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This Lost Person

Thoughts on the O.J. Debacle

by Dennis Pollock

When I came home that night I was in for a shock. My son had been trying to watch the Bulls/Knicks NBA finals, but the game had been preempted by the unusual sight of a white Ford Bronco cruising down a Los Angeles freeway, leading a large number of police cars in its wake. My twelve year old son informed me that O.J. Simpson was in the car, was running from the police, had a gun to his head, and was threatening to commit suicide.

It was heart-sickening to me to think how low this man had fallen from the athletic superstar and good-guy commercial pitchman we all knew him to be. Like nearly all the rest of the nation, I sat and watched with amazement and wonder at what the outcome might be. How does a man go from the heights of popularity, wealth, and the American dream to become the police's only suspect in the vicious stabbing murder of his ex-wife and an unknown twenty-five year old waiter?

Since that time, a preliminary hearing has resulted in the decision to hold O.J. for a court trial. While the hearing was going on, a media feeding frenzy broke out. The newspapers, news magazines, tabloids, and television news programs have unearthed previous histories and bits of evidence (both legitimate and spurious). They have also conducted interviews with old friends, knife salesmen, neighbors, and anyone who had even the remotest knowledge of O.J. Simpson, his ex-wife Nicole, or Ron Goldman.

In attempting to present a Christian perspective on the whole sordid mess, it must be kept in mind that Mr. Simpson has not been proven guilty, and it would be improper to assume that he is the killer of his ex-wife. It has, however been made unmistakably clear that he was a wife abuser, violent and aggressive, and a radically different man than the smiling, pleasant fellow who sprinted through airports and drank lots of orange juice.

The most startling evidence of this, of course, was the dramatic 911 call that Nicole Simpson made on the night of October 25, 1993. Once again, I could hardly believe my ears when I heard the tape played by the media. Nicole was clearly fearful for her life as she frantically pleaded with the 911 operator to send the police. O.J.'s screaming and cursing in the background while Nicole begged him to please leave made it quite clear that there was another side to this man who made an after-football career of being a professional nice guy. When the operator asked Nicole, "Has this happened before?" the pathetic reply was simply, "Many times."

Lessons from Disaster

Life has a way of forcing truth in our faces — oftentimes those truths that we work so feverishly to deny or suppress. Allow me to present three of the obvious Scriptural truths that this tragedy affirms.

The "beautiful life" is often not so pretty — While they were married, O.J. and Nicole appeared to be the very epitome of the "beautiful life." Physically attractive and fit, wealthy beyond most people's dreams, they turned heads wherever they went.

In her 1992 divorce petition, Nicole described the life they shared: "We moved into a $5 million residence in the exclusive area of Brentwood. We had a full staff to assist us. We also spent our summers at a $1.9 million Laguna Beach house, which is situated on the sand. This house was never rented but only kept for our own enjoyment during the summer and at other times during the year. We have an apartment in New York, which I used several times each year, sometimes for as long as one month at a time..."

She went on to describe annual trips to Hawaii, Vail, and Aspen, and spoke of receiving an allowance of $6,000 a month in spending money. Summing it up she declared with understatement, "The lifestyle that [O.J.] and I shared was truly substantial."

The Simpsons

It was the beautiful life. Millions of Americans would have changed identities with them in a second if only it were possible. But behind the twin Ferraris and the celebrity-filled parties, the multi-million dollar homes and the glamorous smiles, there was ample evidence of rage, violence, and a relationship that was not working. O.J.'s possessiveness and Nicole's free spirit proved to be a volatile combination.

Police were reported to have been called to their home to settle domestic fights at least eight times. After one especially brutal fight, witnesses said O.J. had screamed repeatedly: "I'll kill you." This was far from the "happily ever after" marriage every girl dreams of.

What a condemnation of the so-called "beautiful life" that so many Americans covet! Behind the pretty wrapping paper and ornate bows lurked that hideous monster the Bible calls sin. How often this is true among the rich and famous. While most never make the papers for a horrible double murder, how many marriages are just as miserable, as hopeless, and as pathetic as the Simpsons.

How true are the words of the Scriptures: "There is one who makes himself rich, yet has nothing; and one who makes himself poor, yet has great riches" (Proverbs 13:7). The things Americans prize so highly   beauty, wealth, and fame — prove often to be hollow and unsatisfying in the end.

I think of what Corrie Ten Boom, the Dutch evangelist, once said about the wonderful relationship her parents had, as a result of their love for Jesus. She told how one day her mother slumped over at the kitchen sink with a heart attack. Realizing she was dying, she spoke lovingly to her husband (Corrie's father) as he held her in his arms: "Oh, Papa, we've had such a wonderful life together." They had been poor all their married life. He had been a lowly watchmaker and repairman. But Jesus had liberally shed abroad the love of God in their hearts for one another and for others, and their life had truly been "rich" in the very best sense of the word. They were not "beautiful people" in this world's view, but in God's eyes they had surely found favor.

