There are lots of ways one could characterize the time in which we are living. We could call our time the Age of Anxiety as people are fearful of threats posed by terrorism and global unrest. We could call our time the Age of Loneliness, as studies tell us that more and more people have no one in their lives with whom they can completely confide. But certainly, one accurate way to characterize our time would be to call it the Age of Exposure.
Donald Trump’s race for the presidency imploded when a 2005 audio tape recorded him proudly describing sexually assaultive behavior against women in crude and vulgar terms.
Hillary Clinton’s credibility was repeatedly undermined by WikiLeaks releases of speeches to big Wall Street donors. One of the leaks disclosed Hillary discussing both a “private and a public position” regarding different matters. For those already disgusted by Washington insiders, this suggested political hypocrisy in its most brazen form.
Debbie Wasserman Schultz was forced to resign as Chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee after leaked emails showed party officials conspiring to sabotage the campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Cities all over America have exploded with protests and riots after videos were released from dashboard cameras, cell phones, surveillance cameras and body cameras portraying excessive force by police against African Americans.
The NBA slapped Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling with a lifetime ban, and levied a $2.5 million fine for racist comments he made which, were captured on tape by Sterling’s 31-year-old girlfriend.
Mitt Romney’s bid for the presidency in 2012 was undermined when a secret video recorded Romney disparaging 47% of the electorate as freeloaders.
The Ashley Madison website, a website devoted to people seeking to commit adultery, was hacked leaving 32 million Ashley Madison users scared to death that their affairs would be exposed.
How should we understand the impact of this Age of Exposure? First, it’s important to grasp that from the moment our first parents sinned, the human race has been in hiding from God and from the truth. We read in Genesis 3:8-9, “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?””
How do we hide? One way we hide is through what psychologists term “defense mechanisms”. For example, we engage in denial, the refusal to accept reality or facts, and we act as if facts are just opinions manipulated by (fill in your favorite villain here – the media, the liberal elite, secularists, the Christian Right, etc.).
We compartmentalize, separating parts of ourselves from the awareness of other parts as if one person can maintain two completely separate sets of values. So we think of ourselves as basically decent people while also cheating on our spouses or cheating on our income tax.
One of the most common ways we hide is to simply believe “no one sees” what we’re doing in secret. But in our Age of Exposure there are fewer and fewer zones of complete privacy in our interconnected wired world. Everything, from our medical records to our Google searches can be discovered. Our quiet walks down the street are caught on hidden cameras. Any prospective employer can evaluate our fitness for employment by examining our social media posts.
The Age of Exposure points to a second and deeper truth. The deeper truth is that Judgment Day awaits every human being and that Judgment Day is the ultimate moment of exposure. All cover-ups will be stripped away. There will be no ability to hide from the truth or evade the reality of who we are and what we’ve done. Jesus said, “There is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, nothing concealed that will not be known or be brought out into the open.” He also said, “What you have whispered in the inner room will be shouted from the housetops.” The Apostle Paul said that “[when] the Lord comes, he will bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts…”
How should we feel about the coming Age of Exposure? I have three personal responses. First, when I consider that one day I will stand before God’s all-seeing eye in Judgment, I am compelled to presently voluntarily confess what I know about myself to God. Whatever is confessed voluntarily now “will be separated from us as far as the East is from the West.” I want my sins to appear before God with a stamp on them that reads “Forgiven”. You should want that as well!
Second, when I consider that God currently sees everything that I say and do, not only in public but in private, that causes me to desire to walk circumspectly and to guard my behavior and my words. As the Apostle Peter puts it, “if you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear.” (1 Peter 1:17)
Third and finally, I praise God and give him thanks for allowing us to live in this current Age of Exposure for it awakens us to the coming Day of Judgment. No one living today can pretend any longer that what is said or done “in private” doesn’t matter. No one living today can pretend any longer that something is ok so long as “no one finds out” or “no one sees”. This Age of Exposure is a merciful reminder of our ultimate exposure before God. God, in his severe mercy, is allowing these public disclosures so that every one of us might take heed and prepare ourselves for the Age of Exposure.