Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far off.
For truth has stumbled in the public square,
and honesty cannot
enter.
(Isa. 59:14 CSB17)
Yesterday I watched most of the Senate hearings on the
accusations of sexual assault which have been made against Judge Kavanaugh as
he is considered for a position on the Supreme Court. This case is important to
me for many reasons, including these:
1. I have been praying fervently for a more righteous and
godly Supreme Court for the US for over twenty years.
2. I care deeply about sexual abuse of all types. I was
once involved in investigating a very serious case of sexual abuse by a Christian
leader. I have counseled women (always together with my wife) who have been
deeply scarred by sexual assault and sexual abuse.
3. I understand the terrible damage which is done by
false accusations and slander. I understand from my study of God’s Word, and
also from personal experience.
4. Members of my extended family have suffered a great
deal from the terrible effects of drinking too much alcohol.
All of the above issues met in an ugly, tangled knot in
the hearing yesterday and will continue to be on display as the confirmation
process continues.
My purpose in sharing these thoughts is more to share
some biblical principles related to the issues raised than it is to evaluate the
accusations and politics involved. Nevertheless, I will offer some of my
thoughts about the accusations and how I feel our Senators should respond to
them.
Some of the sentences in this article may seem to imply
that I am confident either that Kavanaugh is innocent, or alternatively that he
is guilty, of the crimes he has been accused of. Before continuing, I want to
state clearly that I do not know if he is guilty or innocent.
What
is at Stake
At this stage in God’s plan, the Church and local
churches are much more central to His work than governments and nations are. In
the Old Testament, the prophets often addressed God’s Word to nations. In the
New Testament, the Apostles write inspired instructions to local churches.
However, just because human government is not the most important institution at
this stage does not mean government is unimportant. Your intestines are not as
important to your survival as your heart, but that doesn’t mean you don’t care
about your intestines! Likewise, the church is more important than government,
but we still care a great deal about human government. We are commanded to pray
for government leaders:
First of all, then,
I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for
everyone, for kings and all those who are in authority, so that we may lead a
tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. (1 Timothy 2:1-2
CSB17)
Government authorities are supposed to act as God’s
servants (Romans 13:6). Specifically, human government is supposed to punish
evil and promote what is good (1 Peter 2:13). Tragically, over the last 50
years the US Supreme Court has often promoted evil instead of punishing it and
has at times opposed what is good.
Many of us were greatly distressed and disappointed by the
candidates from the two major parties in the last Presidential election. I was
among those who voted for another candidate in the primaries but chose to vote
for Trump in the general election despite my serious concerns about his past
immorality. One of the main reasons I, and many others like me, voted for him
was the hope that he would keep a promise to appoint conservative Supreme Court
justices (I wrote about this shortly before the election here).
It appears to me that so far Trump has kept his promise
to appoint conservative judges. We appear to be on the verge of having a solid
conservative majority on the Supreme Court for the first time in my lifetime.
And now this is threatened by terrible evil. What is the nature of this
terrible evil? Unlike righteousness, evil thrives in darkness, deception, and
lies. So, it’s not surprising that we do not know with certainty (at least I
feel that I do not know with certainty) which of these types of evil is at the
root of the present crisis:
Either,
1. Kavanaugh, who otherwise appeared to have excellent
character, has been hiding terrible past criminal acts and is now blatantly lying
about this under oath, or
2. Kavanaugh is the victim of a vicious campaign of false
accusations and destructive slander.
If Kavanaugh is guilty, of course he should not be
confirmed. In that case, I pray that another judge with conservative principles
will be nominated and quickly confirmed. But if Kavanaugh is innocent, of
course I hope that he will be confirmed.
We may never know with certainty the truth about these
accusations, but God knows. For this reason, praying for God’s will is vitally important. We don’t have to know the
truth to pray. God knows the truth!
Evaluating
the Evidence
I’ve stressed above that I don’t know with certainty if
Kavanaugh is innocent or guilty. That doesn’t mean I don’t have an opinion
about how our Senators should vote. More information may yet come out, but
based on what is publicly known at this time, I feel that Senators should vote
to confirm Kavanaugh. The issues are many and are complex. Here are some of my
thoughts and reasons, but of course this is only a brief summary:
1. Most importantly, I do not feel that the evidence
presented allows a confident conclusion that Kavanaugh is guilty. This is not a
criminal case, so the exact standard of “guilty beyond a reasonable doubt” does
not explicitly apply. Nevertheless, for very good reasons, both the Bible and
our nation’s justice system (which, despite its problems, is still one of the
best in the world), rightly emphasize the need for a high standard of evidence in
order to find and treat someone as being guilty.