Human love always comes up short — In the letter O.J. wrote just before temporarily disappearing from sight, he said of Nicole: "I loved her, always have and always will. If we had a problem, it's because I loved her so much." Mr. Simpson may have known a lot about how to run forty yards with a football, but he evidently knew little about the nature of real love.

God's definition of love states: "Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked..." (1 Corinthians 13:4,5). Had the love he professed for Nicole been of this nature, there would have been no need for panicky 911 calls in the night.

The truth is, the unregenerated heart simply does not have the capacity for this kind of love. It is too high a standard. It cannot be achieved by good intentions, exertions of willpower, or the world's finest marriage counselors.

The Scriptures tell us: "The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us." This is the answer to troubled marriages, broken relationships, and splintered families.

The problem with human "love" is that it springs from a heart that is rooted in selfishness. Hence our deep emotional feelings for people always revolve around what they can do for us. As long as they fulfill us, satisfy us, flatter us, and meet our every need, we can usually manage some feelings for them. But sooner or later they will disappoint us, or lose some of their appeal, and then our "love" dissolves and is no more.

The Glory Days

The saying goes, "We always hurt the ones we love." The truth is, we always hurt the ones we love less than ourselves! Man's greatest love has always been with himself, and until that root of selfishness is broken through a new birth experience with Jesus Christ, he will go through life vainly groping for a love he is incapable of producing.

Man's greatest need is a new heart, not a new leaf — O.J. Simpson had a conversion of sorts when he was a teenager. At fifteen years of age, Simpson lived in a poor neighborhood in San Francisco he once described as "your average black ghetto." He had been involved with gangs, stole hubcaps, picked fights, shot craps, and skipped school. Later he declared, "Our gangs...were full of guys who didn't know right from wrong and couldn't have cared less."

After a gang fight landed O.J. in jail, the supervisor of the local recreation center arranged for the local sports hero, Willie Mays, to spend a day with the talented, but troubled young man. After seeing the beautiful mansion Mays lived in, and realizing the enormous benefits our society pays athletes who rise to the top of their sport, Simpson determined to change his ways and grab his own piece of the American pie.

As his spectacular ability to run with the football gained him national attention, O.J. discovered he had another, less obvious talent, which proved quite valuable. He had the ability to make almost everyone like him. His good looks and charming ways made him many friends. The desire for popularity emerged and took a prominent place in his personality. In his book, O.J.: The Education of a Rich Rookie, he said, "I didn't want to be O.J. Simpson, running back. I wanted to be O.J. Simpson, a good guy. I'm happy to admit it: I really enjoyed being liked."

And so the reborn O.J. Simpson emerged, smiling and likable, and Americans nodded their approval. Yet we now know that this same man beat his wife, smashed down doors, and cursed profusely. In his supposed "suicide letter" he declared, "Please think of the real O.J. and not this lost person." But who was the real O.J.? The humble athlete who gave his offensive linemen the credit for his accomplishments on the field? The clean cut sportscaster in the nifty blazer? Or the violent abusive husband who knocked down doors and screamed curses at his wife?

What we have here is the classic example of the kid who was taken out of the ghetto, but the ghetto was never taken out of him. At age 46 Simpson hadn't lived in poverty in a very long time. Fancy limousines and three piece suits had long ago replaced crap games and street fights. O.J.'s "conversion" by Willie Mays had created in him a drive to be successful, but had failed to produce the new heart that the Bible tells us is so necessary. Low class selfishness had been replaced with high class selfishness, but it was selfishness just the same.

Laying the Axe to the Root

The Bible has a lot to say about the natural human heart, and none of it is good. Jeremiah tells us it is "deceitful above all things and desperately wicked" (Jeremiah 17: 9). Ecclesiastes states that the heart is full of evil and madness (Ecclesiastes 9:3). In the Psalms the heart is called perverse and proud (Psalm 101:4,5), and in Ezekiel it is called adulterous (Ezekiel 6:9). Jesus stated that the heart is the source of all evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, and blasphemies (Matthew 15:19). The apostle Paul calls this wicked heart "the old man" (Ephesians 4:22), and makes it plain that no amount of education, reformation, or asceticism can blunt its evil influence over human behavior.

This root of sin lies within every man, black and white, rich and poor, eloquent and illiterate, and mocks our feeble attempts to educate it out of existence.

It is only through Christ that God has provided the one and only answer to the sinful nature that bubbles and ferments within every descendant of Adam. God's solution is simple: execution. The Scriptures tell us that, in some wonderful way, our old nature was put to death with Christ on the cross (Romans 6:6), and that when we put our faith in Him, and receive Him as Savior and Lord of our lives, we share in the power of His resurrection and are set free from sin's terrible grip. "For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law, but under grace" (Romans 6:14).

Willie Mays could lift O.J.'s sights above the ghetto, but only Jesus Christ can change a man's wicked heart and forgive all his sins. "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, behold all things have become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17).