Moral neutrality translates as spiritual compromise

Neutrality seems like such a good thing.

Neutral colors don’t offend. Neutral countries don’t clash. Neutral parties stay out of ugly lawsuits.

Now, let’s get a reality check: Neutrality soon will kill the unborn child of a Florida teen in that state’s foster care system.

At first, Gov. Jeb Bush rightly fought plans by a 13-year-old mother to get an abortion. But this week, Bush shifted into neutral on the matter.

A state official called this sudden shift “a return to standard policy.” In past cases, the official said, the government wouldn’t aid a girl seeking an abortion, but wouldn’t stop her, either.

The Florida abortion quandary that made national headlines this past week highlights a truth that is easily forgotten: In moral matters, neutrality is not an option. There is no such thing as refusing to take sides.

To say we are unbiased or impartial when it comes to personal or public ethics is a convenient deception. It is the comfortable numbness enjoyed by those who don’t know what they really believe, or lack the spine to stand up for those beliefs.

And for one more unborn child in Florida, neutrality’s deception is a death sentence.

All of us from time to time fight the urge to flee into the protective shadows of moral neutrality. It’s nothing new; the Bible points to man’s quest for moral neutrality early in history. That quest continues today.

Consider the case of Elijah, the prophet who confronted Israel about its spiritual neutrality.

God’s people figured they could have it both ways; they enjoyed the immoral religions of their neighbors, and still claimed to worship the God who created them. They believed to remain neutral – trying not to offend either side – would be painless. Neutrality often goes by another name: spiritual compromise.

Elijah was divinely inspired to give an object lesson that stands today. He made an altar, put a bull on it, and told the pagan priests to cry out to their bogus god, Baal, for fire. Predictably, no fire appeared.

He then called out to God. And “the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice… Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The Lord, he is God. The Lord, He is God!” (1 Kings 18:38-39).

The prophet then ordered all of the priests who led God’s people into compromise to be killed. So much for neutrality!

We need to be reminded that there is still a God “who answers by fire.” He hasn’t changed in nature or character one bit. He created us, He loves us, He sent His Son to die for us, and He makes clear distinctions between moral right and wrong.

In our hearts, where right and wrong so often are at war, God disdains neutrality.

Jesus said in Matthew 12:30, “He who is not with Me is against Me…” The call to follow him, by definition, means we are not to follow after anything or anyone else. There is no neutral ground. We’re to head in his direction.

Elijah asked Israel a good question: “How long will you falter between two opinions?” (1 Kings 18:21). That’s a question that needs to be asked by more Christians today: How long will we remain in a neutral gear, allowing the culture and circumstances to influence our direction?

Moral waffling may appear convenient, and even noble in the short term. It appeases our culture’s incessant thirst for spiritual “tolerance” – the rejection of absolute truth. But it bears a high price tag.

So, too, does taking a stand for what is right. For example, the young mother in Florida needs love, financial support, and someone to care for her and her child – not condemnation, or a map to the nearest abortion clinic. What she needs most will be costly.

Gov. Bush backed away from the abortion issue after a judge ruled that the mother had a right to kill her baby. The young mother, still a child herself, apparently got pregnant when she ran away from a foster home.

“It’s a tragedy a 13-year-old child would be in a vulnerable position where she could be made pregnant, and it’s a tragedy her baby will be lost,” Bush told The New York Times. “There’s no good news in this at all.”

Point well taken. Shifting into neutral is really a euphemism for looking the other way while evil prevails. There’s no good news in that.

Incidents like the one in Florida remind Christians that there is a battle between right and wrong raging all around us – all the time – and whether we’re aware of it or not, we have chosen a side.

Neutrality is not an option. Perhaps Elijah’s words bear repeating today: “If the Lord is God, then follow Him.”