Ousted Pastor Outed?

Or: There's No Gays in Muddville? - (Colorado Springs)
Nobody's really happy about this sad affair of disgraced pastor Ted Haggard in Colorado. Churches sure aren't; "evangelicals" won't like the connection; bad publicity for Colorado here; and even "liberals" won't be able to swallow the association of a "conservative pastor" in homosexual activity, which these days should only be for the "chosen special few". oOo

Unless gay rights activists are glad that this "outing" takes place just before Tuesday's ballot when Colorado voters decide on 2 bills concerning same-sex marriage? oOo

Sorry for the flimsy title allusion, but I have to ask: is it now ("politically") correct that Rev. Haggard should be considered gay for having engaged in homosexual acts?

Haggard had acknowledged on Friday that he paid Mike Jones of Denver for a "massage" and for methamphetamine. [therefore, probably some sort of drug-induced sex. ] oOo
Jones is quoted, "My intent was never to destroy his family. My intent was to expose a hypocrite." [ Not to expose that he was doing anything wrong, like homosexual activity - but that he was doing it and hiding it! ] oOo

About Jone's motives, (who said he himself is gay), we know that Jones was upset when he discovered who Haggard was and that Haggard's church opposed same-sex marriage. So exposing this deceit and hypocrisy could have a positive effect for the pro-homo side.

Haggard wrote in a confessional letter to his church "because of pride, I began deceiving those I love the most..." and "The fact is I am guilty of sexual immorality. And I take responsibility for the entire problem. I am a deceiver and a liar."

Strong words, right to the point, and not easy for ANYONE to admit or say!
oOo And, dare I add, not the kind of language we ever heard a certain Bill Clinton own up to! oOo [ but that's another "politically correct" story, isn't it...?] oOo

So a man is found to be living a lie and a double-life, who strongly and with influence opposed a certain sin, while engaging in it himself, struggling with it, hiding it - "deceiving those I love the most" - is this therefore "hypocrisy"?

oOo Is hypocrisy the #1 sin of our day?
oOo Or is it something else? oOo oOo

Haggard, age 50, said "I am a deceiver and a liar. There's a part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I have been warring against it for all of my adult life".

so repulsive and dark: sounds like Rev. Haggard knows, or at the least has decided, that this thing in his life is wrong and a deadly serious issue. It has now affected a far greater range of life than just his personal relationships.
I have been warring against it for all of my adult life: we know that the Boomer generation is screwed-up, from all of the free-living, sexually overwhelming upbringing and" so-called liberal" free-thinking attitudes of the American dark ages in the 60's-80's... oOo

oOo Many of us have struggled with serious personal defects most of our adult lives , often acting-out in destructive behaviors, but something in us still realizes that these issues are evils in us, and we are warring against them. oOo oOo oOo

In our culture now it's OK to glorify all types of "sin" or immoral behavior -

• murder is OK if you are the Sopranos or horror/slasher screenplay writers...
• sexual abuse is OK if you are porn amateurs/actors or semi-demi street thugs turned rappers...
• adultery is OK if you're Desperate Housewives or not even married but "living (sleeping) together"...
• lying and pride are OK if it advances your career or stock portfolio, or if you cheat on exams/papers to get your degree...
• These are Not OK if you do them secretly, (ie. decieve others with your 'hypocrisy")- but if you openly flaunt them as acceptable behavior you are applauded for your "honesty"...!?

So, Which is the greatest sin? Was Rev. Haggard's greatest sin that of hypocrisy - or was it adultery? Maybe lying to cover-up? How about pride? Maybe that he committed homosexual acts as the Bible condemns? [At this point I'm seeing a man kneeling down to the ground, making marks in the sand, and I'm wondering what he's going to say...] oOo

oOo I don't know what to say about Rev. Haggard and this current affair, but I'd say our greatest sin is none of these. Rather, it is the same sin it's always been, and for Every/Anyone: oOo

the sin of failing to acknowledge that Jesus is the only true human manifestation of God on the earth, the only human being ever risen to live again from the dead,

this Jesus being the only one we can really trust to know the truth about ourselves, this world, and the solutions to the evil and suffering our choices and behaviors help perpetuate. oOo oOo oOo

[and now I see the only ones left standing are the stoneless ones... ] oOo

In Colorado and our world we can't yet see "the end of the story". But we can live in faith and humbleness, as we live in forgiveness- yet without abandoning our convictions of right and wrong either.

"Worshippers are always challenged by crisis. And when tragedy and crisis strikes it is at that moment that you truly decide if you are a worshipper of the most high God", said the Rev. Ross Parsley of the New Life Church, who has replaced Haggard.

oOo oOo <>< oOo oOo