Shades of Gray

[Spherical Time]

I'm sure this has been asked before, but are there shades of gray?

This is an odd either or question, and the duality is not perfect, but the question is divided up into two near-absolutes:

There are shades of gray to nearly everything. We live in a complex world, and there are few, if any things that are black and white. This moral ambiguosity is an inherant part of existence.

There are never shades of gray. We live in a world that must be divided up into white and black. Uncertainty is simply an error in the eye of the beholder.

Of course, I realize that there are people who disagree with both sides of this duality, and to them I would simply point out that you need not answer the poll.

 

[Spherical Time]

Maybe it's just that it's a Friday night (and Saturday morning pretty much everywhere else in the world) but let me select a somewhat more narrow question (aside from the poll, which should remain fairly universal) to provoke discussion:

Are there shades of gray in Christianity?

 

[Ryal Kane]

From my perspective everything is shades of grey.
For something like the law there needs to be set limits and criteria but even in this there should be leighway.

Does Christianity have shades of grey?
Yes. The numerous denominations are a testament to that.

Doe God have shaes of grey? I imagine that an entity capable of creating the whole universe and watching over man would have a certain understanding that we're not perfect.

 

[Abbadon]

Murder is unacceptable. It's a black and white issue, murder is unacceptable, not-murdering is acceptable.

However, this can become a grey area by becoming less specific. Killing is a grey area. It's definitely fine to kill for food, possibly good to do so. It's not alright to senselessly kill someone just because their skin is a different color.

The dichotomy of "black/white" thinking or "grey" thinking itself is a dualistic thinking, it's one or the other.

And happy early birthday.

So, are there shades of grey in morality? Yes and no.

 

[Ryal Kane]

But what exactly is murder? How do you define it?
If it falls into a legal category then yes, there's a clear definition.

But even the deliberate act of ending another humans life can have justifiable reasons. There's plenty of shades of grey.

 

[Abbadon]

Deliberately ending someone else's life is killing. Murder would be ending it for no justifiable reason, particularly when one goes out of the way to accomplish it.

For example, someone is trying to kill me. There's justifiable reason, and it's not out of the way for me to accomplish it.

Another example, I skin a little girl because I wanted to sleep with my mother before the Illuminati kill her. Not a justifiable reason, and I'd have to go out of the way to accomplish it. That's murder.

 

[flicka]

Very few things are black and white. People who say otherwise scare me.

 

[Cleany]

people who see in black & white live in fear.

 

[justanobserver]

I'm sure this has been asked before, but are there shades of gray?

This is an odd either or question, and the duality is not perfect, but the question is divided up into two near-absolutes:

There are shades of gray to nearly everything. We live in a complex world, and there are few, if any things that are black and white. This moral ambiguosity is an inherant part of existence.

There are never shades of gray. We live in a world that must be divided up into white and black. Uncertainty is simply an error in the eye of the beholder.

Of course, I realize that there are people who disagree with both sides of this duality, and to them I would simply point out that you need not answer the poll.

Just my opinion based on my experiences but there are no black and white in life; just varying shades of grey of the black and white. My former career in the military with the places and events I spent proved to me that. 'Course I just might have a slightly cynical view on it all.

 

[sister_maynard]

Hm. I'd say that there are shades of grey in nearly everything. Lying, for example, has the potential to be very harmful to relationships and trust, or it can be pretty harmless (as in "oh, I forgot my book- will you come in and get it with me?" when leading someone to a surprise birthday party.) Killing is indeed one of the things that gets fuzzy once you open it up to self-defense. Some things, of course, are black and white because they have absolutely no redeeming flip side that could be good in some situations. However, those things are few and far between.
There are neutral things in Christianity, but a lot of the morality is drawn in rather thick black and white lines.

 

[Spherical Time]

Thanks for your responses. As the poll shows, and as I've seen around, there are people that don't believe in the existence of Shades of Gray. I'd hazzard that there are at least five that I deal with here at CF on a regular basis. I was hoping that one of them would give me some idea why they believe what they do.

 

[Merlin]

There are shades of gray in many things.
However sin is sin.
Sin is black/white.
Either you do or you don't.

 

[Ryal Kane]

There are shades of gray in many things.
However sin is sin.
Sin is black/white.
Either you do or you don't.

But the defnition of sin is still a grey area. Different groups disagree of what is and what is not a sin.

BTW the thread title reminds me of the song by Amanda Marshall.

"You can't change a stubborn mind
You can't see the world if your eyes are blind.
What does it matter anyway
In our darkest hour - all just shades of grey."
Amanda Marshall - Shades of Grey

 

[Waiting for the Verdict]

Hey Spherical.

Still on here, unfortunately.

To answer your question, I'd say that there are definitely shades of grey, though in an abstract sense I may believe in some moral absolutes (Rape is always wrong for instance). I tend to be a combination of relativist, absolutist, and situational absolutist (in otherwords, for each ethical situation there is an absolute right and an absolute wrong, but that absolute changes from situation to situation.Lying might be O.K. in one situation, but not in another.).

Either way you have problems. I got involved with a discussion with one of my friends about whether the term "human" is a social construct. She said it was, which led to a long discussion in which she ultimately admitted that if humanity is a social construct, and if a social construct is any being who socializes through language, then mentally retarded people, infants, and feral children are not human. My friend is an extremely good person, and she was obviously as disconcerted with that conclusion as I was. Problem is, in my mind, unless we pretend there are absolutes, there won't be any. It does not mean those absolutes exist, nor do we have to believe so philosophically, but at a pragmatic level we might as well.

Sorry if that is not much help.

 

[Spherical Time]

There are shades of gray in many things.
However sin is sin.
Sin is black/white.
Either you do or you don't.

Does that mean that you think that you and other Christians are morally perfect?

Several groups of Christians here on CF seem to believe that.

 

[Lord_Marx]

I can think of only a few things completely black and white. I would say that some crimes are black and white though, regardless of circumstances.

 

[ChristianCenturion]

I'm sure this has been asked before, but are there shades of gray?

This is an odd either or question, and the duality is not perfect, but the question is divided up into two near-absolutes:

There are shades of gray to nearly everything. We live in a complex world, and there are few, if any things that are black and white. This moral ambiguosity is an inherant part of existence.

There are never shades of gray. We live in a world that must be divided up into white and black. Uncertainty is simply an error in the eye of the beholder.

Of course, I realize that there are people who disagree with both sides of this duality, and to them I would simply point out that you need not answer the poll.

Well if the subject isn't going to be discussed in depth, I suppose I'll just note that my vote was for the yes/no consideration and not in agreement with the additional commentary built into the selection.

 

[Moros]

There is a such thing as biological morality, which provides for "black and white" "good and evil." However, social morality makes up about 95% of it and is almost always subjective and or relative.

 

[Lilly of the Valley]

But the defnition of sin is still a grey area. Different groups disagree of what is and what is not a sin.

BTW the thread title reminds me of the song by Amanda Marshall.

"You can't change a stubborn mind
You can't see the world if your eyes are blind.
What does it matter anyway
In our darkest hour - all just shades of grey."
Amanda Marshall - Shades of Grey

God has clearly expressed specific things that are sins all throughout the bible and doing them, no matter the motive doesn't lessen the fact that you still sinned.

 

[Toboe]

My answer would be neither. I don't beleive that there is anything inherently right and wrong and I think that socity dictates morality and that it is subjective.