Define Outrage

“It’s an outrage!”

“What?  We’re out of coffee at the office again?”

“No!  I mean Bristol!”

“What about Bristol?”

“It’s an outrage!”

“The only outrage about Bristol I can think of would be if NASCAR moves one of its race dates to another track.  Which will never happen if Brian France values his existence on this planet.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Bristol Motor Speedway.  Fastest half-mile track there is.  Rock ‘em sock ‘em slam bang stock car action.  What are you talking about?”

“Bristol Palin!”

“And the teenage daughter of Alaska’s governor is of such personal importance she has entered your conversation why?”

“Haven’t you heard?”

“Apparently not.”

“She broke up with her boyfriend!”

“Well, that should ensure a fifteen hundred point gain on the Dow Jones tomorrow morning and a five percent drop in unemployment by the afternoon.  What possible impact could the love life of a teenager who’s no kin of yours or mine have on your or my existence to where it’s of any concern?”

“It’s sheer hypocrisy!”

“What, her daring to lay waste the truism that teen romances always last forever as the dewy-eyed couple lives happily ever after?”

“No!  You of all people should see what I’m talking about!”

“It’s too late in the evening for coffee and I’m a bit on the tired side.  Enlighten me.”

“Sarah Palin’s the one who ran for national office as Little Miss Holier Than Thou…”

“Gee, I must have missed those moments during her campaign speeches where she claimed personal moral superiority over Barack Obama and/or Joe Biden.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about!  Here she is, supposedly some conservative super-Christian…”

“Must be nice being God.”

“Huh?”

“He’s the only one that genuinely knows what’s in a person’s heart.  Besides, what evidence is there of her contradicting the beliefs she professes to hold?”

“Whatever.  Anyway, here she is talking about Jesus this and Jesus that, abstinence this and self-control that, and she can’t even control her own family!”

“You’re right.  A confession of faith should automatically mean you’ll have Stepford children.  Which if it were the case would mean you’d be screaming bloody murder about not letting kids ‘express’ themselves.”

“But the girl got pregnant!”

“Hmm.  Meaning she’s a teenager who had sex.  Now there’s something new.”

“If her parents were these high and mighty religious people they claim to be she wouldn’t have done that!”

“Right.  By that logic Franky Schaeffer wouldn’t be writing for the Huffington Post.  Didn’t see any Palin bashers having a problem with that.  But I digress.  Look, Bristol made a mistake.  A bad one.  One she’s going to live with for the rest of her life.”

“Which shows…”

“Which shows her parents raised her right.”

“And how is that, preacher man?”

“She accepted the consequence of her action.  When her classmates were picking out who’d be pinning a corsage on them she’d be pinning diapers on her baby.  She could have taken the coward’s road and aborted the child so she could get back to the party.  Certainly would have made things much easier for Mom’s political career.  Instead, she stood up and took the hit.  As did her mother, I might add.  There’s no dishonoring of anyone’s faith here.”

“But…”

“But what?  Think about this for a moment.  Every believer who has the slightest understanding of what they believe knows there are two elements to sin: penalty and consequence.  The penalty of sin is death.  Jesus paid the penalty when He died for us on the cross.  He sacrificed Himself so there would be a way for us to receive forgiveness for our sins.  However, while the penalty of sin can be forgiven through God’s grace if we seek it, the consequence of sin doesn’t magically disappear.  Here’s an example.  Someone can drink themselves half to death, along the way injuring themselves physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.  While they’re doing this they’re also doing the same thing to their family, loved ones and friends.  Now, this person sees the Light and accepts Christ as their Savior.  Does that mean they’re forgiven for what they’ve done?  Yes.  Does it mean they get a new liver?  No.  Does it mean everything’s immediately okey-dokey between them and the people they’ve hurt?  No, although they now have a place from where they can begin repairing the damage.”

“But…”

“Again, but what?  What did Jesus tell the crowd who wanted to stone a woman to death they caught committing adultery, which by the way was entirely within their right under the Law of Moses?  ‘If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.’  Now, what did he tell her after the crowd left?  ‘Go now and leave your life of sin.’  There’s no free ride here.”

“But how can you expect anyone to accept someone as a leader whose family does this kind of thing?”

“Indulge me for a minute while I spin a hypothetical story.  Suppose one evening President Obama sees the wife of a top member of the military.  Now, she’s hot.  Hotter than hot.  His libido immediately kicks into overdrive.  He makes his move.  It works.  They start laying pipe.  Oops, she’s late.  Abortion isn’t an option.  Baby’s on the way.

“Now, while all this has been going on the woman’s husband has been fighting in Afghanistan.  Big problem.  How will Obama and the woman cover their tracks?  He comes up with a plan.  Calls him back to the States, tells him he needs to take a breather and spend some time with the wife.  A little wine, a little romance, all that.  He says can’t do it; not while my men are risking their lives every day on the front lines.  So much for that.

“Obama says fine.  Sends him back to Afghanistan and also sends orders that will deliberately put him in the line of fire.  Being a good soldier, he follows the orders and gets killed in action.  Obama immediately swoops in to, um, ‘comfort’ the grieving widow — for the sake of this illustration, assume that either polygamy is legal or Michelle ran away with the pool boy — and marries her.  Then the whole thing comes out in public.  The New York Times will probably miss it, but that’s another story.

“Next, here comes the baby.  He’s got issues.  The doctors don’t know if he’ll make it.  Obama is beside himself, begging God to spare the child.  Doesn’t work.  The baby dies.  Obama reacts by… getting up and going to work as if nothing has happened.  When asked why, he says there’s nothing he can do about what’s happened, so might as well get on with it.  What would you think of him after all that?”

“Um…”

“Precisely.  Now, this is what happened to the letter with King David.  What did God call him afterwards?”

“Scum of the earth?”

“No.  A man after His own heart.”

“So what’s your point?”

“If God is willing to forgive something so egregious as what David did — not erase the consequences, mind you, but forgive the penalty — why are people piling on a teenage girl and her mother?”