Black and White

Posted 4/24/14 by Donald Barnhouse

Black and White

A magazine article, in discussing the techniques of making moving pictures, pointed out that sorrow, misfortune, or difficulty must be shown in black and white, never in color. If coolies laboring in China are shown in color, the background is so beautiful that the viewer gets the idea that their life is one of romance and prosperity. Only when the scene is shot in black and white are the squalor and misery seen for what they really are.

This is also true when sin is depicted. Done in color, it has a beauty that seduces the viewer into thinking that it is not sin. When a woman down a back alley leaves her husband to have a child by another man, the scene is done in black and white. When a motion picture actress leaves her husband to go to Italy and have a child by another man, the scene is viewed in technicolor, and the actress is lauded by society as having done the right thing. Editorial writers announce that she has been "rehabilitated," "vindicated," and "reestablished."

God reserves His colors for sunsets and spring blossoms. He always describes sin in black and white. This is why the Bible is such a remarkable book, and why it is so hated by those who wish to escape its implications. "The wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23). "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb. 10:31).

One of the worst effects of the fall of man was that man was fitted with rose-colored glasses. This is described in the New Testament, where we are told to "exhort one another every day, as long as it is called 'today,' that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin" (Heb. 3:13).

Take a good look at your own life today. Try to see in black and white all that you have been looking at in color. It might even be well to reserve the color for those around you, and to use only the black and white for yourself.

1. Where in society today are people trying to print sin in color?
2. If we are called to be good stewards of the earth and society how do we try to print sin in its true colors?