Fifty Billion Shades of Grey

In 2011, British author E. L. (Erica Leonard) James published the novel Fifty Shades of Grey, the first installment of her runaway best-selling trilogy that revolves around the romantic/sexual relationship of attractive coed Ana Steele and wealthy young business mogul Christian Grey. Although the novel topped bestseller lists around the world, it generated a certain amount of controversy due to its deviant sexual content, including scenes depicting bondage & discipline, dominance & submission, and sadism & masochism (BDSM).

Ordinarily, the publication of a novel like Fifty Shades of Grey would have passed under my radar. I typically would have paid scant attention to it, because after all, it's just another piece of trash in an ocean of filth that was designed to cater to the basest and most depraved lusts that men (and women) are capable of, and garner wealth and worldly fame for its creator in a sin-sick world that craves and glories in such things.

So what else is new?

In other words, my reaction probably wouldn't have been along the lines of...

"A soft-porn bestseller?! Good heavens, what is this world coming to?"

That's because I already know what this world is coming to. And I guarantee you that it would have passed under my radar had it not been for one particular news item connected with the novel that caught my attention.

Give 'em what they want

First, a little background. Gideons International is an organization founded in 1899 by two Christian businessmen who met by chance in a hotel in Boscobel, Wisconsin. Since 1908, their primary mission has been the distribution of free Bibles, and the service for which they are best known is the placing of Bibles in the rooms of hotels and motels in cities all over the world. Since 1908, Gideons International has placed over 1.7 billion Bibles, printed in nearly 100 languages, in the rooms of hotels and motels in thousands of cities in nearly 200 countries.

Apparently, one such hotel was the Damson Dene Hotel in the Lake District of England. According to a news report, however, in the summer of 2012 the hotel made the decision to replace the Gideon Bible ("which no one reads, and many dislike," according to hotel owner Jonathan Denby) in each of its 40 rooms with a copy of Fifty Shades of Grey ("which everyone wants to read," Denby opined).

But even as I, like many others, trotted out the old line about it being a sign of the times, something about the title of the novel struck me. Fifty Shades of Grey. Indeed. We live in a world filled with shades of gray (and pardon me as I switch to the American spelling).

It's no secret that our world today is steeped in moral relativism, and it bristles with a cavalier disrespect that routinely blossoms into vicious contempt for anything even marginally characterized by the moral standards put forth in God's Word, and the reason is simple.

When man gazes into the mirror of God's Word,
he doesn't like what he sees: his true nature.

When we read the Bible, we see our reflection in it. We are confronted with the ugly, naked truth about what kind of people we are: sinners. Sinners who come pitifully short of God's standard of righteousness and holiness.

This is also why it is so important for us as born-again believers to continue in the regular reading and studying of the Bible, and to do our best to obey it and incorporate it into our lives. This is one of the primary means through which the Holy Spirit steadily convicts us of sin, sanctifies us, and gradually conforms us to the image of Christ.

It seems to me that the vast majority of human beings instinctively grasp the basic concept that we aren't perfect, that we do make "mistakes" and do "bad things" sometimes that probably "displease" God to some degree, in whatever form we believe He exists.

We know we're gray, and we know we live in a gray world.

We deal in gray.

Fifty billion and counting

According to a popular urban legend, the number of people alive today is greater than the total number of people who have ever died. Now, I have no idea if that's true or not, but not long ago I read an article on the Internet that purported to debunk it.

Although scientists don't all agree on the total number of humans that have ever been born, one thing they do agree on is that the number you come up with depends heavily on the assumptions you make. And as a result of widely varying assumptions, they have come up with widely varying estimates—anywhere from a low of about 50 billion to a high of a little over 100 billion.

So, however you look at it, according to the folks who study such things, it would seem that the number of people alive today (just over seven billion) is only a small fraction of the total number of people who have ever been born (so I guess somebody should call MythBusters).

Anyway, I took the liberty of choosing the lowest estimate just because it made for a catchy title.

But whether it's 50 billion or 100 billion, the number is irrelevant. It really makes no difference because however many billions of people have been born into this world, one thing is certain: Every single one of them was born with a sin nature.

Well, all except three: Adam, Eve, and Jesus.

Adam and Eve were created in a state of perfection and enjoyed perfect communion with God, and it is the opinion of many Bible scholars that they were originally clothed in light. But when they sinned, the lights went out, so to speak, and they immediately realized they were naked. They knew they had blown it, and things would never be the same between them and God.

God, however, in His infinite love, promised to send them a Redeemer some day to remove their sin. If they would believe His promise to them in faith and demonstrate that faith by obeying the Law of Moses, God promised to credit it to them as righteousness. And they did believe God, and obeyed His instructions by offering the appropriate sacrifices to cover their sin until the Messiah came to remove it forever.

