Finding Truth in the Gray: Why the Easy Answer Isn’t Enough
- Kerry Morris
- 3 days ago
- 7 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
A few nights ago my four year old daughter and I were watching a Disney movie. As each character appeared, she asked, “Daddy, is that the bad guy or the good guy?” It was a kid’s movie, so I was able to answer. But often the world is not so simple.
We naturally try to reduce things to simple black and white, right and wrong. But, while this simplification helps us cope and survive, it can often be counterproductive. Faith tells us truth often lies in the tension between two seemingly simple answers.
The Good Thing About Good Versus Evil
We naturally gravitate to stories that offer a simple good versus evil structure and clear resolution. Movies, from The Little Mermaid to Spider-Man, tell us about a journey of good versus evil that resolves in a couple of hours. The sitcoms I grew up watching introduced and resolved a conflict in a half hour and still had time for commercials. Most of our news outlets provide almost ludicrously simplified explanations of events and trends. Religion, the effort to know an eternal God, is often simplified to just following rules, with scriptures treated like a simple recipe book.
This desire for easy answers is understandable. Biologically, our brains require a tremendous amount of energy to function - 20% of our body’s energy despite being only 2% of our body weight[1]. And our brains require even more energy when we are dealing with complex decisions and analysis. Simplifying the world to some extent is a biological imperative[2]. There is even a psychological trait referred to as “Need for Cognitive Closure” (NFC) that measures an individual person’s need for a firm answer and aversion to ambiguity[3].
When the Disney Plot Doesn’t Fit
Not every situation fits neatly into a simple story. Many situations cannot be broken into simple right versus wrong. Gray areas are all around us.
Most people value both justice and mercy, but when dealing with someone who has done wrong, we have to strike a balance between the two.
Economically, we want everyone to have a job and for prices to be low. But an economic principle called the Phillips Curve tells us those two objectives actually compete with each other. Higher wages often lead to more expensive goods, because companies need to pay employees who produce the goods.[4]
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) claims to have eliminated billions in government spending by eliminating dozens of programs and tens of thousands of employees[5]. It would be folly to assume that none of these cuts were justified, or to assume that some truly good things were cut.
About 37 million people, including 12.4 million children, live below the poverty line in the U.S. That is an average of 4 children in every classroom[6]. The U.S. is $36 trillion dollars in debt, which breaks down to $495,000 for every child alive today. Both of these statistics are horrible, but budgeting requires us to make tradeoffs between them
As much as our leaders and the media would love to sort every issue into a simple choice, there is often more nuance than can be packed into a soundbite.
God Does Not Promise Easy Answers
People of faith often turn to scripture for guidance, with Christians looking to the Bible. And, while scriptures do provide great wisdom, God does not sort the world for us into simple stacks of ‘yes’ versus ‘no.’ Scripture does not provide clear direction for every situation.
Jesus was accused by people in power on multiple occasions, but his responses varied. Sometimes he aggressively responded, sometimes he said a little, sometimes he kept quiet[7]. Jesus met two similarly wealthy people, and gave them different direction about how to honor God with their money[8].
Ecclesiastes offers a long list of actions that are appropriate at some times and not in others - a time to tear down and a time to build, a time for war and a time for peace, a time to plant and a time to harvest, and so on.[9] Proverbs explicitly says we should seek multiple perspectives.[10] And, we are encouraged to listen to both sides of a dispute.[11]”
When honestly studying scripture for guidance, we often find the answer is not ‘yes’ or ‘no’, but ‘it depends.” And while that answer taxes our mind, it can draw us closer to God. It forces us to dig deeper, to understand more about the nature of truth, the nature of God.
Like a frustrated middle schooler, we scan the scriptures for the answer to our algebra problem. But, I suspect God is less interested in giving us a quick answer, and more interested in teaching us how to do the math. God doesn’t want robots following explicit instructions, he wants hearts continually seeking truth through a relationship with Him.
Getting Comfortable With The Tension
So, if some situations do not fit a simple good vs evil dichotomy, and God refuses to give us a magic easy button for making decisions, what are we to do? We must embrace the messy reality of ambiguity. Rather than ignoring complexity, we should seek understanding like “hidden treasure[12].”
