For many Adventists, Michael and Lindy Chamberlain would have remained almost unknown if their story of being convicted for the murder of their nine-month-old daughter had not been made into a movie in 1988. Ironically, “A Cry In the Dark” starring Meryl Streep thrust Seventh-day Adventism into the international spotlight. Equally ironically, because this movie featured the story of an Adventist pastor and his family, countless Adventists broke from Adventist practice and went to theaters to see it.
The story behind the movie is tragic. Michael and Lindy Chamberlain went camping with their three children in Australia’s Northern Territory in 1980. The baby Azariah disappeared during the camping trip, and Lindy insisted a wild dog called a dingo had snatched the child. Evidence was scarce, and ultimately Lindy was accused of murdering the child, and Michael was accused of being an accessory to the crime. The body was never found. The Adventists worked behind the scenes to assure that the Chamberlain’s Adventism would not prejudice the courts. Indeed, some people had suggested that perhaps baby Azariah’s death was a blood sacrifice required by their religion.
In 1982 Lindy was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison; Michael was convicted as “an accessory after the fact” and given a suspended sentence. In 1986 a piece of the baby Azariah’s clothing was found near a dingo lair. Lindy was released from prison, and in 1988 all charges against both Michael and Lindy were overturned.
In 1990, however, Michael and Lindy’s marriage ended in divorce. Both of them remarried; Michael married Ingrid Bergner in 1994. Chamberlain became a teacher and eventually earned a PhD and held the position of Conjoint Fellow at both The University of Newcastle and at Avondale College. Meanwhile, however, Michael continued his attempts to establish the truth about his daughter’s death, and another inquest was held in 1995 with “open” findings, but in 2012, a fourth inquest yielded a coroner’s findings that baby Azariah Chamberlain had been killed by a dingo.
Last week on Monday, January 9, 2017, Michael Chamberlain died from complications of acute leukemia. The funeral was held at the Seventh-Day Adventist Avondale College Church in Cooranbong in Australia this week on Monday, January 16. In spite of the fact that he was ultimately vindicated of his daughter’s death and the true cause was established in court, Michael Chamberlain died feeling that he still lacked closure. Chamberlain’s attorney Stuart Tipple said after the service that Michael had been seeking an apology from the Northern Territory but had not received it. He had also been working to have a memorial plaque erected at the rock where the family had been camping when Azariah disappeared. The Northern Territory’s chief minister has said the government will look into providing a formal apology.
Statements at the funeral reveal both the sympathy and the admiration those who knew Michael had for him. At the same time, the statements reveal the underlying physicality and despair of his community’s Adventism. His son Aiden said his father was “a great man in so many ways, yet so broken and crushed in many others.” He concluded with, “You did the best that you could.”
His wife Ingrid’s comments reflect their belief that only at the second coming will people attain heaven: “Well, Michael, we will meet again; so, if you’re trying to get away from me, sorry. When Jesus comes, I’m going to be with you for eternity as well.”
His friend and former pastor concluded his homily by imagining himself in conversation with Chamberlain “on that resurrection morning.” He said, “‘We sat together as your big, extended, diverse family and we smiled and laughed and cried about soup, and rainbow trout, and motorbikes, and Martinsville Road races. We celebrated those sweet moments of reconciliation in strong-minded families. We flew a flag for Jesus.’ And in my imagination, Michael smiles, he smiles.”
Observations
While Michael Chamberlain’s story is tragic, reflecting a life of profound and undeserved suffering, it also reveals something more. Even at his funeral the only “hope” mentioned is the eventual second coming, an event when the dead will be raised, and according to Adventist theology, people will learn their eternal destiny. Only then will they know if they are saved or lost.
From a Christian perspective, the gospel is glaringly absent. Even his colleague and former pastor does not mention being alive with the Lord as part of his thoughts about eternity, much less as part of Michael’s present condition in death. The Adventist belief in “soul sleep”—the notion that because man does not posses an immaterial spirit—makes death a vacuum. For the survivors, the person Michael Chamberlain does not exist now except as a memory of God.
Moreover, although Michael was known as a highly religious man, nothing in the accounts of his story nor of his death reflect the impact of the atonement of the Lord Jesus on his life. He struggled and worked for justice, but even though he received vindication and a legal declaration of the truth of his daughter’s death, he died lacking closure. His life was shaped by being doubted, condemned, and the object of prejudice, and the distress over not having received an official apology went with him to his death.
Michael Chamberlain lived a life of persistent pursuit of justice. His Adventism, however, blinded him to the eternal justice of the Lord Jesus becoming sin for us and setting those who believe free from all the things from which the law cannot free us. While we cannot know how the Lord Jesus dealt with Michael’s heart before he died, we can know that his Adventist community needs the gospel. They need the assurance that our faithful Father is the One who owns vengeance, and because of the Lord Jesus’ death and resurrection, all evil will be judged. We can release to Him our “rights” to get even and to insist that our reputations are vindicated. We can find our true identities in Him. We can rest, because we know He keeps His promises.
Sources:
http://wp.avondale.edu.au/news/2017/01/17/time-to-say-sorry-to-decent-man/
http://www.9news.com.au/national/2017/01/16/03/31/michael-chamberlain-to-be-farewelled
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindy_Chamberlain-Creighton
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