At the time many preachers warned that opening up Romans 14 to including one doctrinal error would lead to people wanting to have this chapter cover all sorts of false teachings. Recently I received a list of so-called gray areas, i.e., matters that the writer felt were not clear as to whether they are sinful or not. Romans chapter 14 is dealing with practices, both of which are pure and innocent. Another problem is that people typically end up throwing good things into the gray area category. When we start throwing things into gray areas, we reach the point that we can t seem to stand up for anything or oppose anything that is wrong.
People seem to lose their ability to think critically when such a gray area is so convenient.
In addition, gray areas will reduce us to becoming very lazy in our studies. Take a look at your local denomination, and you will see the effects of wanting to throw everything into a gray area. Since there are no absolutes, there is nothing we can call false. To call something false is an inexcusable power play. All ways of life must be equally valid and the only thing that is absolutely wrong is to say that the path taken by someone else is wrong.