in the first chapter of the book "in a pit with a lion on a snowy day", batterson writes "goodness is not the absence of badness" and that "we can do nothing wrong and still do nothing right". (yeah, read that again)
several years ago, after serving a church that had a fairly legalistic "i am the pastor" type pastor, i decided to stop using the words "right" and "wrong". i wasn't renouncing absolute truth, nor was i advocating situational ethics. my intent was to make sure my language and my perspective wer not peppered with "that's wrong" and "this is right" type phrases. such vernacular for us spiritual types makes us more coercive than creative, more religious than relational, more arrogant than compassionate, and that is not what we are to be.
for example, if i view everything as either/or, right/wrong, righteous/sinful, i assume i know all there is to know regarding a given situation, that there is absolutely nothing left to which i might be unaware. as much as i might want this to be the case, it is highly unlikely. ;-)
when we look at Jesus, we see a man whom scripture says grew in stature and in favor with God and man, was without blame (to give or receive), and who was constantly surrounded by the likes of folks most of us avoid - prostitutes, adulterers, thieves, liars, murderers, drunkards, you name it. as a matter of fact, there are stories of where so many people wanted to see him that they packed houses, pushed against him in crowds and forced him to get into a boat so he could have some breathing room.
as i superimposed my daily routine of life, word and deed, over the life of Jesus, this is what i saw: the one whom i am to emulate, my Lord and Friend, had people running and flocking to him that they might listen to him, touch him or just see him - when was the last time that happened to me?
collectively, we could ask that of ourselves as a church family... (as scary as that might be)
so, i decided to remove the words "right" and "wrong" from my vocabulary so i might take another step toward my mentor and Savior, and learn how to get past circumstance, behavior (or my prejudice) to see the person - or the people - just like Jesus did.
