I am grateful for Dr. Albert Mohler, Jr. for his regular contributions to Christian thinking on issues of worldview, ethics and morality, politics, social issues, science, and the gospel of Jesus Christ. Dr. Mohler, who serves as the president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, produces a daily program called The Briefing. The Briefing provides a daily summary of each key theological and cultural issues from the day's news. As Christians, we enhance our ability to proclaim the gospel by carefully discerning the world in which we are proclaiming it in. Dr. Mohler's brief analyses of current events provides a excellent example of cultural analysis and theological reflection that we would do well to imitate.
Yesterday on The Briefing, Dr. Mohler spoke of the differences between credibility and forgiveness. His discussion was prompted by Newt Gingrich, who is vying for the Republican Presidential nomination, and his history of marital problems and adultery. Gingrich is a Protestant-turned-Catholic, converting in 2008. His conversion to Catholicism was coupled with a public confession of his adulterous behavior.
At a closed-door meeting with the nation’s top Christian Right leaders ahead of the 2008 election, Gingrich was asked about reports he’d been having an affair while leading the impeachment drive against Clinton after the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
The former speaker owned up to the affair and said it marked one the most shameful periods of his life, a time in which he was “alienated from God,” according to a participant at the meeting who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Though he didn’t run for president in 2008, Gingrich went on James Dobson’s Focus on the Family radio show to admit the affair to the evangelical icon and a national audience: “There's certainly times when I've fallen short of God's standards.”
Gingrich told listeners he’d since turned "to God to receive forgiveness and to receive mercy."
For many evangelicals, the admission and penitent tone struck a chord (CNN Belief Blog).
It was this "rebirth" and his public penitence for sins that have caused many American evangelicals to look past Gingrich's moral failings as they consider presidential hopefuls.
Yet, there is a difference between people forgiving Newt Gingrich and affirming his credibility. Christians are certainly commanded to forgive others, but the fact that God has forgiven Newt Gingrich-- or, that we have forgiven him-- does not automatically restore his credibility (Mohler's Bernie Madoff example is one that I found particularly helpful). Forgiveness is available to all (including Newt Gingrich, you, or me) who repent and put their faith in Jesus. This is a theological issue. Credibility, however, is a moral issue and anyone following the Republican party is being forced to answer, not whether Newt Gingrich is forgiven, but whether he has reestablished his moral credibility. 
I think you have hit the nail on the head here. However, this begs the question, at what point can someone with a 'checkered-past' restore his credibility? Don't we have to extend our trust towards him based on how he conducts himself now?
ReplyDeleteYes, I thought Mohler's distinction was helpful. There certainly is a point where a person can regain trust and credibility. My sense is that this depends largely on the gravity of the offense, how recent it was, how the previous offense relates to the current situation or context, the penitence of the offender, and the steps taking on their part to demonstrate or earn back the credibility that they lost.
ReplyDeleteThe difficulty in Gingrich's case is that the public has an extremely limited relationship with him. It's almost entirely mediated by the media. In typical interactions, we'll come to conclusions about credibility based on more than printed quotes or sound bits.
An additional issue is that the secret nature of Gingrich's affair deeply wounds the trust the people can and should place in him. It was while Gingrich was attacking President Clinton's adultery that he himself was cheating on his second wife. Reestablishing credibility is difficult because people have to come to the conclusion that such secret sins are not ongoing. Given the limited body of evidence the public has to go on, Gingrich faces an uphill battle.
His offense was a great one and does impact his credibility as a candidate for president. This was part of the issue with Bill Clinton, and also why Herman Cain had to remove himself from the GOP race. Yet, this isn't to say that it is impossible for him to regain his credibility, but that it would take a significant change in public perception and in Gingrich himself (which he says there has) to suggest that it is on the way to being restored.