It seems to be an accepted rule in American foreign policy to avoid all showdowns. Confrontations are definitely out. Statesmen face issues but politicians dodge them. The same policy prevails in the religious world. If this rule had been followed in the past, Joshua would never have demanded that Israel choose whom they would serve. Elijah would have worked things out with the priests of Baal on Carmel. Paul would have had a summit conference with Peter at Antioch. Above all, our Lord would not have had a head-on collision with the devil at the very beginning of His ministry. Today we are told that issues are not black and white and cannot be met by direct “yes” or “no.” Black and white have indeed been smudged into indefinite gray, but not so in God’s Book.