As a very keen ex Ironman Triathlete and Cyclist I have watched with deepening sadness the demise of a hero, Lance Armstrong.
I have bought his books, followed his training programmes, read avidly Cycling weekly, and spent hours every July watching him demolish his rivals in 7 Tour De France victories.
No-one other than his family and Cancer Community could be sadder at his demise, he was a Hero for me. I even have a Trek bike rusting in the garage in Lance colours.
Yesterday I watched with deep sadness his partial confession to Oprah Winfrey.
For two hours he deflected, avoided, and followed the brief his lawyer had given him.
Was this a confession? Here is my analysis and theological musings on it.
Was what we watched a Confession I don't think so, but the problem is it takes deep integrity to make a full confession and this can only come with the Help of the Holy Spirit who truly searches our hearts. In my view what we watched was a well orchestrated damage limitation exercise by Armstrong and his legal team.
However confession is a very funny thing as usually when it gets to this stage character is so pathologically flawed the lie is so habitual, that the truth and reality are hidden and shrouded in the self deception. I would say that he needs to go into long term therapeutic counselling if ever he is to move on. Secondly, a part of the theological and Biblical perspective of repentance is the act of restitution. See Luke 19 and the story of Zaccheus. Restitution is a vital part of the process as he will never experience acting justly and being justified until he has paid back the money, made the apologies and experienced the weight of his sin.... The act of restitution is a community act, vital to demonstrating and acknowledging the wrong that has been done. It is wrongly called punishment, it is merely putting right the things he has done. Thirdly, expulsion is also a part of the restoration process, (hence why Christ was crucified outside Jerusalem, he was not only punished in our place but he was excluded from community for our sins) Instinctive to humanity is the putting out of those who have done wrong from society. For Armstrong to be restored a period of exclusion is needed for him and the community to take time to observe the consequences of his actions and for him to realise, if he is to be a part of the community he must play by the community rules. In the act of expulsion it is the community who brings him back and not he who demands his place. Lastly our post modern culture tells us not to exclude, not to judge, and here is where we are struggling. Statements such as "there but for the grace of God go I" and "we are all flawed" are what you hear people saying, we have language for this in Christianity, For all have sinned, and fall short of the Glory of God... Romans 3:23 ... This is because latent in our culture we have the concept (narrative) of Grace. The problem with Grace is, it goes beyond what is perceived as just. It looks like guilty people get off scot free and is totally undeserved. Its not free.... the one sinned against (cycling community, sponsors, cancer sufferers, tour de France, the list is endless) has to pay because the person cannot redeem themselves, they are in too big a hole and their only life line is to be rescued by others. As Christians this is how we see our state in relation to God, we cannot make ourselves right with God, our imperfections run too deep. So the only answer is this, the one sinned against pays the price for our forgiveness, that he is punished, he is expelled, he restores the wrong doing, So back to Armstrong at sometime if he does ever repent and restores things I think grace will have to rescue him. Will that mean racing professionally probably no. Will he bare his scars for ever, yes... can the community have him back especially the cancer community I hope so... It's not about the Bike it's all about character.
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