Hume's Solution To Tiger's Sin

Chief Fox Washington News analyst, Brit Hume will go down in history as one the most courageous Christian newscasters ever to grace the airwaves.

On Fox New Sunday, January 3rd he spoke about Tiger Woods’ possible recovery. "Tiger woods will recover as a golfer. Whether he can recover as a person is a very open question … I think he’s lost his family. It’s not clear to me whether he’ll have a relationship with his children but the Tiger Woods which emerges once the news value dies out of this scandal, the extent to which he can recover depends on his faith. He’s said to be a Bhuddist. I don’t that faith offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offered by the Christian faith. So my message to Tiger would be … turn to the Christian faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world."

Hume reported that a flood of commendations came from fellow believers matched by disgust from detractors saying Hume had no business counseling Woods from a religious perspective much less from Christian doctrine.

Not backing down, on Monday night’s O’Reilly Factor, program host, Bill drew out a further recap and update from guest, Brit Hume. His personal coverage of the Tiger’s scandal and recommended possible recovery will stand as a profile in Christian courage and a reflection of biblical teaching on redemption. Hear it …

"Tiger Woods is somebody I’ve always rooted for as a golfer and as a man. I’ve greatly admired him over the years and I always said to people that it was the content of his character that made him, beyond his extraordinary gold skills so admirable. Now we know that the content of his character is not what we thought it was. He is paying a frightful price for these revelations. My sense is that he has basically lost his family and there’s a lot of talk about the endorsements he’s lost, but that pales, I suspect in his mind, with what he’s lost otherwise. And my sense about Tiger is that he needs something that Christianity, especially provides and gives and offers and that is redemption and forgiveness … I was really meaning to say in those comments yesterday more about Christianity than I was about anything else. I mentioned the Buddism only because his mother is a buddist and he has apparently said that he is a Buddist. I’m not sure how seriously he practices that. But I think that Jesus Christ offers Tiger Woods something that Tiger Woods badly needs."

O'Reilly and Hume exchanged comments about Bill Clinton and Chuck Colson seeking spiritual deliverance. Hume continues …

"What I’m saying is that if Tiger Woods were to make a true conversion, we would know it. It would show through in his being and he would know it above all and he would feel the extraordinary blessing that would be and it shine because he is so prominent … and it would be a magnificent thing to witness."

O’Reilly quizzed Hume about the reaction to his statement the day before. "I got some letters and emails from people who were like me who are believers who said, ‘Great way, right on, right on, way to go…’ I’ve heard a lot of unfavorable comments from people who claimed that I was a pompous jerk who had no business mouthing off on the subject and that I shouldn’t have belittled the Buddist Faith and so on. …"

O’Reilly asked, "What do you think drives the negative comments about Christianity?"

"I has always been a puzzling thing to me. The Bible even speaks of it that, you know, you speak the name of Jesus Christ and you know, I don’t mean to make a pun here, but all Hell breaks loose and it has always been thus. It is explosive. I didn’t even speak of the Name in that way. I simply spoke of the Christian faith. That was enough to trigger this reaction. I triggers a very powerful reaction in people who do not share the faith and who do not believe in it."

Isn’t it amazing that just after Christmas which celebrate the birth of Christ and right after New Year’s s which points to the birth of Christ as bisecting all of time BC and AD, that the very mention of Christ makes some explode in anger? Hume has done Christianity a great service in focusing on the tension over Christ. If He is just a historic figure who lived and died, what’s the fuss? But He is divider of men, even families as the Lord said it in Luke 12:52-53, "For from now on five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three.53 Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law."

The divergence of faith in Christ is plainly stated in Matt 12:30, "He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad."

When Christ was born Mary was alerted to the tension in Luke 2:34-35, "Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother, "Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against 35(yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed."

Jesus’ Cross, the source of redemption Hume refers to, is offensive as 1 Cor 1:18 says, "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."

Someone once said, "The same sun which melts the butter hardens the clay." Years ago in a meeting a man came forward to receive Christ and is still living for Him. A woman walked out muttering, "I don’t like what that man says." There is no neutrality regarding the Gospel and the Savior.

Opposition to the Gospel invariably brings some positive result. Years ago, enraged agnostic Robert Ingersol, the man who vowed to have the Bible in the morgue in a few years, swore blasphemously at Civil War General, Lew Wallace saying that Christianity was a myth and that Wallace, intelligent as he was, should write a book proving the fallacy of believing in Christ. Wallace accepted the challenge, researched the issue and wrote the most famous Christian novel of all time, Ben Hur, even made into the most epic film of modern times. It portrays the deity of Christ, His saving death and regenerating resurrection power. Bring on the opposition! It seems to energize an overpowering reaction in otherwise timid souls. And thanks, Brit Hume, for standing firm, speaking out and bringing on the opposition. You’ve done the church and the world a service.

David Virkler