Avoid the very appearance of evil

1 Thessalonians 5: 22 reads, "Abstain from all appearance of evil." (KJV) Elsewhere in the Scriptures it explains that by doing this, and living lives pleasing to God, that no one will be able to accuse us of evil. More than one pastor has been accused of wrong behavior who may or may not have been guilty, but he had placed himself in a position where he could not defend himself or prove his innocence. It APPEARED he had done wrong, and to his accusers he was automatically guilty.

We live in a time today in which a mere accusation is enough to convict you in the court of public opinion. We saw this clearly in the confirmation hearing of Judge Kavanaugh when various charges of misconduct were made against him. Although not a legal trial, we saw the doctrine of innocent until proven guilty turned upside down. Unsubstantiated charges nearly cost him a seat on the Supreme Court, and more importantly, did great harm to his reputation and had to have been very hurtful to his family. The media, Hollywood, and most Democrats all pronounced him guilty simply because he had been accused.

One of the interesting things about that situation is that some of the same people who were quick to condemn Kavanaugh earlier made fun of Vice-President Pence for his policy of not dining with a woman alone who is not his wife. The VP was following the teaching of Scripture presented above to ensure that no one could ever accuse him of misconduct.

Another interesting thing about all this is now complaints of misconduct are being made against Joe Biden as he plans to announce his candidacy for president. Many of those who were certain of Kavanaugh's guilt because claims were made against him are now defending Biden against his accusers. To his credit, Biden has issued an apology for not respecting people's personal space, but some say that isn't enough. Because he has been accused he is not a suitable candidate in the eyes of some. Personally, despite his frequent gaffes, I hope he does run. At this point he would be the only adult on the Democrat side running for president and the only one who could work both sides of the aisle.

As a pastor I had the policy of never being alone with a woman who was not my wife. In time I included never being alone with children without other adults present. This was not because I did not trust myself but because I know how some people sometimes think. Billy Graham had the same policy throughout his ministry for the same reason. The policy never created any difficulties in my ability to minister to women or children, and it protected me and them from any gossip or false accusations.

There's a reason we have the "Baptist side-hug," but that may not be good enough in the 21st century. After Biden's apology Nancy Pelosi said he needed to join the "straight-arm club" and change his behavior.

Pastor, what policies do you have in place to protect yourself against false claims of misconduct? Have you discussed these with your leadership? As a pastor, I not only talked about these policies with our leaders, I shared them with our congregation. I made sure they not only knew what my policies were but also why I had them.