This understanding often comes, not as specific answers, but as general principles. Jesus frequently responded to specific questions with general principles that were much broader than the issue at hand. He was asked whether a woman caught in adultery should be punished, and he responded with a principle about righteous judgement[13]. He was asked about a checklist for gaining God’s favor and responded with an invitation to a relationship[14]. He was asked about washing hands and responded with a principle about internal purity being more important than external appearances[15]. We should seek broad principles, and apply those wisely to specific situations.
Being mindful of God, and the existence of bigger truths, opens the door to humility. And humility is critical to thriving in a world of ambiguity. Earlier I mentioned the tension between justice and mercy as something we all wrestle with. The Hebrew prophet Micah wrote, “…The Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.[16]” This verse embraces the seemingly contradictory values of justice and mercy, but it includes this critical piece of guidance: “Walk humbly with your God.” In other words, as I wrestle with the complex issues in life, I must be mindful of my limitations and embrace Truth that is bigger than myself.
Humans are formed out of dust but carry the image of God. We are common animals and eternal spirits. We are creatures suspended between heaven and hell, daily tasting a bit of each. There is nothing more human than living in the tension between two things. And there is no higher calling in those moments than seeking the truth.
We do not honor our humanity, or honor God by pretending complexity does not exist. We honor ourselves and God by acknowledging complexity, honestly seeking wisdom, walking humbly, and loving others even when we see things differently.
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[1] Raichle, M. E., & Gusnard, D. A. (2002). Appraising the brain’s energy budget. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 99(16), 10237–10239. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.172399499
[2] Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow)
[3] Kruglanski, A. W., & Webster, D. M. (1996). Motivated closing of the mind: “Seizing” and “freezing.” Psychological Review, 103(2), 263–283. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.103.2.263
[4] The Phillips Curve is a simple idea in economics that shows a trade-off between unemployment and inflation. When more people have jobs, companies often raise wages to compete for workers. Those higher wages can lead to higher prices for goods and services—causing inflation. On the flip side, when many people are out of work, there’s less pressure to raise wages, so prices tend to rise more slowly. However, economists now believe this relationship isn’t always strong or predictable. In recent years, inflation has stayed low—even when unemployment was low. Blinder, A. S. (2008). The Case Against the Phillips Curve? In The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics. Library of Economics and Liberty. https://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/PhillipsCurve.html
[5] DOGE or the 'Department of Government Efficiency' is a special organization created by President Trump and led by Elon Musk that is focused on reducing government expenses. The DOGE website includes an estimate of total savings: https://doge.gov/savings. This BBC report provides context into the cuts and impacts:https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn4j33klz33o. This Newsweek article provides context into the employee cuts: https://www.newsweek.com/doge-layoffs-federal-government-tracker-2025-dod-cuts-2042525.
[6] Official Poverty Measure (OPM). US Census Bureau, 2024 Report On Income And Poverty. Total current national debt, divided by number of U.S. citizens under the age of 18.
[7] Matt 23 vs Luke 22:63
[8] mark 10:17-22, Luke 19:1-10
[9] “For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 WMB
[10] “Plans go wrong for lack of advice; many advisers bring success.” Proverbs 15:22 NLT
[11] “The first to speak in court sounds right— until the cross-examination begins.” Proverbs 18:17 NLT
[12] “Tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding. Cry out for insight, and ask for understanding. Search for them as you would for silver; seek them like hidden treasures.” Proverbs 2:2-4 NLT
[13] ““Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?” They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!””
John 8:4-5, 7 NLT
[14] “…A man came running up to him, knelt down, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him…“Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.””Mark 10:17, 21 NLT
[15] ““Why do your disciples disobey our age-old tradition? For they ignore our tradition of ceremonial hand washing before they eat.” Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. “Listen,” he said, “and try to understand. It’s not what goes into your mouth that defiles you; you are defiled by the words that come out of your mouth.””
Matthew 15:2, 10-11 NLT
[16] Micah 6:8 NLT
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