Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
The sharpened steel in the majestic, lyrical rolling thunder of the King James Bible gives out a clear warning to us all when we feel tempted to rush to judgement on the conduct of others. So when a man broadcasts the contents of his pleas to God who are we to comment upon the degree of his sincerity?
But words are easy. Action, surely, is a more acceptable currency.
Newt Gingrich has gone public with his own inner turmoil.
Newt Gingrich, who is expected to run for President tells The Brody File that he “felt compelled to seek God’s forgiveness” over his past marital infidelity. And now that he’s at the grandfather stage he is “truly enjoying the depths of my life in ways that I never dreamed it was possible.”
In the end, the presidency is different than any other job. You’re looking for somebody who is going to lead the nation. You’re looking for somebody who should be, ideally, the unifier of the nation. And, you’re looking to somebody to whom you’re going to loan enormous power for four years.
Way back in the early 1960s a leading UK Conservative Cabinet minister, John Profumo, was caught up in a prostitute scandal. He immediately resigned, left politics and spent the rest of his life working for an obscure charity helping the poor and the homeless.
Following his exit from politics, Profumo dedicated himself to charity work in the East End of London, and was awarded the CBE in 1975…..
This morning, the former Tory minister and journalist Bill Deedes, a friend of Profumo, told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: “He atoned for his mistakes and I think will, on death, receive his reward for that.”
“The fact is what he did, and continued to do until quite recently, was a very long stint of social work for the poor of east London, and if that isn’t considered to be sufficient atonement for the mistake he made, then there is no such thing as forgiveness,” he said.
Two men who repented but with very different concepts of redemption
Which one would you trust?
