No one should be made to feel...ALONE!!!

[Alone by King's X from Ogre Tones]

"Find inner peace and thousands around you will find their salvation."

St. Seraphim of Serov

[via Bruce's World]

Cheap and Legal

I have no interest in rehashing the sanctification debate, so this is the only thing I’m going to say about Haggard. There’s two options he’s likely to face:

First, there is cheap grace, the most popular option these days for most sins. Cheap grace says, “It’s okay, everybody sins some times.” Or, “Everybody else does it.” And then, “We’re saved by grace, so you’re forgiven!” Then it pats you on the back and you go on your way, thinking that everything is fine.

The other option is legalism. Legalism says, “If you don’t measure up to our standards, you can’t be in our club.” Or, “A real Christian would never do that.” And then, “The Kingdom of God is not for likes of you.” And then, “Then it kicks you out and you go on your way thinking that you can never be saved.

Both of these are wrong....

Haggard has happened to hit one of the only sins that still offends the conscience of American Christians, so he probably won’t get cheap grace. He probably will get a lot of legalism. However, I pray that God will grant him true repentance.

[via The Boars Head Tavern, HT: The Bush League Theologian]

Wolves 1, Sheeps 0

[via Moral Contradictions]

Ted Haggard, Grace and Hypocrisy

[via I am a Christian Too]

Broadening the Gap?

Over the past few days, I have been watching the coverage of the Rev. Ted Haggard fiasco carefully to see how many journalists understand one of the most important facts in this story.

What is that fact? Haggard is not a leader of the old Religious Right. For many people, he was the charismatic face of a more moderate brand of evangelicalism that backs the traditional Christian doctrines on the hot issues linked to sex and marriage, but also carries that “Culture of Life” emphasis over into discussions of poverty, the environment, the spread of AIDS, economic justice in the Third World and other issues.

Yet, at the same time, he was one of the new “moderate” evangelicals who had not lost the trust of the old-guard evangelical alpha males symbolized by Dr. James Dobson and Charles Colson. Haggard was a bridge personality, in other words. This made him an important figure for the White House, since he was an evangelical — but not among the old faces that everyone is used to seeing on the cable TV shows (think Pat Robertson) that President Bush has avoided like the plague....

While many focus on the impact of the scandal on Republican politics, it is much more important for journalists to ask how it may or may not affect the fault lines within modern evangelicalism....The issue is whether the evangelical agenda narrows and narrows and narrows, while the old guard lose trust in the leaders who are trying to take their place.

[via Get Religion]

Come clean, Ted: My advice to Pastor Haggard... and to myself

[via Blue Christian ~ On a Red Background]

Scandal's Not A Spiritual Gift?

I grew up in the Assemblies of God, the world's largest Pentecostal movement and over the years, I met many, many ministers with tremendous integrity, compassion and ability. But I also noticed that a disturbing percentage of the "marquee name" Pentecostal preachers seem to end up bringing shame on themselves and the church....

Now there's Haggard, admitting to some unspecified transgressions. Haggard, who describes himself as a Southern Baptist, nonetheless embraces pentecostal-charismatic theology -- such as speaking in tongues, the laying on of hands for healing, prophecy and other "gifts of the Spirit."

Certainly, no religious group has a monopoly on clergy misconduct. And as I noted at the top, most of the Pentecostal preachers I have known were hard-working, loving, faithful people. But why is it that many of the biggest names in the Pentecostal movement -- over and over again -- end up disgracing themselves and the church as a whole?

[via Bible Belt Blogger]

No Moral Superiority

Here's my two cents:

1. Does it really surprise anyone that Christians aren't able to live up to the moral standards they profess to believe. King David couldn't, the apostle Peter couldn't, the apostle Paul couldn't (Romans 7 anyone?). So why should we be surprised when someone like Ted Haggard has such a fall?

2. In light of the above, this illustrates the folly of Christians who campaign on a platform of moral authority. Morality is a very "law based" thing, and as Romans 8:3ff illustrate, law (and moral standards?) is uniquely ill-equipped to combat sin.

3. In light of both of the above the thing that distinguishes Christians from others is not our moral superiority or moral authority, it is our identity as recipients of grace. ....

But lets also be careful that we not assume some moral superiority to, or moral authority over, Ted Haggard. Those of us who do not base our ministries on moral superiority and moral authority may feel morally superior to those who do. We may feel morally superior because we rely on grace not moral superiority.

The truth is, I am Ted Haggard, we are all Ted Haggard, and Ted Haggard is all of us. And may God have mercy me, on Ted and on all of us.

[via JollyBlogger]

Internal Affairs

In a scenario reminiscent of the Jim Bakker scandal decades ago, Ted Haggard, pastor of a 14,000 member Evangelical Church in Colorado Springs and one of the heads of the National Association of Evangelicals who has led the charge in the state by state organizing against gay marriage, has at least for now stepped aside from pastoring his church. Why? Because Mike Jones of Denver says that the 50 year old pastor, married with five children, has been having same sex sexual relations and doing metamphetamines with him for three years! The acting pastor, Ross Parsley told KKTV-TV that Haggard had confessed to him that some of the allegations were true. It remains to be seen which ones....

What happens internally to the menopausal male is that there is a biological clock ticking which sends the subtle message that time is running out on one's sexual life, and "its now or never" if one is going to have some sort of fling or walk on the wild side. This internal prompt leads to immoral behavior. Sometimes, the person is not even aware of what is happening to him until it is too late. Yes, its possible to be oblivious to the subtle and subconscious forces that are driving one's life. This is especially likely to happen to A type personalities who are very goal driven and not introspective, and indeed do not receive critiques or corrections at all well. In other words, it is likely to happen to those with narcissistic personalities which are very self-centered, which at the bottom reflects a very weak ego.

I do not know how much of this applies to Ted Haggard. What I do know is this-- I have seen many good ministries destroyed due to lack of proper accountability and lack of good marital relationships, and lack of spiritual formation of the leader himself. Its time to change the climate and culture of leadership in many parts of the Evangelical world. We could start with Ephesians 5.21-- "let all submit to one another out of reverence for Christ". We could add to this "confess your sins to one another and pray for each other so that you may be healed" (James. 5.16).

[via Ben Witherington]