Over the past couple of years I've mostly stayed away from commenting on current events focusing rather on family updates and the like. But the events this week at The King's College (TKC), where Sarah is a sophomore, have compelled me to make a few comments that I hope at least she and her friends will consider as they process the drama and scandal of their college president, Dinesh D'Souza.
In short, Dinesh D'Souza resigned this week as a result of a scandal regarding his personal life. This New York Times article (yes, I'm quoting a NYTimes article) gives a pretty succint summary of the events (D'Souza in NYT). Essentially he was engaged to a younger woman while still married to his wife whom he has filed for divorce; worse it seems, he proposed to the other woman before he filed for divorce.
This story is messy. The fall out will hopefully be minimal to the school and the students. But nonethess, when your school president's personal failings makes news in the New York Times, you need to stop and think about some of the bigger issues involved. Here are a few of the big lessons that can be learned from this big mess.
1. Christian Leaders must be above reproach.
They don't need to be perfect. But they must realize that their position of leadership requires that they conduct themselves with integrity. Especially if you are high profile and outspoken about what you believe. That includes your professional and personal conduct.
2. Actions speak louder than words.
How many times have we heard this? And how many times have we seen leaders fall short of this? But regardless of whether this is easily said and hard to live out, it is still true. We can not talk about building a better society if we are not building better families. Young adults and students want to not only learn the "right" things, they want to see them modeled.
3. Reconciliation begins with humility.
One of the oddest aspects of this story is the defense that D'Souza made on Foxnews.com to defend his reputation. Besides some of the content that he wrote, I found the timing of his defense to be disconcerting. The Board at TKC had a regularly schedule board meeting on Wednesday and Thursday of this week. Obviously this story was a big topic of their discussions. D'Souza defended his actions in public before any decisions had been made by the board. The defense did not sound very humble. Certainly he has a right to defend his reputation, but if he was truly concerned about his marriage, his school, and his students, you would have expected a more humble tone to the defense.
4. The goal of confrontation should be restoration.
I was not privy to the deliberations of the board. But it is my hope that they not only focused on the apparent damage to the reputation of the school, but also D'Souza's marriage. When scandals like this come along, Christians need to confront the sin and the sinner with the goal of restoring him to right relationship with his Lord and with the offended. It is my prayer that this happened.
5. We are either good examples or cautionary tales.
Our words and deeds impact people. Regardless of whether we are conservative or liberal, Christian or agnostic, our lives are either good examples or cautionary tales. Our kids, our neighbors, our co-workers look at the evidence of our life and learn from them. May we all strive to be good examples.
This whole story saddens and disappoints me on one level. But I also am reminded that I serve a God who delights in restoring and repairing broken people. D'Souza is not a bad guy. He has made some bad choices and there are consequences to this choices. But God is bigger than this mess. And He delights when people come to Him and ask for forgiveness.
