I would have assumed that the author of this recent comment proclaiming Maciel’s innocence was either a troll or someone being sarcastic. However, in the last couple days I have come across a former-LC-brother-turned-RC-organizer with an Anglophone name who actually expressed similar thoughts.
Regardless of whether the individual is trolling, being sarcastic or expressing sincere thoughts, his/her following words hit me: “Finally, it is Catholic teaching that good comes out of evil. Jesus was from the lineage of David, and David had an adulterous relationship with Uriah’s wife and then had him killed.”
Okay, we’ve all heard LC/RC apologists use the King David analogy before. And we’ve all responded: “King David repented publicly. Maciel claimed innocence until death.” Fair enough.
But what about King David before he repented? Before Nathan confronted him with the story of the two shepherds? Let’s take a good look at 2 Samuel 12.
First, God deprived King David of his first child with Uriah’s wife. In short, God permitted the death of the fruit conceived from David’s and Bathsheba’s adultery. Moreover, God did so on the seventh day, which is the day a baby boy would normally have been circumcised under the Old Covenant – signifying his covenant with God. Since David was asleep when the child died during the night, I’m guessing the child died before receiving circumcision. But I will leave the Biblical experts to figure this out.
Second, God forgave David, but David’s adultery and murder continue to curse his descendants long after David had repented. As the prophet Nathan tells David in confronting him: “Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised God, and have taken the wife of Uri’ah the Hittite to be your wife,” and “Thus says the LORD, `Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun.
For you did it secretly; but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.’”
Forgiveness is possible. God will forgive a repentant heart as He forgave King David. But forgiveness does not remove the temporal consequences of sin. Nor does God’s forgiveness insure the survival of the fruit of one’s sin.