David Gives Uriah a Letter, by Pieter Lastman, 1619, in the Leiden Collection.

I was recently asked how Christians should balance grace and accountability on the Unleashing Generosity podcast. Are evangelicals judging leaders who commit sexual sins too harshly? Would King David just be cancelled in the church today?

Part of my answer:

Everyone should hopefully find some way towards restoration. I don’t see any reason that needs to include being in power. If someone gets cancelled, it might be grace that that person got canelled. Power is also a temptation….
We talk about David. I don’t see any evidence in that story or in Scripture that it was a good idea that one man could have another man killed because he was attracted to his wife. He shouldn’t have had that much power in the first place. The prophet Samuel told the people ‘You don’t want a king. This is a problem for one man to have this much power’ (1 Sam 8:10-18).
I think it would have been grace to David if they had taken away the power to rape a woman and kill her husband. That would have been good for him. It would have been good for Bathsheba and Uriah. And it would be good for us.

You can hear the full interview, where I talks about my book, how my faith informs with my reporting on sexual abuse, and why I’m not a dog person, on your preferred podcast app or online here.