I heard of a Christian couple who consulted a lawyer because the husband, a high school teacher, faced a sexual harassment complaint. As it turned out the complainant was not even 18 yet so a complaint for child abuse was also filed against him.  They were understandably distressed about the whole thing as it humiliated and embarrassed them and it put at risk their reputations. The whole thing began with a class discussion of the RH bill.  The husband made what he thought was harmless ‘off-color’ jokes and comments with sexual innuendos in relation to the RH bill.  Unfortunately, the complainant felt singled out and made fun of.

Even when the case was already before the prosecutor’s office, that couple went around talking to all the pastors they knew.They talked to acquaintances who were public officials, trying to find a solution.  The wife went to the girl’s family, bringing with her the barangay captain, asking for ‘pasensiya’.  The door was slammed in her face, naturally. The wife looked for a ‘padrino’– people in the community who had authority and moral ascendancy over them to negotiate a peace.  They were looking for people in power who can make the case go away.

I learned that at the preliminary investigation the fiscal questioned the girl (much to the discomfiture of the parents who were still very angry).  Of the three complaints, only one survived the fiscal’s scrutiny.  If the girl had been of legal age, the crime would have been simply unjust vexation or acts of lasciviousness but because of the girl’s minority, it was still child abuse but it was the bailable kind (‘other acts’ of child abuse). The fiscal pointed out that as a teacher, the husband was a person in authority with moral ascendancy over his students and should be circumspect with his use of language. He should be a paragon of virtue as an example to his students, the fiscal said.

They were advised to follow up the case so that they would know immediately when it was filed in the RTC and in which branch the case would be tried so that they can immediately post bail. They were advised to prepare at least half of the amount in cash and ask for a reduction in the bail and then post a cash bond. They consulted the pastors and it was their advice to him to just post a surety bond.  In the lawyer’s estimation, by the time that the case would be finished, they would have paid more than P40,000 for the yearly renewal of the surety. If they posted a cash bond, they can refund the cash bond in case of acquittal. They followed the advice of the pastors, not the lawyer.

After that, they changed their mind again and decided not to post a surety bond after all. While following up their case at the RTC, they met another lawyer who was also a Christian, and he assured them that he would work out his liberty without posting bail because “Christians shouldn’t be made a public spectacle on the witness stand.” The money for the surety bond should be ‘put in the ministry instead.’ That Christian lawyer also assured them that he would work it out so that the case would no longer reach trial.

I was shocked when I heard this.  What magical powers did that Christian lawyer have? At the law school I attended, I was taught that an accused in a criminal case cannot gain provisional liberty without posting bail.  He can be released on his own recognizance, but then, even Gloria Macapagal Arroyo who was a former president of the Republic of the Philippines had to post bail for her provisional liberty.  She could not be released on her own recognizance.

I was also taught in law school that when a criminal Information has already been filed, it cannot disappear into thin air just like that without observance of due process.  Making that Information disappear can only be done through corrupt means.  The couple then planned to talk to the judge. I doubt if they realized that what they were proposing was a punishable act under the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.No Christian lawyer should be party to corruption.  This is not only against the law, this is against Christian ethics and most importantly, it is against the law of God (Thou shalt not subvert judgment).

I was absolutely livid when I heard that story. I wondered to myself why.  Clients often suggest ‘extra-judicial’ means to end embarrassing litigation.  This has also happened to me in the past. Clients want to escape the legal consequences of their mistakes. Part of a lawyer’s job is to tell people to trust the legal process and not to subvert it through corrupt means.

What got me so angry was the fact that these were Christians (Bible Baptist kind of Christians, so sorry to say). In this day and age, people (even Bible Baptist Christians) find it difficult to tell right from wrong. These ‘Christians’ were so intent on getting out of the corner they have painted themselves in that they were willing and eager to do anything just to get out of the situation.

We often choose to look at distressing events as ‘pagsubok’ or trials, when it is clearly the consequence of our violation of the law of man and the law of God.  To him who knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is SIN.  ‘Pagsubok’ is when the adversity or difficulty comes about out of the blue, just like Job’s troubles. It is God’s work in our lives to make us pure and to mold our characters so that we may become more like Christ. It is not a ‘pagsubok’ but at ‘kinahinatnan’ when the adversity or difficulty is a direct result of our foolishness, our faithlessness, unbelief, pride, self-centeredness and our utter sinfulness by which we ‘come short of the glory of God’.  Knowing the difference is a matter of spiritual discernment.  Christians are not immune from sin or from the consequences of their sin.  When Christians sin, they have Jesus Christ as their advocate (lawyer, or tagapagtanggol) with the Father.  When Christians sin, they can confess (acknowledge the sin before God) and repent (turn away from) their sins. Christians cannot be restored to their intimate relationship with God without confession of sins and without repentance.

Our sins and the consequences of our sins, when fully repented of and fully surrendered to the Lord, can ‘work out together for good’ because we ‘love God’ and we are the ‘called according to His purpose’.  When we come humbly before God, fully cognizant of how we have fallen short of his standards, we can be forgiven, cleansed and restored.  We must repent and call our sin as ‘sin’ without justification, rationalization or excuse. When we repent and confess our sins to God, He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

It is entirely in God’s discretion how he will deal with us and how the consequences of our sin will affect our lives. We must humbly wait upon God for this and accept his righteous judgment. God’s forgiveness does not gloss over the consequences.  Moses never entered the Promised Land because of his sin. Jacob forever halted on his leg as a reminder of his self-will. David lost his first child with Bathsheba and his sin eroded his family life—his sons killed each other, his son Absalom went into exile and later rebelled against David.  Apostle Paul’s mighty ministry never erased the fact that he had Stephen put to death. The good news is that God’s grace can work and what was once the source of our shame becomes the means by which God’s glory will be manifest in our lives.  We will have nothing whereof to boast and simply cling to the grace and mercy of God and utterly trust him for our justification and righteousness.

For this, we have to stand still and humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God.  We have to wait upon the Lord.  We cannot stand still and wait upon the Lord while running around trying to prevent the fallout of our sin or mitigate the consequences of our sin.  We have to stand still.

And when we stand still and ask God to take the tattered remnants of the mess we have made of our lives, He will work so that we can get to the place when all that we used to be so proud of will become ‘as dung’.  We will lose faith in ourselves and cling wholly on Him for our righteousness. We will reach that place of full dependence upon God. From that point, nothing else will matter, nothing else is important as ‘to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering’ because He has become ‘all in all’.

At a time of crisis which is of our own making, we run around frantically like headless chickens, trusting man and trying to escape the natural consequences of our sin.  We cannot stand still and wait for God to reveal where and how we have offended him.  We invest our energies in trying to get out of the situation we have dug ourselves into instead of humbly asking God for his cleansing and deliverance.  We cannot submit humbly to the righteous judgment of God and wait for his mercy as David had done.  We cannot wait upon God to restore us and to renew us.  We cannot stand still and know God. Thus, we do not learn from our mistakes and we do not grow in our faith. We cannot stand still long enough to see the salvation of the Lord.  As a consequence, we will be like Israel, walking around the desert for 40 years. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.

Stand still.