(40) Lessons From the Penn State Sex Abuse Scandal

LESSONS FROM THE PENN STATE SEX ABUSE SCANDAL

Head Coach Joe Paterno leads his players at Penn State onto the field.

                     The child sex abuse scandal at Penn State, my brother's alma mater, is sad. The fallout from this public relations nightmare is going to go and on as the outside investigator uncovers more facts. Lawsuits will follow, but they'll probably get little or nothing out of Penn State since one can't sue the state of Pennsylvania for damages. Just as people identify Kent State with the 1970 shootings of students by National Guardsmen, I'm afraid that Penn State might be identified with child sex abuse.

       Penn State had one of the best athletic programs in the Country and never got into trouble. Penn State and Graham Spanier, their long serving president had sterling reputations. Joe Paterno, like Jim Tressel of Ohio State, was a coaching icon, had a Mr. Clean reputation and was thrown off his pedestal. Children were finally believed by the police and Jerry Sandusky, the defensive coordinator and heir apparent to succeed Joe Paterno before quitting in 1999, was accused by a Grand Jury of molesting young boys in Penn State facilities since 2002 and before. That is, the Grand Jury found sufficient evidence to warrant a full blown criminal trial. Penn State administrators are accused of covering up the mess.

Coach Mike McQueary & Head Coach Joe Paterno

       That year Mike McQueary, a graduate assistant coach at the time, witnessed Sandusky molesting a boy in the showers of the Penn State athletic complex and dutifully reported the incident to his boss, Joe Paterno, who in turn reported it to his boss, athletic director, Tim Curley. Vice President Gary Schultz and President Graham Spanier were also informed. Joe Paterno, the winingest coach in football history with 409 wins, is being criticized for not following up by using his great prestige and influence to do more to stop Jerry Sandusky from ever repeating his crime against any child anywhere. The Board of Trustees fired them all.  Very successful careers were shattered and great legacies tarnished.
  

       As with the Catholic Church, decisive action was too late in coming and the damage was done. The Pennsylvania State University will be picking up the pieces for years. The old maxim again proved to be true that “what is done in the dark shall come to the light” as beautifully shown below (http://www.maran-ata.net/exalt-eng/topics_light.htm)

      

       The Moral of the Story.  Don't cover it up. The problem will only get worse. It will force you into one lie after another. Don't simply sweep the dirt under the rug.  Clean it up NOW before the mess gets bigger.

Don't put off confronting corruption. Catch the problem in the bud NOW before the rot festers and it grows into a full blown scandal.......a monster almost incapable of solution that may not only do lasting harm, but destroy the organization or institution along with its leaders. The business scandals, the clergy sex abuse scandals, and now Penn State have clearly shown this. “What is done in the dark shall come to the light. More lessons to be learned are for our next blog. 
 

All Secrets Shall come To Light

There's not one thing done under the sun that, in the most unexpected and precise time,  won't come to light. No matter what its nature might be and how someone try to hide it, it will become public in the moment least expected. God is present everywhere, He is aware of all things and He is righteous. "He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday." Psalm 37:6

God sees every good deed you do without no one knowing about it and all bad things others do, hiding from everyone so they won't be discovered. There are two eyes that don't slumber nor sleep; no matter where you try to hide yourself, God sees you! In the most remote place in the world, in the deepest area of the sea, in the highest spot up in the sky ... There's someone with his eyes over you, to do what is proper in the correct time.

You can try to deceive everyone; you can hide in the most profound cave, but no matter where you might be, the Almighty God will reach you. Later or sooner, in a long or short period of time, EVERYTHING you do, will be of public knowledge. "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap." Galatians 6:7

ISAIAH 5:20
Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! 

 

ISAIAH 29:15
Woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel
far from the Lord, and their works are in the dark;
They say, "Who sees us?" and, "Who knows us?" 

PSALM 64:5
They encourage themselves in an evil matter; they talk
of slaying snares secretly; they say, "Who will see them?" 

JOHN 3:19-20
And this is the condemnation, that the light
has come into the world, and men loved darkness
rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not
 come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.

EPHESIANS 5:13
But all things that are exposed are made manifest
by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light.

MARK 4:22
For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor
 has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light.

LUKE 12:2-3
For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed,
nor hidden that will not be known.

Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be
heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear
in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.

GALATIANS 6:7
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for
whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

JOB 34:21-22
For His eyes are on the ways of man, and He sees all his steps.

There is no darkness nor shadow of death where the workers of
iniquity may hide themselves.

ECCLESIASTES 12:14
For God will bring every work into judgment, including
every secret thing, whether good or evil.

DANIEL 2:22
He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in
the darkness, and light dwells with Him.

PROVERBS 28:13
He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever
confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.