Doing good while doing wrong

Being from Memphis I am more aware than a lot of people about the good work done by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Recognized as the best children’s cancer hospital in the world, it fulfils an interesting legacy. The TV entertainer Danny Thomas created St. Jude with several Memphis businessmen to repay God’s blessings on his life. To expand the legacy, he influenced Arab-Americans (especially those of Lebanese descent, like himself) to support this altruistic effort. Now thousands of others have joined the support network while others experience the benefits of the ministry. Though I supported St. Jude for years in different ways, I never expected to see any direct benefit. In the last several years, one of my young cousins has received treatment and had his life extended via this dynamic medical center. I am more thankful for St. Jude than ever.

Memphis finds ways to support the hospital. One of the most visible ways is through the PGA golf stop. Originally the Memphis Open, it became the Danny Thomas Memphis Classic with St. Jude as the sponsored charity. Later, St. Jude became the primary title of the tournament as the St. Jude Memphis Classic. Federal Express began to lend huge financial support until it moved to sponsorship of the FedEx Cup on tour. It recruited Stanford Financial Group to become the financial sponsor of the golf tournament.

Stanford Financial group was raided yesterday and accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission with $8 Billion in fraud. This is the latest example of the illusion that doing good can offset doing wrong; of an altruistic public persona while being corrupt morally. It illustrates the quandary of man. The residual goodness of God left by His breathing the breath of life into Adam war marred permanently and graphically by the fall into sin. Yes, fallen man is Danny Thomas; but even more, fallen man is Bernard Madoff and Alan Stanford. The only hope for a world like this is the incredible goodness of Jesus Christ and the only way a world like this hears the message is if we live it out and share it.