do and what we should not do. If we see grey then we have not studied enough to find the answer.

 

Personally, I've found that sometimes, the more I study a subject the more gray it becomes. I used to think I had all the answers, and the more I study, the more I realize I don't.

 

I'll agree with that, but it doesn't state that we are not to drink at all.

So, how much is too much? One beer? Three beers? One glass of wine? Four glasses of wine? Is the amount the same for each person? What about the "hard" stuff?

Now this is just my own personal opinion, but that sounds like a grey area to me. But then again, maybe I just haven't studied enough.

I'm sure that drinking has been covered extensively in this forum, and other forums on the BB, so if it has been, perhaps someone could post the links to those past discussions.

God Bless!!!

Adam

On Eagles Wings

 

HERE is an ongoing 12 (so far) page thread in the Fundamental Forum.

 

God is not the Author of confusion.

 

Of course there are grey areas. That's what Christian liberty is all about. To cite one example, some believers think that Christian rock is evil, due to its similarity in form (not content) to secular music. I disagree. It's a matter of opinion. Whatever is not specifically forbidden in Scripture becomes a question of conscience (remember the food sacrificed to idols?). In areas such as drinking, dancing, music, etc, we must each submit our minds to God and trust Him to guide us.

 

I may be getting old, but I only noticed these so-called gray areas creeping in over the last 20 years.

Beer, dancing and the like wouldn't even be a discussion in baptist circles, never mind how much beer, what kind of dancing and the like.

I am so glad that I am on this end of life.

Cheers,

Jim

 

"These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." John 14.25-26

"I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you." John 16.12-15.

I don't know, but it seems the only "gray" matter is in "our" minds. "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now." (this not to be mistaken as referencing to me; but to the declaration Christ did make).

God bless you all in your walk and service to Him.
Bro. Dallas Eaton

[ October 05, 2002, 05:10 PM: Message edited by: Frogman ]

 

I think we need to distinguish between what society calls "gray areas" and the "gray areas" encompassed by Christian liberty. Under the influence of moral relativism, many in the world today feel that nothing is completely wrong or right; for them gray areas abound. This directly contradicts the Bible, which makes it clear that there is good and evil, and that there are moral absolutes. However, in areas in which there is no ruling in Scripture, we as believers, guided by the Holy Spirit, are free to judge for ourselves what to believe and how to behave. Someone may have strong feelings about, say, dancing, but that person cannot decide for others whether this activity is right or wrong. This falls into the category of a legimate "gray area."

 

Those who think there are gray areas are usually in ignorance of what the Bible says about these things.
Dancing, drinking?
Ecclesiastes tells us that there is a time to mourn and a time to dance.

Jeremiah 31:3. The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.
4. I will build you up again and you will be rebuilt, O Virgin Israel. Again you will take up your tambourines and go out to dance with the joyful.

13. Then maidens will dance and be glad, young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.

Are there no joyful Baptists?
Are are they just too legalistic?

MR

 

They didn't have grey areas like we have today. As an example a quick read of baptist history, there are records of baptist churches meeting in a place we would hardly use today, a brewery! So it shows us that spiritual grey has changed over the years.

 

HeDied4You,
actually Scriptures say that you should not drink hard liquer because its only purpose is to get drunk, I don't have that Scripture reference with me, but I will get it. Prov. 20:1 does say that strong drink is a brawler or sluggard.

Drunk is a state where your normal faculties are effected. That point is reached by the amount one drinks and their body weight. The way I see it, there are more risks drinking than non-drinking, so I choose not to drink at all. I can't get drunk drinking my freshed brewed iced tea (sweet) or a cold glass of oj. You never know if you have the genetics to become a alcoholic so I find it easier to not take the first drink than to worry when will be too much.

 

It all depends on what you mean by the use of the term "gray areas". Some things are plainly black and white, though people try to gray them up a little. However, Paul told us not to pass judgement on "disputable" matters. That tells me there are some things that fall under what some might call the "gray" area.

There are just some things we are allowed to do because of our liberty in Christ, yet we are warned that it is not always "beneficial" to do them.

Are there "gray" areas? Not necessarily, but there are disputable ones.

~Lorelei

 

Although this older photo doesn't show it, I come under a gray area. Please don't be too hard on me, I am really deadly brilliant....(you need to be British to understand that...lol)

Cheers,

Jim