"Throwing Stones" June 30th 2013

"Let he who is without sin cast the first stone"

It is impossible to ignore the latest distasteful airing of dirty laundry. The admission by Paula Deen that decades ago she used a racial slur. There can be no defense for using such offensive language by anyone of any race. This seems to get a pass in some circles, primarily hip hop culture where it seems somehow to almost be a term of affection. The fact is, this is the worst kind of hypocrisy and ultimately self-defeating for a society that seems to want to remove this word from usage. The more it is used, the more it is heard and the more it will be repeated. And of course, every time a rap artist uses it, they seem to belie the contention that they don't like it. Simply put, if you don't want to hear it, don't say it. 

But that is not all that I want to talk about. We have all said and done things that we regret. They aren't always quite as public as what Paula Deen did, but they can be as insensitive and in some cases as indefensible as what she did. Most of us make a sincere effort to not only come clean about our offenses, but to make amends and redeem ourselves. When we do this we are not defending what we did but we are simply asking to be forgiven. At that point the charitable and Christian thing to do is to forgive. Because we have all been there. We have all done wrong somewhere at some time and needed to be forgiven. Think about some people who have done wrong... very wrong in some cases, and have been forgiven. Jimmy Carter admitted publicly to lusting in his heart after women other than his wife, and while I am not one of Mister Carter's biggest fans, I appreciate the fact that he not only saw a flaw and sin in his heart but that he had the courage to publicly admit it. And I think that while Jimmy Carter has said and done many things that are at best questionable, he has been forgiven for that. Michael Vick is a very good example of someone who has done far worse than using a racial slur, but he admitted to his crimes, asked for forgiveness and paid the debt that our laws and society demanded. It seems fair to say that he has been forgiven. To be clear, I do not now, nor will I ever condone his acts. I do not now, nor will I ever defend him or what he did. But because I am a Christian I am compelled to forgive him for his heinous and inhumane acts. That doesn't mean that I will frequent businesses that employ him in any capacity, and I would obviously never let him near my cats. But (not that it is likely to mean anything to him) I forgive him because he asked for forgiveness.

In closing, I'd just like to reiterate that we have all done wrong. We have all fallen short and needed forgiveness. When someone publicly falls and publicly asks for forgiveness, try to resist the urge to start casting stones.