Aside from these concerns, Christians do well to remember the words of Paul: “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong†(1 Corinthians 1:27). We might recall how even the righteous Joseph balked at publicly exposing Mary when she turned up pregnant before the wedding (Matthew 1:19). We may consider Jesus’ admonition to the crowd: “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her†(John 8:7). And we might consider that it was a thief on a cross who was among the first to join Jesus in Paradise (Luke 23:40-43).
I certainly do not want to sound callous toward the victims of alcohol-related crime. But before we endorse such virtual stone-throwing on Facebook, perhaps we should all hear the Master’s call to soberly examine ourselves. Is there really not a better way to fight this cause?
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s inimitable “The Scarlet Letter†teaches readers how the weight of public stigma is often lighter than the burden of unconfessed sin. Bearing the lurid mark and prejudicial abuse of the exposed adulteress may be more tolerable than thinking about one’s own yet-undiscovered crimes and hidden, deeply shameful thoughts and desires. So there is one thing I find encouraging about this whole story. The more Dwyer and others of his persuasion succeed in exposing the shameful acts of others, the sooner we all come to realize how many of those faces belong to people just like us.
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