Dear Rebelutionaries: An Apology
It has come to my attention — through the loving rebuke and wise counsel of my father — that I included a careless falsehood in my recent response to Deputy Headmistress’s comment regarding the original post about David Ludwig and Kara Borden. In it I wrote:
…[Y]ou will notice that I never claimed that either David or Kara were saved. My first reference to Christianity was to say, “David and Kara, you understand, are churchgoers, youth group attendees, from Christian families, with Christian friends.” Later, I referred to them as “homeschooled teens from Christian families.” However, I did not claim that they themselves were born again.
This was not true. Though the post has been edited several times since it was first published — with the current version most clearly reflecting my conclusions on the matter — the original wording actually read, “David and Kara, you understand, are Christians, from Christian families…” This was soon changed, nevertheless, my claim that I had never labeled David and Kara as Christians was false. Even though I was not intentionally seeking to deceive, my statement was wrong — both literally and morally — and I ask all of your forgiveness.
I bring this up, not to spark a debate about David or Kara’s salvation, but only to apologize for my lack of journalistic integrity. Although my response was not originally intended as a post, my failure to accurately represent the truth through my words certainly gave the appearance of dishonest revisionism — even while that was not my intention.
While small, this is still serious. Both the original post and my comment to Deputy Headmistress were accessible to anyone with an Internet connection. I want the apology to be as well. Even if nobody noticed, I would rather tell the world, and apologize, than to leave it unaddressed. Once again, please forgive me.
In closing, I would like to take this time to thank each of you for your faithful readership, encouragement, and support. Please remember us in your prayers. God bless you all!
A Debtor to Mercy, Alex Jordan Harris
December 5th, 2005 at 2:23 pm
Alex,
I so admire your humility in your handling of this situation. As you said, it is a small thing, but the way you handle the small things definitely reflects the true measure of your character. Thank you for setting an example to the rest of us of how to walk in humility.
Glory to God,
Brian
December 5th, 2005 at 4:42 pm
Thank you for being so honest.
Hannah
December 5th, 2005 at 5:35 pm
Thanks for your honesty and your humility! It is honorable to be so careful, even though it’s a “small thing.” Keep up the good work.
Hannah (Not the same as above…too many Hannahs out there!!)
December 5th, 2005 at 6:27 pm
Hey Alex, I didn’t realize you had called them Christians previously, so believe me, I hold it not against you.
And hey, it’s really impressive to see you apologize for something that, realistically, didn’t need an apology. You gave one anyway.
Bravo!
Keep it up guys!
In Christ, John.
December 5th, 2005 at 7:33 pm
Thank you for the apology. I, too, did not notice that you had referred to Kara and David as Christians, but your apology shows true integrity. It is this integrity that ensures that your readers will trust what you say and will continue to read what you write.
Thank you both for continuing to update The Rebelution despite your busy-ness. It has been a real blessing to me and many others.
December 5th, 2005 at 10:10 pm
http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/5763914.html
check out this story!
hannah
December 6th, 2005 at 6:06 am
Alex, I am proud of you for playing the part of a man and not trying to duck out of your responsibility to be honest in all your ways. God is able to give greater opportunities to serve Him only to those who prove themselves faithful in small things. It is not unusual to find a diamond in the dust where we have fallen on our face in humility. My prayer is that your godly example will help many others in your generation handle their own sins, large and small, in the same way.
“This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” (1 John 1:5-10) ESV
God bless you. Dad
December 6th, 2005 at 11:55 pm
An excellent example of becoming a Living Epistle for Christ! Mark these words of Cornelius Tyree:
“A conversion from depravity and sinfulness–to active godliness, is a more sublime miracle, and a more effectual proof for the divinity of the gospel–than was the resurrection of Lazarus! Of all modes of inculcating Christianity, exemplifying it is the best. The best commentary on the Bible that the world has ever seen–is a holy life of growing likeness to Christ. The most eloquent sermon in behalf of the gospel that the world has ever heard–is a uniform, active life of piety. The best version of the Bible that has ever been made–is a consistent pious example. The Christian whose light thus shines, not only correctly renders–but beautifies the sacred text. His life and conduct are a sort of second edition of the written Scriptures–a living epistle which all can read, all understand, and that convinces and convicts all.”
