Black, White, and shades of Gray

I’ve been watching “Smallville” and as one would expect the premise is essentially good verses evil. Toward the end of season 8 there is a transition- from black and white to shades of gray. From obvious good and obvious evil to what is good and what is evil exactly?

The entire world is based on this dichotomy, good and evil. But especially Christianity. The show raises an excellent question- when, if ever, is it okay to compromise our standards of what is good in order to destroy that which is evil? When is it okay for us as Christians to give a little in order to gain more? Is it ever okay? Why are we so quick to judge and so slow to love? Did Jesus ever allow sin to be ignored or overlooked it if meant that the sinner was able to be part of the community? Are we justified in following in the steps of the general culture in order to reach more people? In the end are we actually making a difference by compromising the truth?

I think good and evil are black and white. Unfortunately in our fallen state we cannot clearly see what is good and what is evil. But the more gray we allow in the more room we give evil to spread. If the whole world becomes gray then good becomes evil and evil becomes good. In a slightly less extreme wording- the more we give in to what the world wants from us, the more we blur the line between what it means to be the church and what it means to be the world. The church, Christians, are called to be in the world but not of it. The more we follow the ways of the world the more we lose what it means to be the church. Sooner or later, we end up just being the world. Because as we have learned from the superhero stories, eventually the gray turns black. If good starts to compromise it eventually becomes evil.