So there's a scandal afoot at Oral Roberts University. In the Associated Press report there's a focus on Lindsay Roberts who is alleged to have:
There's also the matter of Richard allegedly ordering students mobilized to participate in a local political election, contrary to the law regarding non-profit organizations, and someone (allegedly) signing off on the daughter of the televangelist using a university jet to fly some friends to Orlando and the Bahamas on a senior trip. The AP report also alleges - almost causally - that the Roberts house has been remodelled 11 times in the last 14 years and that university and ministry staff are regularly summoned to the Roberts' home to do the daughters' homework. It appears that a group of professors brought forward a report to the University's Regents that describing these excesses and were subsequently fired. Of course, we don't have the full story yet, but Richard's public response to date hasn't been reassuring.
What amazes me about these kinds of stories is how the level of Antoinette excess is simply not grasped by those involved. Never mind the text messages at 2 AM to underage males - we all can guess what that's about. The thing is, at what point does a $29,000 party for the kids seem okay? What does it take for $39,000 spent on clothing to be okay? How many luxury automobiles are enough? Richard's response - that God said this was the result of our litigious society - is just further evidence of exactly how dulled his sense of common decency has become. How do we - how do any of us - get trapped in this way of thinking? Hubris aside, once you get used to paying $600 a month for the cell phone, $800 doesn't seem all that bad. $29,000 spent on a party for the kids in the Bahamas is okay because it's seen in relation to other trips, other parties, other costs. When you're spending $39,000 a year on clothes - just on clothes - just from one store - what's a Mercedes or Lexus worth in comparison?
Prior to opening our public meals program I attended similar programs that were operating in our city. In one, a church group had come from the suburbs to serve a lasagna dinner in a church basement downtown. As they were serving dinner I looked around the room and saw something that, quite literally, left me stunned. The church people were all radiant and glowing while the rest of the room, filled with poor folks, were a dull, drab mass. There was a brightness and a sparkle to the church people that was striking. I'd like to think that was a Mosaic afterglow, but I'm doubtful. You see, all those nice suburban church goers could afford to buy their clothes new, and not used, when the colour has been washed out. They could afford the best laundry detergents - ones that contained chemicals added to reflect the light, others designed to preserve the colour of the fabric and prevent pilling. They could afford exactly the right shampoo and conditioners, the women could afford highlights in their hair. They were wearing jewellery. They bought their cosmetics from a consultant behind a gleaming glass and chrome counter, as opposed to off the shelf at the dollar store. These are not bad things, and they were not bad people. On the contrary - I think they were exactly where Jesus would want them to be on that Saturday night. It's just that they had no idea that they looked like this. They couldn't see it. Today I sat and watched a program called CityLine with the Resident Love Goddess. Everyone in the audience was given an package of Marc Anthony hair care products and invited to his new studio for a free styling. That's wonderful. So what's my point? I'm looking at his price list and seeing that a cut for men starts at $40 and I'm thinking, hey - that's not a bad price. Not bad, that is, to me. Many of our dinner guests cut each other's hair, or their own in front of the bathroom mirror. Those that can afford it will take the $10 cut at the discount chain 'salon'. To any one of them, $40 is an insane amount of money to pay for a hair cut, and they may be right. As I reflect on all of this it seems there's precious little about us as "Christians" that defines or separates us from the culture of success we are immersed in. We need to be careful about bashing Richard and Lindsay around on this one, we need to thoughtfully and humbly consider throwing that first stone.
I remember, about fifteen years ago, taking a friend and his wife on a walking tour of the conference centre where I worked . As we entered the trailer park and admired some of the mobile homes, the wife commented that she was struggling with the concept of all these "worldly Christians" with their vacation homes. Today they live in a new four bedroom home in one of our city's better neighbourhoods. The monetary value of their home would secure the financial situation for the Mission, guaranteeing shelter for up to fifty men and women for one year.
This is who we are.