Incidentally, many people assume it was the Jews who instituted the sacrificing of animals to cover their sins in anticipation of a coming Messiah. Not true. If you read the book of Genesis, you will discover that this was instituted by God in the Garden of Eden in the very beginning.

Consider:

Why was Abel's sacrifice accepted and Cain's rejected? Because Abel sacrificed the choicest animals from his flock in accordance with God's instructions, while Cain brought produce from his fields, the result of his own work (Gen. 4:1–7). God wanted to drill it into our heads that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin (Heb. 9:22). God also wanted to drive home the point that our own works can never earn us right standing with Him.

Why did Noah bring "clean" and "unclean" animals into the ark? Where on earth did Noah get such a concept? The clean animals were for sacrificial purposes in obedience to God (Gen. 6–8).

All of this predates by many centuries the establishment of the Jewish people through Abram (later changed to Abraham) (Gen. 12).

Naturally, some of Adam and Eve's descendants had faith in God's promise of a coming Redeemer, and some did not. But whether they believed God or not, the bottom line is that all of them inherited a sin nature through Adam.

Well, all except one: Jesus.

Jesus was the Son of God, and through the miracle of His virgin birth had no earthly father. He was fully God on His Father's side, and fully human on His mother's side. Only Jesus avoided inheriting man's sin nature from Adam, yet was still fully human. That's why He alone was uniquely qualified to be the perfect sacrifice for sin in our place—the perfect sacrifice that would allow His Father to judge our sin in His one and only (temporarily human) Son, instead of being forced to judge it in all 50 billion of the rest of us individually.

Exceptions noted, the bottom line is that all 50 billion of us were born with a sin nature. We are all sinners—50 billion shades of gray, that's us. Right? But just how gray are we, comparatively speaking?

It's human nature to assume that some of us are better people than others, and thus more pleasing to God. Surely some of us are a little darker or a little lighter shade of gray than others. That's just common sense.

Isn't it?

Three shades of gray

So, if all the human beings who have ever lived on this planet represent 50 billion or so different shades of gray, spiritually speaking, what might some of those shades of gray look like? How can we put this into terms we can all understand and relate to?

Let's consider three general categories of gray that, taken all together, would broadly cover a substantial percentage of the population. Maybe by fleshing out these three archetypical shades of gray we can begin to put a face on them and put things in perspective.

• dark gray      

Some people are just plain evil. Their hearts are hardened and their spirits are choked with hate and bitterness. They either scoff at the idea of God, or else impudently acknowledge Him only to spit in His face. They probably boast about the fact that they're going to hell, as if they would be able to spend eternity drinking and carousing with their buddies there. Woo hoo.

At worst, they could be murderers, kidnappers, rapists, or any one of a number of species of vile, sociopathic creatures who prey on innocent people and think nothing of inflicting unspeakable pain and suffering on others for their own perverted pleasure or amusement.

In terms of color, they would proudly proclaim themselves to be utterly black; but as bad as they may be, there is always somebody worse.

Let's color them dark gray.

• medium gray      

Then there are just average folks. A lot of people would be hesitant to admit they are sinners, but they would be equally hesitant to say they are saints. They are just normal people—they don't go around hurting or hating others. They don't seek to do evil and basically go about their business and try to get along with other people. They are cruising through life down the middle of that broad spiritual road that is paved with good intentions, and which has signs posted every few miles that read "Don't worry—be happy."

They would probably stop and try to help a stranger in need, as long as it wasn't too troublesome or inconvenient. On the other hand, they might rip on their boss behind his back or cheat on their taxes.

Speaking of cheating...they probably love their spouse. On the other hand, let's not talk about what happened at the office Christmas party five years ago.

They probably believe there is a God, but they may be inclined to believe that He's a jolly old cosmic Santa that sort of weighs people in the balance to determine their eternal destiny. Their image of God is accurately reflected in the old Christmas song "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town." They imagine God checking His "list" and letting people into heaven as long as they have been "nice" more often than they have been "naughty."

Not only that, but "naughty" is open to interpretation. ("Hey, God knows my boss is the spawn of Satan, and that my tax dollars are being frittered away on $400 hammers, so...")

They probably think they are relatively good—perhaps better than most—and so while they may respect other people's various religious beliefs, they are not eaten up with concern over matters of the Bible, religion, and all that.

The last thing they want is to be branded as a "Bible thumper."

Their thinking goes something like this:

"God is good, and I'm trying to be good...and God seems like a stand-up guy, so I figure it'll all work out in the end."

Let's color them medium gray.

• light gray      

Some people really do strive follow a moral or religious code, and cultivate a deep interest in spiritual matters. These people see themselves as seekers of spiritual truth.

They certainly believe in God, at least in some form, and no doubt believe His essence dwells within them. They may engage in meditation and other spiritual practices in order to tune into this divine essence that they sincerely believe dwells inside us all.

