My mother says that I played in the floor of our living room while the Watergate hearings played out on our television. That must have been the first time I ever heard the name “Chuck Colson.” Several years later, I found in our little Woolmarket Baptist Church library, a copy of his book Born Again. The book was about Colson’s conversion to Christ, and his faith while a prisoner for his Watergate crimes. It was a testimony, an extended conversion story.
For whatever reason, the book deeply impressed me then. Colson was different from so many of the celebrity Christians I’d ever heard of. His book lacked the superficiality, the swagger, the self-promotion, not to mention the culture war hobby-horsing, that characterized so many of them. I’m convinced the Lord used that book to prompt me down the path toward ministry.
Today Mr. Colson gives his testimony over at Slate magazine. Slate has launched a new series examining how people have changed their minds. Mr. Colson here talks about his transition from Watergate felon to Christian leader. It is worth reading. I wonder how rarely we see this kind of opportunity, for a Christian to answer civil questions in the public arena about how he embraced Christ and what he believes?
As I was reading this article, my iPod, set to play songs randomly, played Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama,” with its line, “Watergate doesn’t bother me. Does your conscience bother you? Tell the truth.”
I hope this Colson testimony/interview prompts others to start thinking about what it means to be guilty, and what it means to be set free by the blood of Christ.