2. The fact that the accusations deal with events from
about 35 years ago do not make those accusations false. This fact does, however,
make it exceedingly difficult to investigate them and to prove that they are either
true or false. I understand very well that there are reasons a victim may delay
even this long in bringing forth an accusation. Nevertheless, victims should be
gently encouraged to come forth as quickly as possible with such accusations.
3. Often in cases of sexual assault there are no
eyewitnesses other than the victim and the perpetrator. However, in all the
accusations against Kavanaugh, other witnesses are said to have been present. Yet,
not one of these other witnesses remembers the event according to their
testimonies.
4. It appears to
me that Dr. Ford has been severely misused by the Democrats. Her accusation
should have been immediately shared with the FBI and the rest of the committee
when it was first made. Whatever else is true, it appears to me that the
Democrats have focused entirely on using this to delay and stop the nomination
rather than following normal procedures which would have offered much more protection
to both Ford and Kavanaugh and which would also have made finding the truth
much more likely. Whether Dr. Ford is a
politically naïve and innocent pawn who was taken advantage of or whether she
herself was an intentional political actor in these events I do not know. It
does appear that she was dishonest about the issue of her fear of flying. None
of this necessarily means she is lying about the assault. It does mean that it
has become much more difficult to know if she is telling the truth.
5. The second accuser, Deborah Ramirez, did not remember
with clarity or certainty that it was Kavanaugh who exposed himself to her until
after she had thought about it and discussed it with her lawyer for six days.
Again, this does not prove she is wrong. It does make it exceedingly difficult
to conclude with confidence that she is telling the truth.
6. The third
allegation, that Kavanaugh engaged in a practice of getting girls drunk and/or
drugged so that they could be gang raped is so far unsupported by evidence. We’ve
been given promises of more witnesses and proof, but very minimal details. If
it is true, there should be many witnesses. If it’s true, I pray God will give
some of these witnesses courage to come forward and that they will be able to
provide better evidence than we have so far. But at this time, in my opinion,
there is nowhere close to sufficient evidence to support this allegation.
7. All of these
allegations are at odds with a lot of evidence that Judge Kavanaugh has
excellent moral character. Certainly, there have been people who were thought
to have excellent moral character, but who hid terrible sins. I just don’t see the
type of strong evidence needed to reach such a conclusion in Kavanaugh’s case.
A lot more could be (and has been!, and will be!) said. I
fervently pray that the truth will become more clear. I know women who have
suffered terribly from sexual assault and abuse. I have seen terrible harm done
by false accusations. So, I’m deeply sympathetic to both sides. At this point,
I feel the evidence is insufficient to treat Kavanaugh as guilty.
Should there be further investigations? The persistent requests
of the Democrats for an FBI investigation are their strongest (or, more precisely,
least weak) point. It’s not surprising that they harped on this rather than on
the evidence of Kavanaugh’s guilt, especially since the evidence is not sufficient
to prove his guilt. In my judgment, the
delay created by such an investigation would more likely result in greater harm
than good. During any such delay, Kavanaugh and his family would almost
certainly continue to be attacked continually in the press and in other ways.
False accusations, even if unfounded, have a damaging effect when they are
endlessly repeated over time. It would also play into the Democrats’ efforts to
do anything possible to delay the confirmation enough to push it past the
election with the hope that if they take the Senate they can block any
conservative nominee. The press and others will undoubtedly continue to
investigate this issue. If clear evidence against him is revealed, Kavanaugh
could be and should be impeached if he has become a Supreme Court Justice. But
in light of the lack of such evidence now, I feel the process should move
forward, and I hope Kavanaugh will soon be confirmed.
I now want to move on and discuss several issues which
the Kavanaugh accusations have raised. These are important issues in and of
themselves and this is a timely opportunity to think about them.
Helping
Victims of Sexual Assault and Abuse
Sexual sins cause deep damage to the souls of victims.
The feelings of shame and fear often make it terribly difficult for these
victims to share their stories. Further, sometimes those who hurt them were in
positions of authority and this undermines the victim’s ability to trust others
in authority, even if those others might be truly willing and able to help
them. If often takes years for those who have been hurt to heal and strengthen
enough to risk sharing what happened to them.
We should show great patience, gentleness, and love to
those who have been hurt by sexual abuse or sexual assault. It is not realistic
to expect a quick healing process.
