The Skyliner

Issue date: 3/26/08 Section: Opinion

One of the hardest things I have faced this week was taking joy in the exposure of other people's sin. Why or how can one who claims to be a Christian rejoice in the pain of another brother or sister in Christ? (Or any person for that matter?)

In celebrity news, people get entertainment from discussing whether or not Britney Spears deserves to be a mother because of the bad choices she may have made. In political news, people get entertainment from the exposure of former President Bill Clinton's private life during his time in office. And remember in 2006 when Ted Haggard, former pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo., confessed to purchasing methamphetamine and sexual immorality?

These things should be examined but not turned into laughing matters. And these people deserve their dignity, instead of being made into a joke. I am not exempt from taking delight in other people's mishaps. I laugh every time Saturday Night Live performs a sketch on President Clinton or Ms. Spears.

I have grown up with the view that Christians are the first to condemn for wrongdoing. I have sat under sermons that shun Spears, Clinton and Haggard for their actions. I have even taken part in tearing down the reputation and holding grudges against someone I once looked up to for spiritual support that went astray in his lifestyle.

In John 8, Jesus is brought to a woman whom the scribes and Pharisees caught in the midst of adultery. They questioned Jesus about the Law and the possibility of stoning the adulterous woman for her sin.

Jesus replied, "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."

The accusers left one by one, and Jesus asked the woman if no one condemned her and told her to sin no more.

North Greenville is a small campus with a tight-knit atmosphere, so when something happens, people talk and hear some form of what was fact. If someone falls out of line, everyone seems to know something about it.

Editorials and opinions can get dirty when writers begin examining people in spotlights, but as a Christian and a journalist, I am to extend grace even in the work I do.

This past week, I found myself with a stone in my hand ready to condemn as rumor ripped through the student body. Soon after, I hung my head in shame upon realizing that I had celebrated the sin of another.

I have realized the same grace that was extended to the woman caught in adultery has been extended to me, and the same grace that I have received, I should extend to others.

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