"What is truth?"
The query of Pontius Pilate to Jesus could just as easily be asked today. Truth seems to flitter and fluctuate like the "guaranteed lowest price" at the marketplace in the little Mexican town across the border from us. Indeed, the art of shaping "truth" is, in some places, not unlike the remolding of soft clay. If it doesn't produce the desired result, just ball it up and reshape it into something different.
David, the king of ancient Israel, was pondering the spiritual heart condition necessary to fully enjoy intimacy with God. His short list of requirements included "He swears to his own hurt and does not change." (Psalm 15:4 New American Standard Bible)
It strikes me that the Americans detained in Haiti today are consistently telling their story. Two elements of it have been repeated multiple times: "We were just trying to help," and "We now know that we didn't file the appropriate papers in Haiti."
They have "sworn" to their own hurt that they made a mistake. But were they attempting to traffic children or set up adoptions for sale? Their statements about that haven't changed.
For the three men I know, they won't. Such activity would be entirely inconsistent with the way they live their lives.
6 comments:
Great post, Dad. Thanks.
I have just now read your last two posts. Thank you for your insider information. Our news media is often so eager to get a story out before they have all of the facts, that it's hard to know what to believe. I will be praying for your family and the whole group. We can be confident that God is with them.
What's your take on the New York Times report that the bulk of the detained missionaries claim they had been "misled by Laura Silsby"?
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/08/world/americas/08haiti.html
I don't have a "take." I read the article to which you referred. I saw the video report about a note that was passed to an nbc reporter over the weekend. That's the most that I know.
I can tell you that my nephews, Paul and Silas Thompson plus Drew Culberth, are men who would speak the truth to their own hurt. I can also tell you that they didn't actually meet Ms. Silsby until they were in Miami on the way to the Dominican. Paul, who is a pastor, did something pastors sometimes do: he went on the recommendation of a pastor friend of his. He wanted to help in Haiti, this need was presented, he contacted the other four men and they went.
Pastor, I believe you. I have family of my own, and to think of them as being taken in by others with less than pure intentions is hurtful to me as well.
Have you managed to stay in touch with them, at least through intermediaries?
The U.S. Department of State has been very helpful to send messages to the family about their current circumstances.
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