The Wrong Compass 9-13-09
This last week a scandal broke concerning the activist group ACORN which led to the firings of a few employees and the severing of ties with at least one federal agency. The staffers involved at the Baltimore office were caught on tape advising a couple that they believed were a pimp and his prostitute on how to evade taxes, fraudulently obtain tax incentives (such as child tax credit for thirteen-year-old girls they claimed to be importing from El Salvador to work as prostitutes), and even how they could buy a home to use as the brothel. The “pimp,” an independent filmmaker in disguise, claimed in a later interview to have been trying to get the story so outlandish and shocking that the staffers would object, or even call the police. Instead, the staffers went with the story and outright encouraged what they thought was going to happen.
How could those staffers act like that? That was the question that jumped into my head when I watched the video. I did not concern myself with feeling any pity for them for having been trapped as they were; unlike ACORN, which seems to have focused on how they were victims of a “gotcha” type of journalism, these staffers (and the organization as a whole) were caught in a trap of their own making. But what brings me to the limits of credulity is that someone could hear plans to bring children to work as prostitutes and then to express encouragement instead of outrage! How could they act like that? It is simple: they are Godless.
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. (Romans 1:18-25 NIV)
Without a Godly faith, what becomes our “moral compass”? In politics we have countless examples of men and women who have surrendered their principles in order to pursue power and prestige. And how many people have “sold their souls” to make money at any cost? Some have centered their lives on ideology (such as abortion, homosexuality, and animal-rights). More than a few live only for themselves and the pursuit of their own comforts. In each of these illustrations (politics, economics, ideology, and identity) the individual’s pursuit has become corrupted and they become foolish because they have rejected God and have become Godless. That is what happened to the ACORN staffers: they put their ideology ahead of common decency because they rejected the source of that decency, which is God.
But what happens when the individual does use the only compass that points to morality, which is having a Godly faith? Politicians become statesmen, who reject lies and corruption and instead labor to steer the country back to its Godly roots. People conduct their business with honesty and fidelity. Ideology becomes centered on God rather than replacing him (and thus the individual’s positions align with God’s position on any given topic). Selfishness becomes selflessness, and the purpose of the pursuit changes from comfort to character. When a person acts in a Godly manner, hidden videos will reveal only good choices and right behavior.
If you were caught on tape, would you want the video shown? Have you ever considered who watches you more intimately than any electronic eye? Make sure you use the right compass, and you’ll never need to worry who is watching.
-Charles Peterson