One cannot step outside the system. And we are the system. As I argued last week with respect to the war in Iran, truth can be hard to come by, outside of God’s Word and His world. Because every man is a liar. And every word that proceeds from our lips is tainted by our tainted lips. Even the “wisdom” wrought by the new god of our age, AI, still finds its ultimate source in our deceptive hearts.
Which brings us to the kerfuffle in, through, under and around Saint Andrews Chapel, Reformation Bible College and Ligonier Ministries. Charges, both criminal and ecclesiastical, have been attempted. Some “trials” and some “investigations” have taken place. We’ve had dismissals, convictions and appeals. Various courts have expressed their views, and understandably, everyone wants to know what’s going on. I’m not here to tell you.
It’s true that I know virtually the entire cast of this drama, some quite well. It’s true I’ve been close enough in the past to see the sausage being made. It’s even true that I have my own preliminary perspectives, held loosely. And for now, held privately. Because what I don’t have is the knowledge or the power to untie this Gordian knot. About the only thing I can feel confident in is this sad truth- someone isn’t doing right. “It’s all just a misunderstanding” won’t untie the knot either.
Maybe there’s another thing I can be confident of. People, on whichever side of whichever issue, have taken, are taking and will take to social media to lobby for their perspective, long before they know enough to do so. Some readers will be swayed, and add to the throng on every side.
The drama is in the people and institutions that we all “know” in common. The reality is that it is extremely likely that when all the sin of all this mess is weighed on the last day, the majority of the sin will be in the people that we all don’t know- the posters anonymous and otherwise who insist their side is right and their enemy is guilty.
Which is not to say that no one is guilty among those who are center stage. I’m sure there is plenty of guilt to go around, with some much more victims and others much more victimizers. We become victimizers, however, when we pretend we know which are which before all is known. When we forget the wisdom of God who tells us: “The first one to plead his cause seems right, until his neighbor comes and examines him” (Proverbs 18:17).
My counsel for those involved is to seek arbitrators agreeable to every side. And for everyone to steer clear of the court of public opinion. My guess is we will, for the most part, do just the opposite, much to our shame. There are no winners here. There is, however, One who will, in the end, judge all things rightly.
