We Shameless Sinners (or what I have learned from the Clintons)
Hillary’s been pretty good at having one of her underlings say something outrageous and then saying that that someone doesn’t represent the Clinton campaign. No firings of course, just a sanguine apology and a backroom attaboy from the Billster. I’m imaging the end game is where a Clinton spokesman comes on the air, grim-faced: “Hillary Clinton’s comments yesterday do not reflect the Hillary campaign..” Sort of how politicians can be “personally pro-life” but vote like an abortionist.
The Clintons, of course, don’t just exhibit shamelessness but embody it the way God doesn’t just display goodness but is Goodness itself. But what’s interesting is their lack of pride, how they are never crushed by the embarrassment of, say, a semen-stained dress. They come back from it, able to deliver lines of moral righteousness with a straight face.
Christian life is all about constantly starting over, but pride can get in the way. I sometimes think that consistency is better than inconsistency even if the consistency consists of mediocrity. I dare not try to exceed, lest I give bad example. It feels “fake” to be inconsistent.
Pride it is also, for there is pride in mediocrity because no one can see you fall from such a meager height. No one is scandalized. I’d prefer a very slight grade to holiness such that overnight I don’t cease being any fun: (“Oh, you’re not gossiping, you’re not making snarky comments, you’re not…talking at all!”)
Yes I tend to prefer a slight grade so no one can notice the increase and all the falls would be slight. Part of it might be simply to avoid discouragement, for the devil whispers at every fall: “Oh, you’re really not much different than you were before your conversion!”
The Clintons have the resiliance and thick-skin. They must, at some level, know that they have done many things wrong and yet maybe they ask God for forgiveness and start the next day AS IF THEY HAD NO HISTORY of corruption! How about that impressive trust in God’s mercy? God puts our sins as far as the east is from the west and the Clintons do live in the present, expertly, with a perfect amnesia as to their past. Before Bill or Hillary critique Obama about something, they don’t self-inventory to see whether they’ve been guilty of the same thing. No, they consider today a brand new day, and they’re clean as a lick in the blood of the Lamb. They don’t live in fear of hypocrisy, despite it being the only sin modernity recognizes.
No comments:
Post a Comment