Scandal and the New Media – How Should Christians Respond?

By Jay Rogers

(Originally posted on http://www.forrunner.com on November 11, 2010. Note: This article is not copyrighted and may be reproduced in any form without permission.)

I got an email recently notifying me of an advertisement that U.S. Representative Bob Barr (R-GA) is appearing as a speaker on the Cruise for Liberty in January along with a couple of Christian authors whose work has greatly influenced me. The problem is that Barr, a former Libertarian candidate for president, brings a new meaning to the slogan, “Cruise for Liberty.”

Controversies over Bob Barr’s personal conduct

In 1999, during Clinton’s impeachment trial, Hustler publisher Larry Flynt offered money to anyone who could provide evidence that a prominent Republican had engaged in an extramarital affair. According to the American Journalism Review investigators for Flynt said that Barr was “guilty of king-size hypocrisy.” According to a sworn affidavit by Barr’s ex-wife Gail: Barr (a longtime outspoken opponent of abortion) had acquiesced to and paid for the termination of his then-wife’s pregnancy in 1983. In accordance with his public offer: Flynt subsequently paid a sum of money to Gail Barr after she had made her sworn affidavit. Barr never publicly disputed the contents of his ex-wife’s affidavit. Investigators also reported that Barr invoked a legal privilege during his 1985 divorce proceeding, so he could refuse to answer questions on whether he’d cheated on his second wife with the woman who is now his third.

In the early 1990s, Barr was photographed at a fundraising event licking whipped cream off of a woman. According to the Washington Post, “Two people who observed the act say it wasn’t exactly a bosom lick but more like a neckline lick, at the sort of event where business and civic leaders perform dares to raise money. ‘Not exactly Mr. Effusive’, says Matt Towery, the former chairman of Newt Gingrich’s political organization, who observed the brief and awkward licking. ‘You can hardly get the guy to smile.’”

I realize that conference speakers sometimes have to appear on a platform with people who they don’t agree with. However, this is billed as a Christian event with speakers who supposedly uphold God’s Word as a blueprint for liberty. It’s ironic that they feature Bob Barr, a man who is on his third wife and was accused by his second wife of having committed adultery and having paid for an abortion.

Or am I just being a busybody? Am I participating in scandal-mongering by posting this? Even if I knew nothing about the abortion and adultery allegations, it would still irk me that a man on his third wife is lecturing Christians about liberty.

The epistemologist (one who studies belief systems) should understand how compromise works to hijack our worldview. We end up allowing the worst demons of our own depravity to share a platform with the angels of our better nature. We wink at a little indiscretion from time to time due the excuse that we are “all sinners saved by grace.” We slowly allow this to turn slowly into an egregious violation of God’s moral law. In this case, the other conference speakers are winking at an allegation of adultery and murder through abortion. I don’t know if the allegations are true, but I also don’t see where other Christian speakers have addressed the propriety of appearing alongside this man.

To be completely fair, I should address that fact that the “dirt” on Barr was uncovered by Larry Flynt, a pornographer with an open political agenda, during the Bill Clinton impeachment hearings. However, it appears that the allegations were substantial and had enough traction to make it into the mainstream press. Here is an interesting article from the American Journalism Review that discusses the propriety of the “main stream media” exposing the Bob Barr scandal. It also discusses the role of the Internet as the driving force behind the “new media.”

The conclusion I have drawn after 15 years of administrating Forerunner.com is that the Internet is no different than a newspaper press except that it requires no money or training to publish. Therefore, scandal in the new media is so common that most take it with a grain of salt. The downside of this is that nothing is shocking anymore. If scandalous behavior becomes Internet “news” or is already part of public record for those who will connect the dots, then we are repeating what may already be found elsewhere. We should realize that allowing others to read public record and draw their own conclusions cannot be avoided. Most of the time people are commenting on what has already been commented on a thousand times before – Mel Gibson, Tiger Woods, Bob Barr, and so on – even before a civil suit can be written or jury can render a verdict. For better or for worse, the new media is the police, judge, jury and executioner of human character.

For many years, people found it acceptable for journalists to blow the lid off political and private life scandals if the story made it through the rigorous grid of ethical procedural journalism. This was their job. They knew best. Or did they? Now with the Internet, anyone may by pass through this ethical grid with no rigor. As Christians, we are dealing with a new species of animal with the ability to reach thousands at our fingertips in a few microseconds.

