Newt Gingrich? Really? Are my fellow Republicans smoking crack?

I am a man. As such, I am attracted to pretty women. However, 18 years ago I met the one who stole my heart. Since then I can say with 100% certainty that I have not only been faithful to my wife ever since we married on April 1, 1995 (as well as after we met, by the way), but will do so until "death do we part." My mom and dad can say the same about their marriage. My wife the same about her parents' marriage (over 50 years, with her dad passing away a couple of years ago). All of these marriages have one thing in common: the parties to these marriages have character. Put another way, they are faithful people who can be trusted by their own spouses and total strangers.

This is why I cannot believe Republicans are choosing Newt Gingrich. "What about Christian forgiveness?" Many have said. He's been faithful to his current wife (the home-breaker, by the way) for more than a decade, and he accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior so he's a new creation. And he's a true conservative and great debater (but is he really a conservative? He's called himself a Wilsonian, as in President Wilson who ushered in the Progressive movement in the U.S.).

Character isn't exclusive to Christians. I accepted Jesus into my life fully and completely in 1989, but I can say with the same degree of certainty stated above that had I married Mona as a heathen unbeliever back in 1995 I would have still been faithful to her. No question about it. Sure, there must be forgiveness when one becomes a new creation. (2 Corinthians 5:17) Indeed, the gift of the Holy Spirit will guide the believer in ways no unbeliever could ever experience. (Luke 1:35) Moreover, I've known many marriages ravaged by infidelity grow stronger after forgiveness by the wronged party. However, a one-time infidelity is not the same as the serial philanderer. For the latter, I have never seen a case where the underlying trust issue didn't get tested again after the initial round of cheating and unfaithfulness. Moreover, when a nation is contemplating a leadership change, shouldn't it consider the underlying character of the people it is considering, whether, as H. Ross Perot so famously said (paraphrased), "the American people can trust a man who's own wife cannot trust?"

There's scriptural basis (New Testament, as in post-Jesus) for this mindset. While it applies to elders and deacons in the church, I think leading the nation (such as King David vs. King Saul) could use some of this mindset, too.

Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober- minded, self- controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil. 1 Timothy 3:2-7 (ESV)

After reading this passage, do you see any "grace" for the overseer/President of the United States of America to have abandoned two sick wives and married the adulteress of the last one? Do you see Paul's words in the New Testament allowing for forgiveness post-salvation to cleanse a possible overseer of such wrongs to the extent that he can be pried into that directive? If so, what church do you go to? I need to get me some of that.

In summation, I can justify voting for a Mormon who has been faithful to his wife for more than 40 years (not to mention tithed to his church in the millions), who may have flip-flopped on a couple of issues a few times (though I pray that Santorum somehow emerges with the nomination). I cannot justify ignoring Gingrich's disgusting behavior toward two women who needed him to stand by them in their direst moments of need. I wouldn't blame them for wanting to get out of a marriage of such a man, but for him to pull the trigger when he was the wrongdoer, I don't think so.

Newt lacks the character inherent in a lifetime of good, humble choices. You may think he's changed, but his condescending, arrogant attitude during all the debates tells me he still thinks himself the smartest man in the room and that he believes he can talk himself out of any trouble, even when caught with his hand in the cookie jar. I think we've had enough of such arrogance in our current President. It's time to move on.