They genuinely love others, give generously to charity, and may even devote considerable amounts of their time, energy, and resources to helping those in need—and are profoundly convinced that by doing so they can help make the world a more peaceful and harmonious place.

Other people probably see them as being highly spiritual, and may look up to them as examples to emulate—or as heroes to worship.

Of course, nobody's perfect, so they are not quite completely white. And as humble and self-effacing as they are, they would certainly be the first to openly admit that they are not completely white.

Let's color them light gray.

God doesn't do gray

This idea that we are various shades of spiritual gray in God's eyes characterizes the beliefs of literally billions of people in the world today. But according to the Bible, the only book in existence that claims to be the inspired Word of God and is practically bursting at the seams with fulfilled prophecies to substantiate that claim, there's just one small problem with it:

God doesn't do gray.

Even people with the most rudimentary concept of God would probably agree that God would represent white on our scale of shades of gray.

Oh, yeah. Blindingly brilliant white. White that will not tolerate the presence of anything less than blindingly brilliant white.

The world wants to believe that God is content to see us in our supposed shades of gray, because gray is OK—as long as we're sincerely trying to become a slightly lighter shade of gray.

But when it comes to sin and our spiritual condition, God doesn't see us in shades of gray. He sees us as either black or white. And sin is black—blacker than the darkest night. Blacker than death itself. Black that is the complete absence of light.

And no matter what people do, they are not getting any lighter—maybe in man's eyes, but certainly not God's. They are never going to make themselves a lighter shade of gray as far as God is concerned, because they can't.

We want to think we are basically good—maybe not as good as some, but better than many. We want to think we are capable of doing things to lighten our particular shade of gray, and that God will be pleased with our efforts! I mean, how could He not be? After all, He's good, and we're trying to be good. Or at least better.

And that's a good thing, isn't it?

Well, sure—by man's standards. But unfortunately God's Word won't let us get away with that:

The Bible allows us no such illusions. When we read God's Word, it unflinchingly reveals to us the blackness of our sin. It relentlessly pursues us and doesn't give us a moment's peace until we come face to face with the fact that in God's eyes our hearts are as black as coal, and there's nothing we can do about it.

We are sinners, and we sin. And no matter how good or smart or capable we think we are, we cannot save ourselves or in any way make ourselves more acceptable to Him. We can in no way make ourselves any less sinners. By our very nature, we are all lost and on our way to eternal separation from the God who created us and loves us, all because of the sin that infects each and every one of our hearts.

Something big had to be done.

That's the whole point of God's plan of redemption, and the foundational premise of His Word—something big had to be done.

So God did something big.

God sent His blindingly brilliant white Son into this black world in order to redeem our sin-blackened spirits, and give us the chance to be clothed in the blindingly brilliant white robes of His righteousness.

When we repent of our sin and believe in faith that Jesus' death paid the eternal penalty for it, the Holy Spirit takes up permanent residence in our spirit and seals us as one of God's own. We are no longer black from God's point of view because He has forgiven our sins and imputed His Son's righteousness to us. And when I say forgiven, I mean forgiven...

Only then is God able to forever see us as being the same blindingly brilliant white as His very own Son.

A black-and-white choice

So forget about 50 billion shades of gray. Forget about the way many people imagine that God sees us. Forget about God settling for our pathetic, self-gratifying efforts to clean up our act a bit and erase a few of our black spots, thus attempting to make ourselves lighter shades of gray in the eyes of an infinitely holy God.

There is nothing gray about God.

He only sees two colors when it comes to our spiritual condition: black or white.

Black or white. It sounds so dogmatic. So absolute. So polarizing. So divisive. So exclusive. So intolerant. So politically incorrect in a world that is oh so politically correct in all its sophisticated shades of gray.

But there it is. Take it or leave it.

• You either yielded to the conviction of the Holy Spirit or you didn't.
• You either realized you were a sinner separated from God or you didn't.
• You either believe Jesus paid your sin's penalty or you don't.
• You've either asked God to forgive your sins or you haven't.
• You either believe God raised Jesus from the dead or you don't.
• You've either been born of the Spirit or you haven't.
• And you'll either spend eternity in heaven or you won't.

I could go on, but I think you get the picture—gray is a lie.

The concept of us being shades of gray in the eyes of God is a lie from the father of lies. It is nothing more than a satanically inspired deception designed to make people feel better about themselves and to blind them to the fact that they are faced with a black-and-white choice. Its purpose is to steer people away from the cross and onto the futile, unending treadmill of salvation by works—and that's no salvation at all.

There are no shades of gray. It's either black or white.

And it's not too late to choose white.

Greg Lauer — JUL '13

Top of the page

If you like this article, share it with someone!

 JUL '13 

Site Search

Powered by:
JavaScript Kit