I just listened to Michael Vick's "apology" on ESPN.com. I am sure if you watch Sports Center, you will be hearing his words over and over again for the next few days. First, let me say that I think his apology is genuine. He seemed broken and sorrowful. Of course, facing jail time, having your name drug through the mud, and loosing hundreds of millions of dollars would break just about anyone.
In his apology, he took full responsibility for his actions and placed the blame fully on himself. Also, he is willing to accept whatever consequences the judge hands out.
Also, in his apology, he said something like, "Through this ordeal, I have found Jesus, and have turned my life over to God. I think this is the best thing to do." As I was listening, I was thinking, "Praise God."
However, toward the end of the apology, he said something that totally contradicted everything he was saying. He said, "I will redeem myself."
Thankfully, I am not the judge of Vick's heart. However, that kind of language is certainly not compatable with true repentance. True repentance never says, "I've messed up and I will do better." True repentance says, "I've messed up and I am messed up. There is no hope for me apart from the shed blood of Christ. I'm not going to try harder. I'm going to trust Christ more."
Your thoughts on Vick's apology?
4 comments:
I haven't seen Vick's apology, just going by what you said. . . but my thoughts are. If he is truly repentant only God will know that, however, I would expect to see fruit of that repentance. Gut feeling and I realize this is unfair. . . facing jail time and monetary loss has a way of making one claim Christ's redeeming blood, but later the fruit of that claim bears the truth.
Justin,
I haven't heard the apology, so I only have what you've posted to go off. That being said, I think when he is saying, "I will redeem myself" I think he meant in the context of being a trustworthy football player. I don't think he had eternity in mind. So in that context, I think by him saying he will redeem himself, it could be a way of saying that his good fruit will show that he is truly repentent. Sure, he could have said, "God will redeem me" but I think the fact that Christ's blood will make him a trustworthy football player would be lost on most people. Others may see it as some sort of self-righteous rant that "only God can judge me." I don't know.
It should be interesting if this is authentic, and not just some general props going up to God which is standard fare for apologies today. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
Justin,
I did catch the apology, and there was something else he said that I thought was revealing. Like you, I thought his apology was authentic (it was clearly unscripted). But then he threw in the bit about turning to Jesus.
At first I was excited, but then he said "I turned my life over to God. I think it's the right thing to do as for right now."
My heart sunk when I heard the words "as for right now". It seemed clear from his tone that he understood his turn to Jesus as something good for him at the moment - not something that necessarily had to be lasting.
I still think his apology was probably genuine. His turn to Jesus...well, we can always hope.
Here's the quote that I found:
"I’m upset with myself, and, you know, through this situation I found Jesus and asked him for forgiveness and turned my life over to God. And I think that’s the right thing to do as of right now."
I like the "as of right now" better than "as for right now." Hopefully he is sincere.
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