Purge

In 1st Peter 4, the writer is teaching on living according to the will of God, "in the Spirit," as verse 6
suggests. The next three verses say:
7 But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers.
8 And above all things have fervent love for one another, for "love will cover a multitude of sins."
9 Be hospitable to one another without grumbling.

The Bible offers tremendous perspective on sin and its effects on our lives - and in Proverbs, we are cautioned not to hide our sins.  But, the love of God can enable us to experience forgiveness for our sins, which releases a right relationship with Him and with other people.  Once we repent, as we confess our sins and ask forgiveness, we can be confident that He will cast our sins from the east to the west - bring total and complete healing. But, we must be willing to acknowledge what we have done, allowing God to do His work.

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There is wisdom for us today in the 28th chapter of Proverbs, where we read this:
13 He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.
14 Happy is the man who is always reverent, But he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity.

It was certainly an electric day in Atlanta on Sunday - one of the legendary Braves heroes, Chipper Jones was being inducted into the Hall of Fame; meanwhile, the home team was trying to halt a four-game losing streak against one of another of Major League Baseball's powers, the L.A. Dodgers.

On the mound for the Braves, the young pitcher Sean Newcomb.  Through eight innings, he had not allowed a hit.  With two out in the ninth, the Dodgers got their first hit. Still an amazing performance, but I'm sure there was disappointment in the end, missing ever-so-slightly the first no-hitter for the Braves since before Chipper joined the club.

But, then, instances from Newcomb's Twitter feed in which he used gay and racial slurs emerged, as if timed to coincide with a major accomplishment.  Also that day, Trae Turner of the Washington Nationals experienced a similar revelation.  This comes days after Josh Hader of the Brewers had tweets exposed.  You may remember around the time of the NFL Draft, one of the highly-rated quarterbacks, Josh Allen, had online material exposed.

According to Bleacher Report:

"This is something that obviously can't be happening," Newcomb said, per Kelsey Wingert of Fox Sports South. "I feel bad about it. I don't mean to offend anybody. I definitely regret it."

Newcomb wasted no time addressing the old tweets and explained his decision to discuss them in the immediate aftermath of Sunday's contest.

"I felt that it would be good to address it right away and just let people know that I meant nothing by it," he said, per Wingert. "I didn't mean to offend anybody and I'll make sure it doesn't happen again. I'll be smarter."

The story included a statement from the Braves, in which the team said Sean "is taking full responsibility."  The team also put the notion of youthful indiscretion to rest, saying that even though he was 18 or 19, "it doesn't make them any less tolerable," and that they would work with Sean "towards mending the wounds of the community."

The revelation of offensive tweets has become a trend in Hollywood, too.  A recent story on the Variety.com website stated:

In wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, Hollywood’s zero tolerance mentality has started applying to offensive statements as well. Gunn’s controversial firing came shortly after Amy Powell was ousted as head of Paramount TV for allegedly making “racially charged” remarks about African-American women. Weeks earlier, ABC canceled its revival of “Roseanne” when series star Roseanne Barr tweeted racist comments about former White House adviser Valerie Jarrett.

It also referred to the firing of James Gunn from directing the next Guardians of the Galaxy movie due to his tweeting activity:

Gunn has since apologized for his tweets and said he understands the business decisions involved with his firing.

“My words of nearly a decade ago were, at the time, totally failed and unfortunate efforts to be provocative,” Gunn said. “I have regretted them for many years since — not just because they were stupid, not at all funny, wildly insensitive, and certainly not provocative like I had hoped, but also because they don’t reflect the person I am today or have been for some time.”

The lede of the Variety story centered on Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson's announcement that he had deleted some 20,000 of his past tweets.

And, just days ago, cast members set to be part of the new Guardians film issued a statement of support for Gunn, according to the Hollywood Reporter:

"We fully support James Gunn. We were all shocked by his abrupt firing last week and have intentionally waited these ten days to respond in order to think, pray, listen, and discuss," began the letter, signed by Pratt, Bradley Cooper, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Michael Rooker, Sean Gunn and Pom Klementieff. "In that time we have been encouraged by the outpouring of support from fans and members of the media who wish to see James reinstated as director of Volume 3, as well as discouraged by those who were so easily duped into believing the many outlandish conspiracy theories around him."

As the story pointed out, the tweets dealt with pedophilia and rape.  The story said:

In announcing Gunn's firing on July 20, Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn said, "The offensive attitudes and statements discovered on James' Twitter feed are indefensible and inconsistent with our studio's values, and we have severed our business relationship with him."

So, despite the evidence and Gunn's admission of wrongdoing, the Guardians stars doubled down:

"There is little due process in the court of public opinion. James is likely not the last good person to be put on trial. Given the growing political divide in this country, it's safe to say instances like this will continue, although we hope American from across the political spectrum can ease up on the character assassinations and stop weaponizing mob mentality."

One of the stars, Chris Pratt, who has been known for Christian statements in the past, posted the statement on Instagram saying he didn't support the tweets, but felt Gunn was a "good man."  He had also tweeted out James 1:19 recently about being quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry - not sure about the context there.

Coming up on The Meeting House, I will feature a conversation with Tim Winter of the Parents' Television Council about the responsibility of studios to be consistent - basically, if you're going to take action against people because of their tweets (as should be done), then you should take action against offensive content that is proceeding from your studios.  And, as he will point out, Disney is one of the main offenders.

There are a number of principles we can consider:

Indiscretions of the past can affect the future - sins can be revealed, and the brokenness resulting from sin affects the way we behave in the present.  We can turn to God, who is able to forgive our past sins and to bring restoration to our hearts.

Also, in the present, we can think about how we can take steps to refrain from statements or actions that can come back to haunt us in the future.  Our reputation and character are shaped by the words we speak and how we behave.  We can make sure that we are attempting to reflect the nature of Christ through our interactions.

For instance, we should take steps on social media to be disciplined in what we post.  In a blog post, Jim Daly of Focus on the Family related this about a previous Meeting House guest:

Dr. Emerson Eggerichs did a study about effective communication and concluded that there are four components, like legs on a table.  If one of the four is missing, your communication will be poor.

Before you hit Send, ask, “Is my statement…”

True?

Kind?

Necessary?

Clear?

And, we may have to take some steps to purge our past - offensive material, if there is any, may not be able to be permanently removed. Nor can the lasting effect of offensive action. That's something good to keep in mind.  We can go to God and confess our sins, and there may be occasion to take steps to make things right in a relationship.  If we want to be totally free from the past, we can rely on the Holy Spirit to walk us back through our errors, exercise true repentance, and learn from our lapses.