US Representative Anthony Weiner and Online Redemption

[James Nored]

Unless you have been in a cave, you have heard that New York US Rep. Anthony Weiner, after a week of denial, confessed in a press conference that he had sent naked pictures of himself and engaged in online sex talk with about six women. 

 

The details of this story--and the pictures--have started to come out, and they are, well, unspeakable. Why any guy would think that women would want to see these type of pictures is beyond me. Clearly, he was doing this for his own pleasure and needs some help.

 

He has, however, vowed to stay in office, which means that this story will continue on and on and on, dragging his poor pregnant wife and the rest of the nation in to story. But when an even more explicit photo of him surfaced, even some of those who had said that they hoped that he would stay in office said that with this latest picture, he had to go. 

 

Which brings me to the online world and the issue of redemption. Increasingly we are moving into a society without privacy. Partly, Facebook, blogs, Twitter, etc. has made us more comfortable with publicly sharing our lives (in appropriate ways), posting pictures of our family, writing a note on our wall about our day, our political views, our faith, our vacations, etc. Partly, our privacy is being taken from us as others write about us or post pictures of us without our permission. In many cases we may not care, but in other cases we may. Facebook has just implemented universal facial recognition technology, which will "autotag" your name to any picture that someone posts of you unless you opt out of this. This has raised all kinds of privacy concerns. Read here.

 

If we are living a good life, then perhaps we should not worry about such things. On the other hand, someone may take a picture of us that is just not very flattering and we don't want this to be posted to the world. Or let's say that someone is on a job interview with a different company and someone posts a picture of that person and autotags them. Or you invite people to a party, others post about this party, and all of a sudden, friends that you have that were not invited feel left out and hurt. There is plenty that people do that is just normal life that they don't necessarily want everyone to know about.

 

But what about things like the Weiner story? His pictures are now a permanent part of the web. If he decided to get some help and change this compulsive behavior, these pictures would never be erased. So could he ever really gain redemption?

 

We are now in a world in which much of what we do is never forgotten. What I write today I may change my mind about after further study and reflection--but my previous posts will still remain. People can throw back our words, pictures, and comments at us from any point in our lives. II think about these poor 14-25 year olds who post inane, silly, immature, or graphic thoughts and pictures of themselves online. These may come back to haunt them in job interviews, looking for a spouse, etc.

 

On the one hand, the online world ought to cause people (if they are smart) to not live a double life. On the other hand, I am concerned about what this world will do to people being able to practically receive redemption. Imagine if the apostle Paul had had someone capture digital photos of him being at the stoning of Stephen, or if someone had digital, explicit photos of David's affair with Bathsheba. Or digital photos of Moses killing the Egyptian taskmasters. Apply that to today. Could anyone with this kind of digital record ever really be able to receive redemption (not from God, but from people)? Would they not forever be held accountable for this? Would they ever be able to be a leader in the church? It seems that when there are pictures, there is no redemption. 

 

I have two friends--one who did drugs and has a felony charge. Another who did drugs and doesn't have a felony charge. The only difference is, one got caught and the other did not. The latter has served as an elder. But would he have been able to do so if there were pictures of him doing drugs out on the Internet?

 

What are your thoughts on redemption in our online world of today? How should we help our kids navigate this world?

[James Nored]

Timothy, I agree that culture does help determine reputation. Perhaps one of the reasons that there are different qualities of elders listed in 1 Timothy and Titus is that Timothy was in Ephesus, which had a more mature church, and Titus was in Crete, which was a much worse culture. So it is true that whether or not someone has "a bad reputation with outsiders" is partly dependent on the culture.

[Timothy Tien]

It depends on how you apply 1 Tim 3.  Chuck Colson got caught doing something worse than drugs (I'd include caffeine and alcohol, both in which I indulge, about 7 times and 4 times per week, respectively.  Oh, and tobacco; I've smoked about 10 cigars in my life, although I've eschewed them at the advice of my wife) and I would consider Colson qualified to be my church elder.  To me it is a question of full repentance, in the way of Zaccheus, Paul, David, Moses.  For the same reasons, I would consider Jimmy Carter unqualified to be my elder.  Reading Colson's memoirs, I see a man of humility, in desperate need of grace.  I don't get that vibe reading Carter.

 

I'd same in some churches, say an inner city church, a criminal record might not disqualify, but in other churches, say a non-diverse mega church, a criminal record would disqualify.  Reputation is partly a cultural construct.  Church members have faith, but maybe not enough faith to overlook certain pasts.

 

I'm an elder, I have no criminal record, I'm one of the minority who has never tried marijuana (okay now I am boasting), but I don't think that's my biggest qualifier for the office.  I'd highlight my business reputation, enthusiastic monogamy, relative skill with the Bible, dispassion with money, relatively 'good' and respectful children (even though selective videos of my parenting in the home would probably be as scandalous as reality TV, based on the commercials before I find the remote and change the channel), and decades of service in the church ahead of being able to avoid controlled substances.  I'm not impressed with myself, though, and would probably be even happier in a church where I was unqualified to be an elder, because my leadership was so much more capable than me.

 

And this Weiner scandal?  I feel worst for his unborn baby.  The digital artifacts will most likely persist for the rest of that child's life; and I'd hate to imagine the Orwellian future where they wouldn't be easily accessible.