Why did he come forward with this information? Because someone tried to extort $2 million from him, threatening to go public with proof of the affair by writing a screenplay and a book about Letterman unless he was given money. Letterman ended up writing him a phony check, which inevitably led to the arrest of the would-be extortionist.
Letterman, who just six months ago married his longtime girlfriend Regina Laso, confessed the affair to his 'Late Night' audience, mixing in jokes while telling the story. Author Peter Barnes, in an article titled "What! Me? A Sinner?" wrote,
In twentieth century England, C. S. Lewis noted that, "The barrier I have met is the almost total absence from the minds of my audience any sense of sin." And in 2001, New Testament scholar D. A. Carson commented that the most frustrating aspect of doing evangelism in universities is the fact that students generally have no idea of sin. "They know how to sin well enough, but they have no idea of what constitutes sin."
Respected Christian author Jerry Bridges, who included this quote in his book Respectable Sins, went on to say, "The whole idea of sin has virtually disappeared from our culture. Unfortunately, the idea of sin is all but disappearing from many churches as well."
Bridges' book is designed to impress upon believers that there are, of course, no true "respectable" sins. Attitudinal sins like unrighteous anger, impatience, selfishness, pride, etc., tend to become acceptable to us over time, unless we conscientiously allow God's Word and His Holy Spirit to tenderize our hearts on a consistent basis.
I'm so glad that seventy-plus women in our church are undertaking a study of this immensely helpful, Scripture-saturated book. Only as we refuse to make excuses for our sin and instead apply the Gospel in all its fullness to our failures - for both forgiveness and victory - will we be able to show the world what it's so desperately missing: a relationship with and salvation through Jesus Christ.
And that's no joke.
Great article, Matt! Our Women's Sunday School class is studying Jerry Bridge's book also.
ReplyDeleteThank-you Matt for highlighting this very important issue.
ReplyDeleteIn Bridges' book, "The Pursuit of Holiness," speaking on holiness in body he says, "20th century Christians, especially those in the Western world, have generally been found wanting in the area of holiness of body. Gluttony and laziness, for example, were regarded by earlier Christians as sin. Today we may look on these as weaknesses of the will but certainly not sin. We even joke about our overeating and other indulgences instead of crying out to God in confession and repentance." It appears we have forgotten that every sin is an indefensible transgression against God's holiness.
Arthur Pink says, "The "god" which the vast majority of professing Christians "love" is looked upon very much like an indulgent old man, who himself has no relish for folly, but leniently winks at the "indiscretions" of youth. But the Word says, 'Thou hatest all workers of iniquity' (Ps. 5:5). And, 'God is angry with the wicked every day' (Ps. 7:11). But men refuse to believe in this God, and gnash their teeth when His hatred of sin is faithfully pressed upon their attention."
So why is it like this?
Because "certain persons have crept in unnoticed." Our churches are filled with false teachers who refuse to emphasize the utter sinfulness of ALL sin and the total inability of man to do anything about his own salvation.
The boldness with which we are commanded to assault error and warn of sin is very much in short supply and the church is suffering because of it. Meanwhile, the lack of this boldness is what empowers people like Letterman to make light of sin while the audience laughs and applauds.
But God is not laughing.