Clifford Hill discusses the recent hacking of Ashley Madison, the renowned adultery website.
Older readers will remember the saying "cheats never prosper". Perhaps the 39 million people who signed up to the Canada-based Ashley Madison website should have thought about this before putting their emails and their personal details onto the site that guaranteed them privacy. That privacy has now been brutally torn asunder and a generation of adulterers is facing the reality of their secret sexual encounters being exposed, not only to their partners but also to the world.
Untold Consequences
The Ashley Madison website, with its strapline "Life is short. Have an affair", guaranteed complete secrecy to its clients until hackers succeeded in breaking through the site's security. After failing to persuade the owners of Ashley Madison to close down their operation, they first made the hacked information available on the dark internet, but it very quickly went viral. The consequences of this may be serious not only in endangering many marriages, but even putting lives at risk in countries where adultery and homosexuality are capital offences, such as Saudi Arabia.
The Ashley Madison scandal will not only endanger marriages, but could cause further oppression via blackmail and even put lives at risk.
The exposure of the infidelity site is not only threatening to break up marriages and other relationships of trust; the information could be used by blackmailers and others who wish to cause harm to rivals and competitors. A number of the emails that have been published are said to have Government addresses, which could mean that civil servants or MPs are at risk of public exposure of their infidelities.
Unprecedented Scale
Of course, adulterous affairs are not new to this generation and history is full of them, but what makes this latest exposure unique is the sheer scale of those who responded to the opportunity for a clandestine sexual relationship, in the belief that there was complete confidentiality. As a result they not only gave personal details including names, credit card numbers, sexual fantasies and preferences, but some even included nude photographs.
The development of internet dating sites has created the opportunity for unlimited infidelity, plus the offer of casual sex with the promise of availability, anonymity and affordability. This has clearly proved a temptation that millions of people have been unable to resist. In the 14 years that Ashley Madison has been in existence, it has garnered a staggering 39 million clients willing to risk the trust of those who are closest to them (1 million of these clients are said to be based in Britain).
The internet has created the opportunity for unlimited infidelity - clearly a temptation that millions have been unable to resist.
The first step was internet sites that simply offered introductions and dating opportunities, but this soon progressed to more carnal activities with sites such as Grindr offering gay and bisexual relationships. But this has been dwarfed by the massive response of heterosexuals seeking adulterous affairs.
Cross-sector Exposure
The exposure of cheating is not confined to adultery; sport is another recent activity to come under the spotlight, with first cycling and now athletics facing widespread charges of medals having been won by the use of performance-enhancing drugs. Lord Coe, the newly-elected head of world athletics (International Association of Athletics Federations) has vowed to clean up the sport, but it may take a long time to root out all the cheats.
Similar soul-searching is running through the banking sector, revealing cheating on a massive scale in the rigging of the Libor rate. Banks are facing heavy fines for the actions of their dishonest employees who made millions of dollars and pounds for themselves and their shareholders.
As the searchlight of truth is turned onto one institution after another, the sheer scale of cheating being exposed is breathtaking. It is only a generation ago that cheating was considered to be one of the most heinous of sins in sport, in exams, in business and especially in marriage and family life. Cheating sportsmen were drummed out of their sport: cheating students were expelled from school or university: cheating businessmen were thrown out of their employment and cheating in marriage was universally condemned.
The sheer scale of cheating being exposed is breathtaking. Only a generation ago, cheating was considered to be one of the most heinous of sins – whether in sport, education, business or family life.
Crumbled Foundations
So what's gone wrong with Western society today? Surely there can only be one reason why this should happen in nations with a long-standing Judaeo-Christian heritage, where biblical standards of honesty have been the cornerstone of business life and personal behaviour for centuries. The answer has to be that we have abandoned the Bible as the foundation stone of Western civilisation. The result, ultimately, is moral anarchy – everyone making up their own personal ethics, with little care for the lives of those closest to them and no care at all for the good of wider society.
The sad truth is that most children and young people under the age of 30 have little or no knowledge of biblical principles of right and wrong, truth and falsehood, so they have no plumb-line of truth for judging personal or social behaviour. Unless there is a moral and spiritual revival and a re-discovery of the Christian faith and its values, things can only get worse. At the present rate of secularisation we face a virtual collapse of family life, which will be followed by the inevitable breakdown of social order.
Grace and Truth
In light of this drastic outlook, how can we respond to the Ashley Madison scandal? It's easy to point the finger at others while ignoring our own faults. The teaching of the New Testament is that "no immoral, impure or greedy person has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God" (Eph 5:5). So our first reaction ought to be to examine ourselves to ensure that we live as children of the light, which means not only exposing deeds of darkness but also being those who uphold righteousness and truth in every situation. If we truly live as followers of Jesus we should be radiating love and goodness to those around us.
Our first reaction ought to be to examine ourselves to ensure that we live as children of the light, which means not only exposing deeds of darkness but also being those who uphold righteousness and truth in every situation.
We ought also to be praying for those whose lives are being shattered by the exposure of their names on the Ashley Madison website. Pray for forgiveness in their marriages and the healing of relationships so that good comes out of evil. Especially pray for the children caught up in broken family relationships. Only God can bring healing, love, forgiveness and true repentance out of our human tragedies. Let's ask the Father to reach out to those in need and transform their lives.
