The political Left seems determined to cast doubt on Sarah Palin as a strong vice presidential candidate, but in the process it may be learning something about the heart of biblical Christianity.
When it first became widely known that Gov. Palin’s daughter Bristol was pregnant out of wedlock, commentators on the Left – some with palpable excitement – began to wonder whether this would dampen the roar of enthusiasm with which social conservatives greeted Palin’s candidacy. After all, don’t evangelicals oppose the idea of sex apart from marriage?
But that hope on the Left is dying quickly, given the continuing support of Palin by Dr. James Dobson and other evangelical leaders. The fact is that Christianity means more than simply avoiding the wrong, because in this life none of us can accomplish that. It means repenting of the wrong and then making it right, thereby encouraging the wronged parties to forgive.
We don’t know the dynamics inside the Palin family, but it seems these principles are in play. The baby will be born rather than aborted quietly, and the young parents, at least at this point, intend to marry. Repentance seems to be embedded into this set of circumstances, and forgiveness from the family seems evident in the public statements that followed the news of the situation.
I took several phone calls from reporters seeking an explanation for all of this, but not nearly as many as I did last year when Dr. Dobson interviewed Newt Gingrich about his own marriage failure. At the time, Gingrich was eyeing a run for the presidency, but there was a stain on his personal life.
That on-air conversation with Dr. Dobson made it evident that Gingrich was repentant and had been forgiven. I explained to the reporters who called that Gingrich seems to have done all he could to right his wrong, and that is why so many Christians were sticking with him. For some reporters, this was a facet of Christianity they did not understand.
Likewise, when Sen. John McCain bluntly admitted to Pastor Rick Warren recently that his greatest failure was the failure of his first marriage, his own repentance seemed evident and this helped him.
Slowly, through the moral failures of public people, the news media and the secular Left seem to be realizing that Christianity is rooted in forgiveness, and about Jesus’ work on the cross, and that there is more to the faith than simply “Thou shalt not.”
