Bible Before CNN

Think back to the recent earthquake in Haiti. Do you remember the story of the 10 Baptists from Idaho who were arrested on charges of attempted kidnapping? They have all since been freed, with all charges against them dropped.

It seems that the news accounts that we were treated to in real-time as the story progressed were somewhat....ummm.....inaccurate? biased? calculated to make the Christians look like monsters? Take your pick, but they're all appropriate.

Here is the story from the Baptist Press, an interview with one of the folks who was involved.

The reason I'm posting this is because a couple days after their initial arrest, I was having lunch with a few local pastors, and one of them loudly proclaimed his disgust with the Baptist brethren involved. They obviously had no idea what they were doing. They were insensitive to local laws and customs. They were ignorant neophytes who had no business down there.

I was frankly shocked by this reaction. I said something to him like this (surely not a direct quote, but a summary,) "I think we need to wait a little bit. All we know is what the mainstream media is saying, and it's foolish to trust a single thing you hear from them. I mean, what kind of shape do you think the government is in down there in Haiti right now? I wouldn't be shocked to hear that the real reason they got arrested is because they ran out of money with which to bribe the official at the border, or something like that."

This pastor I was talking to is a prominent Southern Baptist pastor. I just couldn't believe he was so willing to swallow what the media was telling him.

Turns out, guess what? The Baptists were doing just fine, making friends with government officials on both sides of the Haiti/Dominican Republic border, and actually leading some to Christ, until a team from the United Nations showed up. Read the article. It's long but enlightening.

And you might consider finding a church to attend where folks believe the Bible before CNN.