I know. I know.
You don’t want to read another article promoting Newt Gingrich. After all, he is in his third marriage. He was criticizing Clinton for his dallying
with Monica Lewinsky while he himself was having an adulterous affair with a
staff member. And the draconian incident
that pounds the final nail in the coffin of Newt’s run for the presidency: horror of horrors, he served divorce papers
to his wife while she lay in a hospital bed dying of cancer.
If the previous paragraph
describes your opinion of Newt Gingrich would you please read on? Yes, Newt is in his third marriage. He is also a brilliant man who happens to be
a slow learner when it comes to family and relationships. He is now 68 years old, he tears up when he
speaks of his daughters and he appears to be happy and secure in a very stable
marriage to his wife, Callista. When he
speaks of his former wives he refuses to play the blame game like so many divorced
couples are apt to do. There appears to
be no shards of bitterness piercing his soul.
Newt Gingrich does not try to
defend the sins of his past. “On my
bleakest days (referring to his moral failures), I knew that my sin was sin.” He is not sweeping anything under the
rug. There is no blatant lie coming from
his lips such as, “I didn not have sex with that women…” He is not playing mind games with the
American public by contemplating just what the meaning of ‘is’ is. He acknowledges his sin, he confesses his spiritual
failures and he claims he has been forgiven by the only One who can grant
cleansing to his soul.
There are a couple of myths
that haunt Gingrich. The liberal press
and his Republican opponents are making hay from some twisted notions. Perhaps most harmful is the notion that
Gingrich entered the room of his former wife while she laid in a hospital bed
dying of cancer to serve her divorce papers.
This never happened. Marianne
Ginther was not dying. In fact, she is
very much alive today. Jackie Gingrich Cushman, Newt’s daughter, has come forward to vouch for her
father over this controversial issue.
Jackie states that she and her sister have a wonderfully close
relationship with both of their parents.
She describes the day she was taken by her father to Emory Hospital in
Atlanta to visit her mother who had had a benign tumor removed. It was “not considered a defining event for
any of us,” Jackie explained. Her mother
had already asked for a divorce and the daughters had already been
informed. It was a painful time in their
lives but they have all moved on. See Jackie’s explanation here.
At the risk of readers
thinking I am defending Gingrich’s past indiscretions, I am not. Gingrich has been smeared by his enemies for
condemning Bill Clinton for having an affair with Monica Lewinsky while he was
guilty of the same. While both he and
Clinton were rowing the same boat on the murky waters of immorality, Gingrich
never spoke out about the affair.
Gingrich’s criticism for Clinton was restricted to his perjuring himself
before a grand jury. Perjury is a felony
that can earn you five years in the penitentiary.
How long does a person have
to carry the baggage of his past? Some
might argue that we endure the consequences of our sin for a lifetime. Fortunately for those of us who don’t have a stellar
past, Christ forgives and forgets our transgressions. But humans haven’t the ability to
forget. We tend to ‘red letter’ people who
have transgressed. This may not be fair
if they have truly been forgiven and restored.
The difficulty is in our perception.
Forgiveness happens in an instant and most all of us are willing to
accept that. Restoration is a long and
sometimes tedious process. We can accept
that Newt Gingrich has been forgiven but has he experienced restoration? Will he fall back into his former immorality?
Would Newt Gingrich be a good
president? That is debatable. When it comes to conservative social issues
Newt has been worthy of the conservative title by voting 98.6%, 70 or 71 votes,
in favor of protecting life in the womb.
He was the leadership behind the Balanced Budget Amendment in the 1990’s
and he balanced the budget for four years while he was Speaker of the House.
After watching Newt’s
performance in the debates, no one in America, liberal or conservative is
questioning his intellectual ability.
Some would like him to win the Republican nomination just to see him on
the same stage with Barack ‘Teleprompter’ Obama in a presidential debate.
Read some of his books and
articles and listen to his interviews and realize that Gingrich has a deep
historical perspective for this country that the present occupant of the White
House totally lacks. He has a vast
amount of experience as a congressman and he knows how to get a bill
passed. He has been thoroughly vetted,
both negatively and positively. His
failures are on the table. He didn’t pay
two million dollars to hide his birth certificate nor is he hiding his
participation in academia.
Do his past moral failures
deem him incapable of being president?
When England was in its moment of deepest despair and Hitler was poised
to devour the nation a man emerged like a phoenix rising from the ashes. He was a man known for his failures. He was pegged as an unfeeling intellect,
arrogant and self-absorbed. But the
British turned to the only man who could see beyond the horizon, the only man
who had the proper perception of the danger that threatened them. Winston Churchill’s ideas were affective in
saving the British from Hitler’s war machine during World War II.
As a Christian I am much
troubled by Gingrich’s failures. But I
am also aware that all men are born in depravity and many very capable men may
be eliminated from office by an unreasonable standard imposed by fervent Christians.
Martin Luther once said, “I would rather
be governed by a competent Turk than an incompetent Christian.”
If I had a heart condition that required
open heart surgery and my life depended on the skill of the surgeon, I wouldn’t
be asking if that surgeon smoked pot in his youth, I wouldn’t be asking if he
had been faithful to his wife or if he had ever robbed a bank. I would want him to be the best and most
skilled heart surgeon available. Our
country is in a life-threatening situation.
The next five years are very crucial for the future of Americans. All of the presidential candidates have
skeletons in their closets. We have “all
sinned and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) Should past indiscretions, forgiven by the
Savior, prevent a man from serving his country?
God chose Moses to lead his children
out of Israel. Moses was a
murderer. David was perhaps the greatest
warrior-king in the history of Israel.
David was a liar, an adulterer and a murderer. The Apostle Paul had dedicated his life to
murdering Christians before he was saved and forgiven. He then committed his life to inviting others
to meet and accept the Savior he once despised.
I don’t know if Newt Gingrich would be
the best candidate for president. He has
made some terrible mistakes. A wise man
learns from his past failures. Is Newt
Gingrich a wise man?
Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.
No comments:
Post a Comment