The ethics of doing so needs to be examined, but we’ve passed into a time when the genie is out of the bottle. By the time of the Cruise for Liberty in January, many of the attendees will know all about Bob Barr due to the Internet and they will have drawn their own conclusions.

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Jay Rogers is the Founder of The Forerunner International (a/k/a Media House International) and has been writing since the 1980’s. Jay has also acted as script writer and associate producer for several Christian videos, including The Real Jesus and God’s Law and Society. He has a heart for Missions, is a fierce pro-life advocate and activist, and is currently the Director of The Forerunner – http://www.forerunner.com . He and his lovely wife Kalia now live in Kissimmee, Florida.

The Ministry of Prayer and the Reformed Church

So many conferences, so little time. Conferences for pastors and leaders in the church abound every year, and it seems as if the Reformed camp is the most enthusiastic about gathering in large groups to discuss theology, history, and any number of church practices. Not to mention the great times fellowshipping with like-minded people, catching up on each other’s families, showing off baby pictures, graduation pictures and the like..

But this article by Tim Challies really caught my attention, and I knew I needed to repost it.

Challies calls attention to something I think may be overlooked a lot simply BECAUSE the Reformed camp is so male centered – Prayer. (Ouch!) So, you male leaders of the Church, suck in your breath and start reading… and start praying (if you haven’t already been doing it).

“This isn’t an easy ministry. Nor is it a visible one; nor is it one whose results are easily seen. And yet they are committed to it. It’s all kinds of awesome.” ~~ Tim Challies on the ministry of Prayer

LINK: Notes from True Woman – Prayer Warriors

“Health” Abortion Kills Two Instead of One – A Look Into One Tiller Abortion and How It Effected A Woman’s Life… Forever.

It is said by many pro-lifers that when a woman gets an abortion, two walk into the clinic, but only one comes out alive.

In January of 2005, an ambulance was called to one of George Tiller’s clinics. The body of a 19 year old down syndrome woman was taken by that ambulance to a local hospital, but it was too late. She was dead before she ever left Tiller’s clinic. (Please! No Sirens! was the plea of the clinic worker calling for an ambulance… those kinds of things draw too much attention, don’t they?)

The clinic apparently showed considerable negligence when contacting EMS, claiming the patient was not in any serious, life-threatening danger, when in fact she had already gone into septic shock and was well on her way to death’s door… she was in cardiac arrest and the person trying to revive her was performing CPR on a clinically dead patient.

Christin Gilbert is just one example of a women who went into an abortion clinic for an “elective” abortion who was irreversibly harmed by the abortion she “chose”. One must note that Miss Gilbert, although 19 years old and considered an adult, had down syndrome and was considered incompetent and so her parents made the decision to abort her child. Unfortunately for the child, it was the product of a sexual assault. I’m sure the parents reasoned that the child’s birth would have been too traumatic for their daughter.

One must also make a note (and highlight it in very florescent yellow ink) that in order to do a late-term abortion as Tiller was once able to legally perform until the Supreme Court upheld a federal ban on them, the parents (or husband, friend, or other caretaker) are charged with the care of the individual (NOT a medical professional) in a hotel room for the entire three day abortion process, with the exception of the short period of time the patient is actually undergoing the direct “medical” procedures, such as the injection of a lethal substance into the heart of the pre-born “fetus”, premature dilation of the cervix, and labor induction.

The facts in Christin’s case show the flimsy logic of many pro-abortion proponents who argue that abortion should be allowed at any stage for the “health of the mother”, claiming that if a woman’s health is at stake, she should be able to get an abortion, even if the fetus is at a viable stage. This abortion was stamped big as day with an okay for health reasons. Perhaps Christin’s loss is an acceptable one for them, but I doubt her poor parents felt the same way once it was all over.

Christin was healthy and had no other disorders or health issues other than being a down syndrome person. She was not in any immediate danger because of her pregnancy. The child’s DNA was not tested to determine whether it would also have Down Syndrome… but even if it were tested, is a person’s value based on whether or not they have Down Syndrome? Was Christin less valuable because of her condition? And WHY was this not NATIONAL NEWS considering the charges that have been leveled at Tiller and his clinics?

Read more about the details of this case at REAL CHOICE.

This incident gives new meaning to the term assigned to George Tiller by many pro-life workers… Tiller the Killer, and for this case especially, that unsavory moniker rings so very true.