Fifty Shades of Impurity

Fifty Shades of Grey has become somewhat of an epidemic; threatening to destroy what little innocence remains in this world. 

I will preface this post by acknowledging that I have never read the book, nor ever will. The same, of which, applies to the film being released on Valentines Day (of all days). 

The spread of such nightmarish spiritual toxicity reminds me of an experience I had a while back. I was sitting in my 12-step group listening to a woman expressing how she wished she could handle "touching the gray like normal people." Her statement struck me, not as funny, but as worrisome. It led me to deeply ponder the concept of light and dark, and the resulting 'gray' when the two become blended.

What do I mean by 'touching gray?' Well let's first examine what the word actually means.


gray: adjectivegrayer, grayest.
  1. of a color between white and black; having a neutral hue
  2. dull, dreary, or monotonous
  3. of a neutral tone, intermediate between black and white, that has no hue and reflects and transmits only a little light.
  4. dismal or dark, especially from lack of light; gloomy
On one end of the gray spectrum we have white, or light, which is clean and unstained from the blackness of the world; purely untainted from sin. It represents the pure Light of Christ and everything that is virtuous and of grace.  

On the opposite end we have black, or dark, which represents the inky blackness and impurity of the world. It represents the ultimate culmination of sin and defiant abandon into the grasp of the dark one's grasp.  

Our goal in this life is to actively strive to get as close to the white as possible. Of course, perfect whiteness or perfect purity will never happen in this lifetime, but our God given gift of agency allows us the opportunity to choose to get as close to white as possible. Gratefully, so long as we persevere toward such a worthy goal, the Atonement of our Savior cleanses us of all other impurity.

Mixing even the tiniest amount
of black (darkness of Satan) with white (the Light of Christ within us) will surely produce a shade of gray. I venture to say, even one of fifty shades.

So the question is this; Why, when our mortal goal is to be as close to white as possible, would we ever knowingly and willingly mix with dark?

Satan wraps his inky blackness up in a beautiful gift wrapped box; telling us the gift is special, just for us. He makes it enticing and exciting. He uses powerful manipulation so that we will justify and rationalize 'touching gray'.


As easy as it sounds, it is actually quite difficult to give up the things that taint our spirit, and it definitely doesn't happen over night. We simply must come to the point in which the balance shifts. 

Imagine standing in the middle of a teeter totter, our weight evenly distributed, allowing both ends of the devise to hover equally in the air. One side light, one side dark. We need to lean toward the light in order for the weight to shift in that direction. Our desire to be near our Savior must outweigh our desire to be of the world.  

Does Heavenly Father expect perfection? No, and good thing. But He does expect progression
All He wants is for us to continuously strive to do better.  

It really is that simple.

This world is full of darkness that continually threatens to dim our light. However, the Light of Christ can reside in each of us; purifying us from within. 

Let us be spiritual fireflies; allowing our Savior to charge each one of us with His light as we go out into the world providing illumination for others in their dark places. So long as we remain in the presence of our Savior for rescue, refuge and rest, our light will forever burn bright and never be dimmed by even the darkest shade of gray.

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