Note To Ted Haggard

Charisma Magazine reports in a recent article that defrocked minister, Ted Haggard is upset with the Church because he claims it hasn’t helped him be restored to the ministry.

You remember Ted Haggard, he was the dude who was preaching against homosexuality while allegedly engaging in drug-fueled sexual conduct with his homosexual masseur. (It should be noted Haggard denies the relationship was buggery-based).

Complaining about his treatment since his rather public defrocking Charisma reports Haggard as saying: “The church only believes in forgiveness and restoration for insignificant people . . . Virtually every institution on earth is demonstrating that they’re doing a better job restoring people than the church.”

I have a question for Ted: Who are the “insignificant people”? Are they all the people who don’t have high profile television ministries?  Is it lawyers become bloggers or readers of blogs by lawyers become bloggers? Is he talking about you and me, you know, all the little people for whom he made evangelism more difficult because all non-Christians wanted to talk about were the “hypocrite  televangelists like Ted Haggard”? I don’t know, I’m just guessing.

Ted doesn’t seem to get it. The Church is great at restoring people, better than any institution I know. But forgiveness and restoration doesn’t necessarily mean returning one to the same position. There are consequences to sin, especially sin that is so public and hypocritical.

If the Church is supposed to be about reaching the lost, how wise would it be for a church to hire Haggard and put him out front? I’m sure the Church can forgive Haggard, but if the Church is refusing to give Haggard back the keys to the store, I would accuse it of wisdom before accusing it of unforgiveness. GS

4 thoughts on “Note To Ted Haggard”

  1. Thanks for your reflection–all are significant in God’s sight. Yes there is a difference between forgiveness and restoration. I think an important middle-step is missing — reconciliation. None of which is a quick fix–all require time, deliberation, seeking God’s counsel and re-establishing trust.

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