In a previous post I expressed some scepticism and
ambivalence with regard to the recent spate of harassment claims. The men are
indeed bestial and ungodly in their behaviour and yet many of these women,
especially in the arts or corporate settings are not wholly innocent.
In other cases the behaviour can only be described as
predatory. While an aspiring entertainer or businesswoman can always walk away
and maintain virtue (even at great cost) there are those in other situations
that are under real authority in the form of the state and thus under actual
threat. These situations are often different in their nature and the women
subjected to abuse are truly victims. I'm speaking of officials who hold badges
and offices, who wear uniforms and carry guns. These men who use their
authority to abuse the weak are of a different and very pernicious stripe.
The jury is still out on Roy Moore though there's a lot of
smoke suggesting a fire. And what a fire if it's all true. If even half the
stories are verified then he's something of wretch if not an out-and-out
monster. He's accused of abusing his state authority and preying on the weak.
And in another vein he's accused of behaviour such as cruising shopping malls
for the purpose of soliciting teenage girls.
I've always believed him a fraud even before I knew anything
about this. I've never liked Roy Moore and have always relegated him to the
category of swindler... something of a used-car salesman.
It would seem that my assessment may be proven too generous.
It would be bad enough if Moore was this type of person but
sitting home and minding his own business. But instead he's a self-righteous
swaggering megalomaniac, a sociopathic blowhard that wants, even lusts after
legislative power.
He thinks godliness is gain. Money and power are what Jesus
came to die for in the Christianity of Roy Moore. And apparently he thinks the
rules don't apply to him. Is he a victim of the cheap grace gospel of the Billys?
I'm referring to both Sunday and Graham.
Or is he just a wretched hypocrite that's been playacting all
along? It's always been quite clear that Moore knows next to nothing about
Biblical Christianity let alone Western history and the hosts of ideas it has
spawned. He could almost be a poster-child for the case against democratically
elected judges.
Here's the great irony and I'm sure many have already picked
up on it. I don't know if Moore is a Theonomist but he certainly walks some of
the same roads and rubs shoulders with some of the same people. Another fraud
and heretic, the late D James Kennedy apparently held him in high regard.
Regardless of his exact doctrinal position, which I gather is
somewhat vague, he wishes to utilise Old Testament law and the example of the
Israelite Theocracy as some sort of model or inspiration for his understanding
of the United States.
He wants to live under the Law of Moses as he makes clear in
his constant and erroneous reiteration of the Decalogue. I will grant he
probably hasn't thought this through very well. Most Evangelicals haven't. But,
for all his promulgating of the Law given at Sinai is he unfamiliar with the
commands and sanctions that go with it? Has he read Leviticus and Deuteronomy?
Does he not know that fornication requires compensatory payment
and marriage? Does he not know that adultery demands the death penalty?
He could also be accused of being a thief but given
everything else, that's almost a lesser concern.
In terms of US law, which he himself swore to uphold, he was
right to be put out of office and under sanction. If he couldn't follow US law,
then he shouldn't have sworn to do so. Rather than focusing on the Ten
Commandments he might have done better to read the Sermon on the Mount. That
might have given him a better grasp of ethics for the New Testament era. It
might have laid the groundwork for Apostolic authority. The epistles then would
have taught him about how to read the Old Testament, the place of the law, the
example and definition of Israel as well as personal and social ethics.
Moore did not do this. In terms of Christianity he himself is
something of a victim. Fed a false gospel with visions of a false kingdom, he
was caught up in the madness of American Evangelical Right-wing politics and
the desire to reconstitute Christendom in a modern setting synthesized with
Enlightenment categories. This is what
the American Christian Right is. It's schizophrenic and if Moore, who seems
unrepentant and therefore must be reckoned as lost, got caught up in it all...
what can we expect?
A lost person is going to respond like a lost person. Dogs
eat vomit and offal, and lost people twist truth and turn good into evil.
That's what they do.
Do I know the state of Moore's soul? Of course not, but
there's obviously something very amiss with this man. He's unrepentant and
defiant and clearly he has misunderstood the basic messages of Scripture. He's
an idolater and has syncretised his truncated form of Christianity with a rival
philosophy and its idols.
I have no reason to believe he's a Christian and were he to
show up on Sunday seeking communion... if I were administering it, I would
certainly turn him away.
He has brought great shame on the Church and the name of
Christ and the fact that Evangelicals are equally defiant and stand with him
just as a year ago they stood by Trump... tells us a great deal about the state
of things.
Under US law Moore is innocent until proven guilty. All well
and good. US jurisprudence and procedure doesn't define the Church.
I want to know what is his church doing? How are the elders
dealing with this? He has been accused by a lot of people and there's a sordid
history that seems to be emerging. Even David repented and came clean when
accused. God is merciful and eager to forgive but He does not forgive those
with hardened hearts and stiff necks. He does not forgive those who wipe their
mouths and say they've done nothing wrong.
At this point in time even if 98% of the accusations were
false and exaggerated it would seem Moore would still owe explanations and
would at the very least need to make some confessions, apologies and
demonstrate some reflection and repentance.
Would this ruin his political aspirations? Maybe. Probably.
But who cares? Does it have to be done in view of the general public? Well,
Moore is the one who put himself forward as a righteous leader. If you want to
be a public figure and to possess authority then you must expect to be
scrutinised. The bar is higher. Even lost people know this.
Moore of course shouldn't be involved in any of this. No
Christian should. I would love to see him repent, step aside, leave politics
and then spend what's left of his life exposing the corruption in the system,
in both parties, in the Christian Right.... a corruption he knows intimately.
He could turn this episode into a blessing and spend his remaining years as an
almost-prophet exposing the great evils and demonstrating his sincerity with
his repentance and rejection of power.
But that's probably not how his story is going to end.
All I can say is that he had better be glad that he lives in
a Liberal society and not under the Israelite Theocracy.
Otherwise his career would end another way. He would end up a
bloody pulp surrounded by stones cast in judgment. Or more righteously and
poetically he would be crushed, executed by the two-and-a-half ton monument to
Old Testament law that he used to hypocritically proclaim his righteousness and
intimidate others.
Yes, he had better be mighty thankful that the Founders based
the law of the land on Enlightenment principles and not Old Testament Law or
even Throne and Altar Christendom.
Moore is a fool. I mean that in the moral sense. I hope he
repents.
I will not be sorry to see Roy Moore fall by the wayside but
the Church will be left dealing with the carnage he leaves behind.