The choices of two men have dominated the news cycles lately.
One is a young man with a wife and almost four children.
One is a senior citizen with three failed marriages, six children of his own and he helped raise four more.
Both claim to be conservative Republican Christians.
Both are activists.
The young man, until recently, was working for the advancement of Christian family values in our culture.
The old man is calling for tolerance, acceptance, and equality for a plethora of alternative lifestyles that are completely opposite of Christian family values.
Both are Reality TV stars.
The young man has been featured with his family in a series about marriage, family & Christian values.
The old man has been featured with his family in a series about pleasure, luxury, and decadence.
The young man and his family have been under constant attack and criticism in the mainstream media and from many private sectors because their idea of having a Christian home and family flies in the face of everything our culture has come to accept as normal.
The old man and his family have been celebrated and idolized in the media and in many private sectors because of their indulgent and entertaining antics.
Both families are constantly on the covers of check-out line magazines, for one reason or another.
Both families are all over the internet.
Both families are household names.
Twelve years ago, when the young man was a young teenager (some might say he was still a child himself), he did some stuff that wasn't right. In fact, the stuff he did was ugly. Vile. Reprehensible. Sinful. Inexcusable. Criminal. As a confused young man, he made a deviant choice to molest and violate the innocence of five young girls, including four of his younger sisters.
His actions were discovered by his family. Right or wrong, they chose not to call the police. They chose not to have their fourteen year old son arrested. They chose not to drag their children through a ponderous court proceeding that would have helped no one. They chose to discipline the offender themselves, something parents should do more of. They sent him away to work. They sent him to counseling. They sat him down with a law enforcement officer and confronted him with the possible consequences of his actions. And what happened to the young man? He saw the error of his ways and repented. He repented to God and accepted Jesus Christ as savior. He repented to his family. He personally repented to the girls he had wronged. He repented to his church. And as far as anyone has been able to determine, he never repeated. He grew up. He became a man. He got married and started a family of his own.
And two weeks ago, one of those check-out line magazines followed a nine-year-old piece of information to the police report regarding the investigation into wrong doing committed twelve years ago, and published it. They exposed a secret from a young man's childhood, and from the childhood of five girls, at least one of whom is still a minor. The result: the young man lost his job. His family may lose their reality TV show. He may never be able to publicly do the work that he was so devoted to. To our knowledge, he hasn't transgressed again in the last twelve years; he may never do it again. But because of that expose, he is now branded a pedophile and a child-molester by an enraged public that is crying out for his punishment--even though there is nothing legally that can now be done about those awful things that he did. And his victims, who may have never wanted anyone to know that this happened to them, have all been exposed and left open to the gossip and speculation of a world that is obsessed with knowing every detail of everyone else's lives.
And no one is better off by knowing that Josh Duggar did some stupid things when he was fourteen years old.
Bruce Jenner was an American hero forty years ago. A college football star, Olympic gold medalist, race car driver, successful entrepreneur, TV personality. His face adorned the Wheaties box when I was a kid. For the last eight years (about the same amount of time the Duggars have been on TV), he has starred with his family in their own reality show. And after his divorce from his wife of 23 years, he underwent a curious transformation. Rumors were floated. Pictures were published. And finally an official announcement was made.
This old man was becoming a woman. Yesterday, one of those check-out line magazines published the story, complete with a cover and inside photo spread of the new person. Wikipedia has already been updated with the new name and new gender pronouns. Bruce is gone, they say. Now he's Caitlyn. But the reality is, it's still the same person with a makeover and an ongoing renovation. Nothing has changed except the way he looks.
And our culture has embraced this deviance from normalcy.
This is a man so confused that his own self-description defies any understandable definition. He's a woman in a man's body who has never been attracted to men, married three women, fathered six children, and calls himself asexual. And this is the person our culture is applauding as so brave, so modern, so chic. People ought to be more like Bruce Jenner, and less like Josh Duggar, they say!
But do you know what the difference between the two men really is?
One is living out a lie, pretending with all the trappings of a kid playing dress-up to be something he is not nor will ever be, and wanting the world to accept him as he thinks he wants to be.
One manned up, confessed his sin, repented, changed, and when the world went crazy with weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth calling for his complete obliteration, he manned up again and faced the challenge with grace and dignity that I believe comes from truly knowing Christ in all His glory.
But his sin from long ago no more defines him than does Bruce Jenner's transsexual charade.
I can't say that I've ever been confused about who or what I was. And I can honestly say that I have done things of which I am today ashamed. If your waiting for a full confession here, you'll be disappointed. Confession to God is good for the soul; confession to people is bad for the reputation. I know who I am, I know what I've done, but the greatest thing of all is that I know what Jesus has done.
And I'm glad my life isn't on Reality TV.
