November 06, 2006
Indiscretions
The news reports about Rev. Tom Haggard are disturbing and discouraging. I grieve for his family and his congregation, yet as the allegations prove accurate I rejoice at the exposure. King David is a perfect example of God exposing indiscretions in order to bring about repentance. It’s hard to think where David’s life would have gone if God not confronted him by revealing his sin to others. In time Mr. Haggard too will heal, but right now I imagine he’s feeling like he’s been chewed up and spit out. Jesus said, “If your hand or your foot causes you to sin cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.” (Matt 18:8-9 NIV) As tragic as Mr. Haggard’s situation appears to be, there are things worse than exposure.
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Gail;
----I do not know how much information is out there on Haggard. I have heard that he confessed to buying crack out of curiosity, and that he was tempted to use it. I have heard that he paid for massages from his accuser, and that that was all they were. I have heard that his accuser stands on the opposite side of a hot political issue, accuses him of purchasing crack on a continous basis, and paid for lascivious acts with him. I have heard that his accuser has failed a lie detector test given him during a radio program. I know there is 100 times more facts about this case than what I have heard, therefoe I know any conclusion that I might draw will be based on less than 1/100th of all the pertinant information that might affect any conclusion if known.
----I grieve for him and his family not because "this horrible thing has come out." I grieve for them because a mere handful of mishandlable will stand at the front of a regiment of inacurate conclusions. I grieve that as time passes and brings out more relevant facts very few of those conclusions will change because of strong loyal to first-impressions.
----I drew two points out of this situation immediately: 1) you don't really know anything until you really know everything, and 2) Christians are much better off presenting their broken, still erring self to the world first, rather than expressing their ighteousness in Christ (which really is not theirs, but is only imputed.) I hammer on the point (probably to excess) that we are all entangled in sin at one level or another, and should remember to be open and honest about that. The Psalmist reminds us that our own efforts in righteousness are still dirty rags. So I have always detested the soapy faced, pressed shirt, Mr. Sunday school, squeaky clean impression that is so often served to John Q Public by the dedicated Christian. That is a fragile and vulnerable image. Therefore, the business card that I pass out to the public reads at the bottom, "Imperfect representative of Jesus Christ, anyone's hero," because I want to have the first shot at presenting the truth about my fallibility. That way my foe does not have the advantage of the shock-factor.
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