I catch myself sometimes thinking about my spiritual life in terms of a pendulum. I think things like “I’ve spent too long in the Old Testament this month.” So, to balance it out, I’ll start reading the New Testament. Emotionally, it feels like I’m putting some balance in my life. In other words, the pendulum is swinging from too much Old Testament back towards the New.

In my head, though, I have a big problem. Thinking in terms of pendulums is a logical fallacy. Specifically, it is the fallacy of the golden mean. In essence, the correct answer always lies in the middle of two extremes. What makes it especially difficult for me is that a middle answer or compromise is sometimes a good course of action.

What to do? I have to remember a few examples. The link provides a couple of obvious ones, but I’m thinking about ones that are a bit harder to discern. Some of my friends want to go to the Olive Garden after church. Others want to go to HuHot. The right answer is to