****************I just found that I had made this post a long time ago and kept it private...I do that sometimes as a way of talking something through with myself....figured I might as well make it public.**********************************

I used to be an extremely black/white kind of a girl.  Things were wrong or right, true or untrue, etc.  There was no in between.  There were no shades of grey for real issues, no justification for Christians to believe differently on the REAL issues....beyond things like what should I wear today.  I felt justified in this belief system growing up in the church and Christian schools talking about the "absolute truth" of God.  This made it easier to believe that my beliefs were right and everyone else's beliefs were just wrong.  Otherwise, I'd be living in an age of relativity, right?  I certainly didn't believe in that, so I felt quite content looking at the world through my 2-tone glasses.  This changed in a high school Bible class.

We were studying 1 Corinthians.  We reached chapter 6 verse 12 which starts "Everything is permissible."  I was ready to jump on to the next part of the verse, but our teacher (my dad) urged us to stop there for a minute and notice that the Bible actually said "Everything is permissible."  After pondering this for a while, my world was rocked and confused.  I was even more surprised to learn that it actually said this multiple times in 1 Corinthians.  I was triply surprised to learn that the next part of the verse didn't say "This is a common quote that is horribly wrong and should be taught against."  So, what did the next part of the verse say?

1 Corinthians 6:12  "Everything is permissible for me"—but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me"—but I will not be mastered by anything.

1 Corinthians 10:23 "Everything is permissible"—but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible"—but not everything is constructive.

These verses have really impacted my life.  They have helped shape my concept of sin, of choices, of people, and of God's heart.  Sin is no longer a list of do's and don'ts.  I see sins in the Bible now more as a helpful list given to us by an all loving and all knowing God to help us know what sort of things are NOT beneficial, NOT constructive, and/or could lead to it mastering us.  The full study of 1 Corinthians helped  me understand that there are in fact some sort of "grey areas." 

Do I believe it's ok for me to drink alcohol?  yes
Let's take this beyond the original question that could lead to legalism or a feeling of entitlement depending on which way you go...
Do I believe it's ok for me to drink alcohol if I have tendencies to become alcoholic...if it can master me?
Do I believe it's ok for me to drink alcohol to the point of drunkenness when it may master me temporarily and have some rather unbeneficial consequences?
Do I believe it's ok for me to often drink alcohol to soothe hurts in my life...is this truly constructive?  could it become something that becomes my master in difficult times?
Do I believe it's ok for me to drink alcohol in the company of a struggling alcoholic who is still very tempted?

I think you get the idea.  Furthering these thoughts, am I going to judge someone immediately for choosing to drink or not to drink? Do I know their temptations, their situation, their heart, what God has spoken to them on this matter?  I'll be very honest here.  I do sometimes still make judgments in these cases.  This is they way my personality is bent.  I become indignant when someone tells me that I should never drink because they believe it's a sin...somehow particularly for Christians.  Equally, I become very concerned when I hear or see someone using alcohol regularly as a sort of a salve...I fear it may master them and/or lead them away from a truly constructive/beneficial resolution.  However, I am grateful that I have become able to have more compassion...to not immediately see these decisions and these people as "stupid" for not seeing "the truth" as I do.

This goes far beyond my ideas of alcohol.  It enters into my beliefs about sex, politics, music choices, job habits, personal style, etc.  I no longer believe that there are definitive clear black/white lines for EVERYONE in EVERY situation.  I still don't view myself as aligning with personal relativism though.  I still have strong opinions on what is constructive, beneficial, only giving God the right to be your master, etc., but I also realize that they are my opinions, and my opinions do not always reflect God's heart unfortunately.

So, as a dance fan, I had the premiere of this season's Dancing with the Stars on this Monday night.  (Don't talk to me about Tuesday's show yet; it's still on my DVR.)  My sweet Melody was playing on the floor while we were watching it...ok, fine, while I was watching it and while Philip was engaged in some other electronic entertainment on the couch with me.  Anyway, the music for the show came on and Melody became a bit interested. 

As the first group dance with all the professionals began, I noticed a change come over my sweet baby.  First, she started bobbing her head up and down.  This is her usual dance for music that she hears....very cute.  Then, she started shimmying her shoulders.....no really!  She started shaking them from side to side.  I was quite impressed.  I'd only seen her do that a couple times before, and never right after her little head bobs.  It seemed very appropriate for the latin dance number.  Soon, she floored me.  She crawled over to a coffee table, pulled herself up, looked at the TV, and started to wiggle her hips.  Really. 

She may not be able to walk on her own yet, but she's ready for her first latin dance!