A gracEmail subscriber writes: “You get a question, then answer it like this: In the first paragraph you say, lawyer-like, ‘It might be this way.’ In the second paragraph you say, ‘It might be that way.’ In the third paragraph you say, ‘Love, joy, grace, Jesus and little gray squirrels.’ Why can’t you just say ‘Yes’ or ‘No?'”
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On some subjects, as least, I plead guilty as charged. For the record, I began preaching and teaching Scripture in 1961 and was not licensed as an attorney until 1988. However, for 27 years I was often accused of talking like a lawyer, even when I had no thought of ever becoming one. For me, the mindset preceded the profession. What some people call “lawyer-like,” I consider as being balanced. What others deride as waffling, I regard as speaking exactly and with precision. Many churchfolk want everything in black-and-white. Unfortunately for them, the Bible contains a lot of gray.
These same individuals want a spiritual algebra book, full of precise formulas with exact answers in the back. But the Bible is instead a storybook — the stories of God and his people. God creates people in relationship with him. People break relationship by sin. God seeks relationship through law. People break relationship by breaking law. God makes relationship with sinners through Jesus as a substitute and representative for People. People enjoy relationship with God through faith.
Although the Bible is not a mathbook, it does give the big answer at the end. Revelation, the last book in the Bible, assures us that when earthly history is over, all the smoke has settled and all the dust has cleared, God’s side wins and evil is forever destroyed! About that, and a few other things, I can be unequivocal and totally absolute.