Riptide

Sometimes we realize we're swimming into a deadly current | Marvin Olasky

Associated Press/Photo by Mary Ann Chastain

Plato wrote, "Give me the songs of a nation and it matters not who writes its laws." Would a modern corollary, for many Christians, juxtapose songs, films, and even television miniseries against the teachings of the Bible?

I ask that question while reflecting on the tragedy of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, and what it tells us about ways in which Christians and non-Christians are similar and different.

One similarity: The power of the riptide. Sanford in June 2008, as he was already in water over his head, wrote to the Argentine subject of his affections that he had "crossed lines" he never would have imagined crossing.

"Lines," plural, is right. An old math joke has a professor telling his student, "You can sit near your girlfriend and move half the distance to her, and then half the remaining distance, and then half again and again, but you'll never be right where she is." The student responds, "True 'nuff, but I'm close enough for all practical purposes."