Ted Haggard

"Defend the Bible? I would just as soon defend a lion. Just turn
the Bible loose. It will defend itself." Charles H. Spurgeon

I've been so bothered by the Ted Haggard scandal. Perhaps not the way one might think. I wake several times a night to pray for his family. The feelings of shame he must feel facing his wife and children must be enormous. Frankly I'm very impressed with how he has handled it. It has given me confidence in his faith.

Christians are no different than anyone else in the temptation/sin department. We struggle, we war within ourselves, we justify. Ted said in his letter to his congregation that he'd experience times of victory over his temptations, then fall again. That so resonates with me. My sin is gluttony. To an onlooker that may be a silly comparison, but it's an area I've had victory over, then have fallen into again and again. Because I fall so easily and so quickly back into my sin patterns, I can totally identify with Ted in the victory/sin pendulum. Only because my sin isn't one that deals enormous loads of shame to others, is my present state any different than his. Because of my own "on-the-wagon, off-the-wagon" sin patterns, I can feel enormous empathy for him. Circumstances alone separate my condition from Ted's. Perhaps I would do something just as vile and hypocritical were I in his shoes. I can only thank God I've never been in Ted's shoes.

I went to the Colorado Springs newspaper yesterday and read some of the comments from the locals regarding the scandal. My heart was so heavy afterwards. Ted was bashed frontwards, backwards, and sidewards. Christianity was accosted. God was mocked. A couple well-meaning Christians got caught in the web of trying to defend and sympathize with Ted's condition. I personally find it a losing battle and one that Christians should avoid. The Bible is complex for a believer. We have to weigh verses against one another trying to understand the will of God. Galations comes to mind: We are told to "bear one another's burdens" and "carry our own burdens" within such a short amount of space. Sometimes we are left with "huh?" It requires context and enormous attention to the spirit of the word to grasp it. How on earth can we expect a non-believer to understand our guide-book when those of us who read it regularly grapple with so many seemingly unclear passages?

1 Corinthians 1:18: "For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." We are expecting too much when we want the ungodly to understand the scriptures. They cannot and will not understand it as anything except foolishness.

Telling an unbeliever, as one well meaning Christian did in the Colorado Springs newspaper, that one sin is no worse than another in the eyes of God is bound to be ludicrous. Comparing Ted's hypocrisy and homosexual acts with my gluttony is silly to someone who hasn't read the Bible as the inspired Word of God.

To the world, our faith is foolishness. Our reliance on the Bible for our guidelines for living is silly. We cannot explain it to those without the Holy Spirit within them. ONLY the Holy Spirit can reveal it to a person.

I loved what the Associate Pastor of New Life Church said on Sunday after reading Ted's letter. It was something like this: "We are hurting more than we were last week. But we are healthier than we were last week." Amen and amen.