“If you look for the bad in people, expecting to find it – you surely will.”
This quote is attributed variously to both Abraham Lincoln and to Helen Keller. Whoever said it first, it is undeniably, tragically true.
As if to prove this axiom, “reporters” and “journalists” were sent by the Washington Post to Alabama to dig for dirt, for any factoid or salacious rumor they could dredge up on Judge Roy Moore, the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate.
And they succeeded – much like Willie Sutton “succeeded” in robbing banks – through relentless diligence unbound by any moral consideration. They weren’t looking for any current skeletons in the Moore closet – there weren’t any, and they knew it. No, like bloodhounds, they came hunting, like pigs nosing for truffles, searching for any trace of dried blood, any scent of possible past chinks in an otherwise spotless reputation for Christian commitment and honorable public service.
Eureka! They heard old rumors of some teenage girl who had confided in her friends that then-Assistant District Attorney Moore, a young unmarried man, had “molested” her.
The incident supposedly occurred over 30 years ago, and apparently, by her own account, since she had allowed herself to be available to whatever happened, she kept it to herself.
But, the Washington Post, out of pure civic concern, of course, wanting to give the woman the chance to “tell her story” she hadn’t wanted to tell before, did its level best to expose this alleged scandalous behavior, just a month before Alabama’s special election for a U.S. Senate seat.
You know the rest: The liberal media went into a frenzy, digging and searching for any other female who might like to air some similar, long-ago tale that hadn’t seemed worth bringing up until now – including one orchestrated by attorney Gloria Allred, who specializes in exposing behavior that might grab big headlines.
The original accuser, by the way, says a young Moore attempted to seduce her in his own home when she was 14. Pitiful – though she hasn’t explained why she supposedly went into the home of an older, single man, or why she followed his alleged suggestion to disrobe.
When you look at the “facts,” even as she relates them, the whole saga stinks. She explains she waited till now – again, just weeks before Moore’s election – because she didn’t want to “expose” her children to embarrassment. But wait! It was years after the “incident” before she had children!
Let me be very clear. My wife and I raised four beautiful girls in Beverly Hills California. By the time any of them were 12 at most, they knew better than to be alone anywhere with an older man. And, God forbid, if they had reported any incident like the ones Moore is accused of – as furious as I’d have been with the man, I would also have laid part of the blame at the feet of our daughter, who knew better than to be in the situation! I’m not excusing Moore’s alleged action or accusing the women, if the claims can possibly be proven at this late date, but it’s undeniable that if any of the accusing women had told their parents or any authority after it happened, it would have been dealt with, and we wouldn’t have to be sorting it all out, after Moore has been investigated and elected so many times since then!
Let’s stop and consider: If these media bloodhounds dug into the last 30 years of your life, relentlessly digging for any dirt they could find, do you think they just might find anything that would embarrass you and cause others to think less of you?
God didn’t make perfect people. Though He says we’re created “in His image,” that includes free will and the likelihood we’ll make mistakes along the way, probably some serious one with bad consequences. That’s why we need a Savior, one with God’s own divine nature, one who was sorely tempted like we are, yet without sin, and one who is able to take a penitent failure, lift him up and help him become a more admirable person. Someone like even Roy Moore.
That’s the main theme of the whole Bible. God makes man and woman and desires their companionship. But they fail and fall away, forfeiting the relationship. Then the loving God provides a way back into the relationship through His Son, who pays the debt of all our sins.
I wrote a song several years ago, “The Fallen Giant,” about great men who sinned and had to be saved from their own mistakes. In several verses I sing of Adam, whose one recorded sin doomed the whole human race; Moses, who committed murder; David (the Bible describes him as a “man after God’s own heart”), a murderer and adulterer; Peter the Apostle who denied he ever knew Jesus; Judas, whom Jesus called “friend,” who betrayed His Lord with a kiss in the Garden of Gethsemane; even Jesus Himself, who died a “sinner,” having taken on Himself the sins of all mankind – and sing in the chorus:
The Fallen Giant will rise again
Though bruised and broken, he still can win
The Great Commander is still his friend
The Fallen Giant will rise again.
The whole biblical theme is redemption, repenting and beginning again, rising from past failure to a new and better course.
Which of our past presidents was perfect? Washington owned slaves, as did Jefferson, though they discouraged and condemned the practice. Lincoln was smeared with rumors of homosexuality, absolutely false. The beloved JFK was known for his numerous infidelities while president, and he and his brother Robert probably contributed to Marilyn Monroe’s suicide. Do I have to mention the things Bill Clinton did in the Oval Office, and multiple times before, lying to the American people and then asking forgiveness? And Moore’s detractors would vote for Clinton again today!
Obviously (it should be), past mistakes do not categorically disqualify citizens for later service.
There is abroad a crazed hypocrisy, an irrational double standard, especially on the left, in the “progressive” camp. If a conservative candidate can be accused, not necessarily with any real substantiation, just accused of some filthy, heinous thing, then he or she can be ridden out of town on the rails, tarred and feathered with unproven allegations. No society can exist that permits this to go on.
As a boy in Nashville, I took care of the chickens and the little chicks. I noticed that the chicks incessantly picked at any little shiny or unusual thing, even if it was on the back of another chick. Too often, the picking caused flecks of blood, which attracted other chicks – who picked the poor flecked one to death! In the process, flecks of blood appeared on other chicks, who themselves became victims. I had to be constantly watchful, lest our little flock eat themselves alive!
Two scriptures come to mind:
There is none perfect, no not one.
If you do not forgive one another, neither will your Heavenly Father forgive you.