At the same time, we should have hope and confidence that
God can and does heal the deep wounds caused by sexual sin. I personally know
women who have been hurt in these ways who are now brightly shining the love of
Christ and who are serving Him powerfully and effectively. This doesn’t happen
automatically. It happens when they go through an often long and difficult
process of finding healing and strength through Christ Jesus. Often God works
through friends, pastors, and Christian counselors to help them. Remember Isaiah’s
prophetic description of the work of Christ:
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is on me, because the LORD has
anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the
prisoners; (Isaiah 61:1 CSB17)
Dealing
with False Accusations and Slander
Sometimes, good, godly people are attacked by campaigns
of lies and slander. It happened to our Lord Jesus Christ:
The chief priests
and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false testimony against Jesus so that
they could put him to death, but they could not find any, even though many
false witnesses came forward. (Matthew 26:59-60a
CSB17)
The first Christian martyr was a victim of a campaign of
false accusations:
Then they secretly
persuaded some men to say, "We heard him speaking blasphemous words
against Moses and God." They stirred up the people, the elders, and the
scribes; so they came, seized him, and took him to the Sanhedrin. They also
presented false witnesses who said, "This man never stops speaking against
this holy place and the law. (Acts 6:11-13 CSB17)
Likewise, the Apostle Paul was attacked using false witnesses
(Acts 25:7).
These types of attacks were used against God’s prophets,
and Jesus teaches us to expect that sometimes the same thing will happen to us:
"You are
blessed when they insult you and persecute you and falsely say every kind of
evil against you because of me. Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is
great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before
you.” (Matthew 5:11-12 CSB17)
Slander, gossip, and false accusations are very serious
sins. If people in our churches or in our circles of friends commit such sins
we should lovingly, but firmly, confront them. If they do not repent and if
they continue their gossip and slander, we should treat them the same way we
would treat someone in our church or among our friends if we discovered they
were selling heroin. In other words, following the procedure of Matthew 18, we
should put them out of our churches and should avoid them with the hope that
they will repent and be restored. Their words are poison and will do great
damage if we tolerate them.
Drunkenness
Leads to Debauchery
All of the accusations against Kavanaugh involve the
abuse of alcohol as a contributing factor to sexual assault. Kavanaugh does
admit to having drunk too much on some occasions in high school and in college.
Everyone who drinks too much does not go on to sexually assault people or
commit other terrible crimes. However, everyone who drinks too much is in
danger of making foolish decisions. They are in danger of committing sins they
normally would not commit. This truth is based not merely on our experience,
but on God’s revealed truth in the Bible.
Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery.
Instead, be filled with the Spirit, (Ephesians 5:18 NIV)
The Bible teaches that drunkenness leads to debauchery.
The Greek word translated “debauchery” is asōtia.
This Greek word describes the actions of a person who is reckless. One of the
effects of alcohol is that it interferes with our judgment and removes good,
healthy inhibitions. It causes people to act with less thought, or no thought,
about the consequences. In other words, alcohol can cause people to forget the
fear of the Lord, which normally helps to guard us against foolish, sinful,
actions.
We know that this does not mean that every time anyone
gets drunk they are going to do some reckless, foolish, harmful sin. But the
Bible is not wrong. In general, getting drunk influences people in the
direction of reckless sin. There are many examples. Some people drive drunk and
kill others. Some people become violent when drunk. Some people say hurtful
things to others. And some commit acts of sexual immorality of various kinds
which they normally would not commit while sober.
It is true that the Bible does not forbid all drinking of
alcohol, it only forbids getting drunk. How can one avoid getting drunk? The
simplest and safest way is simply not to drink at all. On the one hand, I have
friends whom I respect and love who enjoy alcohol of some kind and who choose
to drink while avoiding getting drunk. I don’t judge them. On the other hand,
in light of the widespread abuse of alcohol, the danger of causing others to
stumble, and the risk of drinking more than intended, I recommend that
Christians choose to give up their right to enjoy small amounts of alcohol.
Conclusions
We should continue to pray for a righteous Supreme Court.
We should not be surprised that getting one involves intense battles.
In my opinion, there is not enough evidence to show that
Kavanaugh is likely guilty of the crimes he has been accused of. I feel he
should be quickly confirmed.
We should show grace, patience, and love to victims of
sexual assault and abuse. God can heal them and will heal them if they choose
to walk with Him. But we should realize this is often a long and difficult
process.
False accusations are a terrible evil. We should not
tolerate those who slander others.
Drinking too much leads to making foolish decisions and
to many reckless sins which do great harm and destroy lives. The surest way to
not drink too much is to not drink at all.
Hebrews 13:16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others . . .
