When it comes to the media whirlwind around Judge Roy Moore, we’ve made a few observations from a Christian perspective as we’ve watched this unfold:
First, the spirit behind exposing sin must be one of restoration, not condemnation (or destruction). If restoration is not the goal, then Christians should refuse to jump in and immediately condemn someone without investigating the facts. Instead, we should pray for the truth to be known – for both the accusers and the accused – gather the facts and seek restoration where needed. This applies not only to Roy Moore, but also to Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey and others as well.
When the angry mob threw the adulterous woman at Jesus’ feet in John 8, they sought her destruction, but Jesus wanted her restoration. Yet at the same time, He upheld His moral standard by saying to her, “Go and sin no more.” So too today, we must uphold a moral standard in our own lives and in society, while at the same time not seek to destroy people with it, but rather restore them to Christ.
Galatians 6:1 sums it up, saying: “Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.”
Second, Jesus teaches His followers the proper way to expose sin, which has a specific order found in Matthew 18. First, you go to the person in private. If they repent, you have restored them. Second, if they don’t repent, you then take another person and confront again in private. Third, if they still refuse to repent, you then take them before the church, which is semi-private (keeping it in the family). Finally, if they remain unrepentant, you make it public and disassociate from them.
It’s sad to see Christians jump to the fourth step in Judge Moore’s case without fully knowing all the facts. We understand it’s impossible to go back 40 years, and it’s difficult to follow Matthew 18 for a public figure, but it doesn’t change the fact that condemning and disassociating with a fellow believer based on accusations (some of which have already been upended) is not Christ-like, especially when the spirit of this whole situation wreaks of destruction and not restoration for everyone involved.
The exception to this would be if a man has a pattern of preying on women despite being confronted in private. In that case, he should be exposed publicly for the protection of others. In Moore’s case, his most recent accusation was from 1991, which has yet to become a legitimate accusation. So we don’t believe there’s a pattern here, which brings us to our third point.
It’s abundantly clear to us there is an establishment agenda in D.C. against anyone who threatens to upend its control of our country. We saw this with Trump, and we’re seeing it again with Roy Moore. And the attacks follow a clear pattern: Frame, Facilitate and Fracture.
The establishment frames an issue (or a person who threatens it) with a new narrative. It then facilitates its support network to spread the narrative. And finally, it fractures all dissent by lumping dissenters into the same category of the accused.
It’s a very effective strategy taken directly from Saul Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals.”
In Judge Moore’s case, his narrative was framed by the Washington Post that he was a sexual predator taking advantage of underage women. As soon as the story broke, John McCain, Jeff Flake, Mitt Romney and Mitch McConnell instantly condemned Moore without investigating a single shred of the facts. A few days later, Paul Ryan jumped in, among others, and the facilitation was in full swing. All that was left was to fracture dissenters by accusing them of being sexual predators themselves.
The problem, though, is that over the last few weeks, the narrative has started to crumble as the first accuser lacks credibility with her three divorces, three bankruptcies and three charges against pastors for the very thing of which she accused Moore. The second was discovered to be a Democratic Party operative, working for both Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden. And the yearbook accuser couldn’t produce an authentic signature of Moore’s, despite demands from the Moore camp. The facts surrounding the other accusers are still quite gray. None of this minimizes what these women feel, but the question is, do their stories add up to accuse Moore of preying on underage women?
But in today’s digital age, accusations imply guilt. And, as people are framed, narratives are facilitated, and dissent is fractured, truth often falls by the wayside.
Fourth, it’s glaringly hypocritical for our society to objectify women through pornography and “sex sells” advertising and then condemn men for objectifying women. What we need is a comprehensive overhaul of the entire entertainment industry, infused with Christian conviction and moral dignity. But that will take another Great Awakening, so let’s be praying for that.
Our final observation is that this situation should cause all of us to analyze our own lives very closely. Because Ecclesiastes 7:20 says, “There is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.” So when dealing with sin in our lives and those around us, we must take the last part of Galatians 6:1 seriously, “But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.”
With everything happening in our culture today, now is a perfect time to renew our commitment to living morally pure. Now is the best time to get right with Jesus and live faithfully for Him!
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