May our lives be bound to the Scriptures with adamantine chains!
God bless you all,
Dave
PS - you can read the rest of the article from which that extract came here: http://www.gracegems.org/25/living_epistle3.htm
And the other articles of his, along the same line of thought, here: http://www.gracegems.org/25/living_epistle.htm
December 8th, 2005 at 12:00 am
I appreciate the apology, and am impressed with your desire for truth- (Incidentally, I only just learned about the apology). I am confused, though.
If I understand you correctly, you did say they were Christians in an earlier published version of the post.
On what do you then base your claim that I never saw that version? You did not ask me when I first read your article. If you published it that way originally, then it is not accurate for you to claim I’d never seen that version. You not only cannot know that, but I certainly did think I’d seen you make that claim, which is why I said what I said.
I’m old enough to know that my memory is no longer reliable, which is why I didn’t argue the point. But if you really did publish it that way originally, then I may have been unfairly critical of my memory.
I first read your post a considerable amount of time before I commented. In fact, I wasn’t going to comment at all, as, in spite of appearances I really do *not* enjoy arguing with somebody else on their own blog. =)
But I read a comment on Agent Tim’s blog that said, “However, according to the Rebelution article, it seems the two teenagers were essentially “on fire for Jesus”. While that was stronger than I would have put it, reading that comment indicated to me that I was not the only one to perceive the post the way that I did, and I thought it was important enough to suggest .
So if I understood you correctly and you did originally publish the article with that claim in it, I would appreciate it if you would withdraw the claim that I did not see it. There is no evidence that this is the case, and it is more than probable that I did see it.
If I am misunderstanding you, I would like to point to the comment on Tim’s blog as an indication that what you did say was subject to misunderstanding by more than one person, however muddled those of us in that category might be.
Thanks, and I hope this clears things up- and that there are no hard feelings.
December 8th, 2005 at 12:02 am
Ack, edited beyond readability….
“I thought it was important enough to suggest…. ” truncated. It was supposed to say, “suggest that there may have been good reason to think otherwise.”
December 8th, 2005 at 5:42 am
Dear DHM,
My reasons for believing that you had not read the article as it was originally posted were: 1.) the timing of your comment (this was not an accurate representation, I now realize), and 2.) because I presumed that you had found the post through Dominion Family, which linked to the article after the changes had been made.
If I was mistaken on both of those counts, I apologize… Regardless, I should have contacted you personally to clarify. Please forgive me.
I have removed the reference from the apology. Don’t hesitate email if you have any further clarification or desire that further action be taken to resolve the situation [rebelution (dot) blogspot (at) gmail (dot) com].
Thank you for all of your wise counsel. There are no hard feeling on my part. My concern would only be that there are none on yours… This has been a humbling series of events, and again, I apologize.
May God bless you!
In Christ,
December 8th, 2005 at 8:32 pm
There are no hard feelings on my part at all, indeed, I appreciate your desire to be honest no matter how painful it can be.
The Dominion Family blog was one of the very last I read on the topic before writing my own post. I don’t remember where I’d found your site, but I do know I’d already read it before I read the DF post. I read a lot of blogs as I tried to make sense of the situation as best I could. But, as I say, my memory is not reliable enough for me to testify in court as to my own name some days.
So while you were mistaken on the first count, you could be quite right on the second, and I cannot be dogmatic about what I think I remember about how I got to The Rebelution.=)
It is gracious of you to call my groping through the confusion ‘wise counsel.’ With your parents, you hardly need wise counsel from the likes of me.=) They seem to be doing a worthy job.
Thanks very much for your ongoing efforts for accuracy and integrity.
Unless there is something more you wish me to do, forgetting those things that are behind, let us press on.=)
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