Seeds of Destruction

What do the following statements have in common?

• ". . . I'm not understanding what you mean by 'wrong.'"  -- (then) Penn State University President Graham Spanier, February 26, 2001 (1)
• "The janitors were afraid of being fired by reporting a powerful football coach."  -- Judge Louis Freeh, July 12, 2012 (2)
• "With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more."  -- fired Penn State University football coach Joe Paterno, November 9, 2011 (2)

A lack of moral clarity.  A "don't rock the boat" mentality.  Lack of moral courage to do what is right.

I kid you not. . . I have been troubled to hear the news lately regarding the entire Penn State football coaching staff scandal.  An entire university football program is likely in jeopardy and may not continue for a time.  Penalties may well be assessed that will hurt the school's football program and its lucrative financial dealings.  I'm not a fan of football generally speaking, and so a lot of this didn't get on my radar screen until it became headline news.  I'm certainly paying attention now, though. 

It's easy to shrug one's shoulders, give a look of disapproval, and condemn what's already happened at Penn State, which certainly could use prayers from God's people right about now.  The more difficult task is to know how to deal with such a situation and to quote a well known television character from the Andy Griffith Show, Barney Fife, "Nip it in the bud."  For starters. . . 

1) Call a spade a spade.  Call the wrongdoing what it really is.  Sin.  That's right, sin.  Sin is evil, you know.  And sin separates one from the Love of God found in Jesus Christ.  

 27 But he will say, ‘I tell you, tI do not know where you come from. vDepart from me, all you workers of evil!’  (Luke 13:27)  (All verses ESV unless noted otherwise)

From Hebrews 10:

²⁶ For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, ²⁷ but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.

And

  ³¹ It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Admittedly, these are words not often heard from church pulpits in North America.  Yet they remain the true words of God.  Sin and evil are therefore serious business.  I remember well the verse from James 3:1 (NASB): 
Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a ^[a]stricter judgment.

2) The above statement implies, quite rightly, that those who teach - have moral and educational authority over others in their care - have a duty to be accountable to others. . . and most importantly, God Himself.  Here's a selection of some pertinent Scriptures: 

Proverbs 27:17:

Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.

Matthew 18:15-17:

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

Galatians 6:1-2:

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12:

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Ezekiel 33:7-9:

⁷ “So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. ⁸ If I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. ⁹ But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, that person shall die in his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul.

The Penn State football program had gotten to the point where it dominated the University and had unparalleled power and influence.  What the trustees and those charged with carrying out its mission forgot is sin is pervasive and endemic to the human heart, resulting in death.  That lack of knowledge about sin isn't just from those associated with Penn State, however.  Consider the following exchange I had with a fellow customer at Costco the other day:

Me: Kinda busy in the food court today, eh?

Her: Yeah.  I can deal with it, though.  I just wait and get through it.  Gotta be patient. 

Me: Patience is still a virtue.  Good to know you are willing to be that way. 

Her: Well, I'm really not.  You know, everyone is so busy these days, they make you pushy when you're in line for something.

Me: They make you pushy?

Her: Yeah, they do quite a lot these days.

Me: A wise man once said, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?"  (Jeremiah 17:9, NKJV)  

__________________

Well, that ended the conversation right then and there.  You hopefully get the point. . . they didn't make her pushy. . . she did out of her own volitional will, from her own heart.  But she undoubtedly let this bit of wisdom from God's Word pass her by. . . just like the "common sense" wisdom even the janitors at Penn State had and ignored, allowing Jerry Sandusky to continue his criminal acts in the locker room with his young "guests."  James has this very appropriate word for us to consider:

Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.  (James 4:17 NASB)

That verse has always convicted me.  Ouch!

My takeaway questions I ask myself are these:

• Do I possess moral clarity in my thoughts, words and actions?
• Do I allow myself to be accountable to others who know me and submit to what is right in the sight of God - and most importantly God's Will for me?
• Do I have the moral courage to do the right thing in the face of moral lapses of judgment in others?

I pray God may find me worthy in these despite my manifold shortcomings, and in that Wonderful Day when I am translated into Eternity.

One of David's Psalms gives some insight and perspective I find useful.  From Psalm 139:

 O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
² You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
³ You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
⁴ Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
⁵ You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.

⁷ Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
⁹ If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
¹² even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.

¹³ For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
¹⁴ I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.^[a]
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.

¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸ If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.

¹⁹ Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!
O men of blood, depart from me!
²⁰ They speak against you with malicious intent;
your enemies take your name in vain.^[b]
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
²² I hate them with complete hatred;
I count them my enemies.

²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!^[c]
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!^[d]

^{Please pray with me for all those affected by the Penn State football scandal, especially the young men who were once boys that were abused. . . they surely need them.  Until next time. . .}

^Selah.

^{___________________}

^References:

⁽¹⁾

http://www.citizenlink.com/2012/07/12/penn-state-falls-into-a-pit/

(2)

http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/396509-press-release-07-12-12.html

For more background and sources:

http://chronicle.com/article/The-Freeh-Report-Complete/132803/