Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."   ... Luke 5:31,32

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A sweet blogging friend of mine wrote a post about Tiger Woods, how she felt we have swept his behavior/indiscretions/sins (whatever you choose to call them) too quickly under the rug. 

I'm not certain she'd want me to link to her original post, but the Tiger Woods situation is something I've wanted to blog about for some time, so I thought I'd simply share here my comments to her post. (I'm sure some of you are just dying to know how I feel about Tiger's behavior/indiscretions/sins--ha! 

As if. But here are my feelings, anyway)---

"What comes to mind is when the woman caught in adultery was brought to Jesus and everyone stood around her with rocks in their hot little hands waiting to kill her. Jesus said, basically, "Only the perfect people can throw first." When they all walked away, He forgave the woman and told her to go and sin no more.

As I see it, Tiger is sorry, he's getting counseling and help and he's wanting to make changes. I see that as a positive thing. It's not like he's telling the world he did nothing wrong and will continue to live as he has.

I don't think Jesus would want us to have a 'three strikes and you're out forever' attitude. He told Peter to forgive 70 times 7--and that's a whole lot of times to extend forgiveness, indeed.

The Bible says that God loves to show mercy. I used to have a problem with that verse because I liked to make people pay for what they did(!)

But right there is a major reason that God sent Jesus--to pay for our sins, Himself. And who am I to go around and be unmerciful, leading others to see God that way since I (am supposed to) represent Him? It's not up to me to play Holy Ghost Jr., making-up new standards and rules and hoops for people to jump through, though I sure used to love to try. 

Just a few thoughts-- some which I've learned the hard way over the years. But this merciful way of living brings me ever so much more joy--and humility. "

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My friend then wrote that she agreed with what I said, but her concern was that this upcoming generation would get the idea from the media that 'boys will be boys', etc. And of course, that's possible, but this is what I told her I've seen has happened:


"I think we've read different headlines, though. heh. Man oh man, the headlines I've seen have been extremely unmerciful, as if those journalists are as pure as the driven snow. :) I've read and watched terrible, unforgiving articles/news reports where reporters complained that Tiger wasn't answering enough questions (questions, which personally, I don't think were any of their business). I watched his first news conference and thought he said enough, because really, some things are none of our business. (Frankly, you'd never catch me giving a news conference if I committed adultery!). 

But immediately afterward, flipping from channel to channel, all I heard were bloodthirsty remarks about how Tiger didn't say enough, didn't sound sorry enough, didn't wimper enough, hadn't paid for his sins enough.

And frankly? It all made Tom and me sick. Sicker than Tiger's sins, even. The whole 'pack of wolves' mentality upset me and I almost wrote about it in my blog, but my emotions were too high and God would rather (I think) have me wait until they stopped boiling and bubbling so I could sound, well, rational. 

Maybe you watched different tv channels. But really, I heard from plenty of people in all forms of news that Tiger should just pack up his golf clubs for forever or until *they felt* he'd sufficiently paid for his sins according to their time table.

Me? I've been praying that this will bring to Tiger a very real sense of his need of Jesus, the forgiver of our sins and the one who can make us strong enough to say no to temptation--and the very lover of our souls. And I'm now waiting in faith, watching in anticipation to see if those prayers will come true."



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Again, this is how I see it, you know, rather like the title of my blog. ツ


“The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy. The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works.” Psalm 145:8-9.

(If we have can't stand verses like that one? Well, we have a problem.)


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Here's my post about how some things are none of my business. It goes along with this one, I believe.


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