Good morning, ladies & gents! It's Monday. So let's *ease* into the week w/ some thoughts about Christine Blasey Ford's accusations against #SCOTUS nominee Brett Kavanaugh:
(FTR, you're watching restraint at work here... waiting until Monday 8:45am EDT instead of posting yesterday when Ford came forward. Sabbath, people.)
1. W/ all the hot takes swirling right now, I'm situating these thoughts in context of Xian ethics through lens of redemption.
2. All accusations deserve to be heard & considered, regardless of the political landscape or time elapsed. That's what makes a process just--everyone has ability to bring their claim.
3. The danger of dismissing a true claim is a greater risk to justice & truth than the danger of taking time to investigate a claim that eventually proves itself false.
4. In the OT, one of the main ethical failures of nations of Israel was a perverted justice system that dismissed claims against the powerful and rich b/c of their status.
5. IOW, refusing to even hear or consider a claim of wrongdoing is wrongdoing in itself.
6. So why would folks not want to consider a 30yo claim? Why are they calling it "character assassination"? Why are we hearing things like "If this claim is allowed to stand, no man's career is safe"?
7. Because we know the world we live in. We know that for 50+ years we have told men & boys that sex was free & theirs by rights. We told them it was a biological need to be satisfied.
8. Our collective response to Ford have less to do w/ these specific claims against Kavanaugh & the larger threat they represent to multiple careers & lives that have been built on sand.
9. Think for a minute: Ford makes claims against Kavanaugh. Logically, we just investigate the claims & we see if there's any credibility. If there isn't, nomination moves forward. If there is, nominate someone else.
10. Instead, we have collective panic. We have a rush to undermine claim. We see people *actually* saying that men's careers are at stake if these claims are heard. Which tells me there's a lot more going on than Kavanaugh.
11. Here's how we need to understand this:
For 50+ years, we have participated in a social experiment that enabled & encouraged our baser proclivities. We should not be surprised by *any* allegations of sexual misconduct against *any* one.
For 50+ years, we have participated in a social experiment that enabled & encouraged our baser proclivities. We should not be surprised by *any* allegations of sexual misconduct against *any* one.
12. If you are surprised, you simply haven't been paying attention for 5 decades or you've been so insulated by privilege that your sense of reality has been warped.
(note: surprise & disappointment are not the same thing)
(note: surprise & disappointment are not the same thing)
13. The #metoo Movement is not an aberration. It is the natural fallout of the Sexual Revolution.
14. I actually do think that many men are scared that their past will come to light & destroy their careers. They were enabled & encouraged to behave badly at 17 & 21 & 35 & never held to account.
15. In such a culture, few men escape w/ their integrity intact. Ultimately, they escaped accountability b/c society failed--not b/c they didn't do anything wrong.
16. Suddenly, w/ #metoo, society is holding them to account. The rules of the game have changed & it *feels* unfair. But what is unfair is that they were allowed to behave badly for so long.
17. What's unfair is that as a society we allowed them to perpetrate evil against other human beings & never dealt w/ it. This is unfair to both victim & perpetrator.
18. What unfair is that we winked at the bad behavior of wealthy, privileged young men & allowed them to build their lives on sand. So today it looks like their careers are being *taken* from them when their past is revealed.
19. So what's the gospel have to say to this mess that we've gotten ourselves in as a society?
20. First, we all stand as equals before our Maker. Earthly power & privilege cannot shield us from his justice or evoke his mercy. It is meaningless.
21. Second, redemption is not about escaping consequences but becoming people who own our sins & are transformed so we no longer participate in them. If that is not glory enough, the gospel has nothing else to offer you.
22. Third, the gospel calls us to lose everything for the sake of gaining our souls. For some in wake of #metoo, this is literally the choice they are facing.
23. Fourth, the promise of the gospel is that if we lose everything, we will gain everything. That every earthly good that we give up will be restored 100x in Christ.
24. In the end, the gospel is life for both survivors & perpetrators of sexaul assault. But it calls each to different things.
25. For the survivor, the gospel restores hope, dignity, & confidence in God's justice.
For the perpetrator, the gospel enables repentance, stripping away everything they might cling to protect themselves.
For the perpetrator, the gospel enables repentance, stripping away everything they might cling to protect themselves.
26. In #MeToo era, we must not preach cheap grace. In protecting careers & organizations, we will damn both victim & perpetrator. We will gain the world & lose our souls.
