Climategate and Integrity

Recently a scandal involving the scientific community has hit the proverbial fan. Computer hackers broke into the computer system of the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia in England. The emails they uncovered seem to suggest a plot among the researchers there to hide the truth about recent changes in global temperatures. Now my purpose in bringing this to your attention is NOT to discuss global warming (or non global warming, depending upon your position). Rather I want to point out what the director of the research unit, Phil Jones had to say in defense of a rather condemning email. In the email he wrote that he had used a "trick" to "hide the decline" in a chart detailing recent global temperatures. When called on the carpet, he claimed that he did not use the word "trick" to refer to an act of deception but merely as a "clever thing to do." Hmm. Really? I always thought the word trick carried the idea of deception. But I decided to give Dr Jones the benefit of the doubt - that is until I had the chance to consult several online dictionaries. Every single dictionary I checked with indicated that the definition of the word "trick" carried the idea of deception. Dr. Jones apparently needs to check his dictionary a little more carefully!

All this to say - as fallen sinful people, we have a tendency to do whatever it takes to rationalize our sin and when caught, to do whatever is needed to find some "wiggle room" so we do not have to take responsibility for any wrong doing. For those of us who follow Jesus, we need to be on the alert for this tendency and make sure we don't fall into doing the same. When we are wrong (whether we get caught by others or not is NOT the issue - God sees ALL!) - we need to take responsibility for our actions, repent and confess, embrace God's gracious forgiveness and right any wrongs.

Thanks for stopping by . . .

pj