Not that they would seek it at this point, but one wonders whether any of Herman Cain’s accusers are believers, whether they are members of a gospel-saturated congregation, and if so, whether they sought pastoral counsel — either at the time of the alleged offense or regarding their present actions.
Because one would have to say that if something happened between them and Cain in the past, pastoral counsel would have certainly included the admonition and encouragement to pray for their enemy, to forgive, to seek reconciliation, to rest in the grace and comfort of God rather than in any conciliatory action by Cain.
Certainly there are occasions in which confrontation with an offender — and legal action — is appropriate. Yet biblical counseling and even its more responsible secular counterparts would recommend that confrontation occur sooner, rather than later, and except for extreme circumstances, that it occur privately, rather than publicly.
Would any wise counsel recommend that one cling to an offense, wait years for the offender to attain prominence, then proclaim the offense on perhaps the largest public stage possible, when true reconciliation is likely impossible?
If Herman Cain committed punishable offenses, he should bear the consequences. Yet our sin nature clouds from our view the too-familiar desire in all of us for “karma” or “what-goes-around-comes-around” to right wrongs, preferably when the dish has become cold.
There is only One who rights wrongs. And our overarching concern should be not how other men’s wrongs against us will be righted, but how our wrongs against Him will be righted. They are righted, but only for those who repent and believe in Jesus Christ.