Ted Haggard & I live in the same city and I know many members of his former church.
I’ve been appalled at the way some of these people have turned their backs on him and his family.
It seems to me that a lot of people turned their backs because Haggard was no longer famous or because associating with him would be embarrassing. To turn away from someone who is lost and clearly in need just seems wrong to me. He obviously has serious, hard-to-solve problems and I’m not sure that even he knows what they are or how to solve them.
That doesn’t give us permission to walk away from someone who needs for and is asking for help, though. The day before his scandal unfolded, he was loved and supported. The day after, most of the people who had supported him turned their backs on him. He didn’t “go bad” in just two days; he simply became a liability to know.
When he says that Martha Stewart & Michael Vick were “restored”, I think he means that they were accepted back into society whereas he has not been.
Christians really shouldn’t treat each other that way.
Well, we are supposed to love one another and nurture and help restore each other. Haggard, however, surely recognizes that he will not be in line to preach, teach, handle large sums of money and other responsibilites that he once did. Some people are respectersof persons, and once a person louses up and are no longer in the “who’s who and what’s what and who’s got what”, they just don’t socialize any more with those who can no longer propel them on their quest to social climb. Maybe Haggard needs to redefine his definition of friends and be a friend to those who are poor and unloved himself and quit contemplating his own bellybutton, if that’s indeed what he’s doing.
When exposed, he lied and lied and lied until the proof came out. Then, he tried to act the victim.
He secretly did any dishonest, disgusting and vile thing he felt like and wanted to still keep his cushy, high profile position.
He's lucky that he wasn't demolished by fire and brimstone from Heaven. I don't blame those who were truly injured by this unrepentant, lying charlatan and have a hard time forgiving.
As a Christian, why don't you extend the forgiveness to them that you claim they are denying to Haggard? If he hasn't been "restored" perhaps it's because the Almighty knows something that we don't.
When evangelical Christians speak of being "restored," often what they mean is being put back in the position of authority they held, e.g. prior to disgracing oneself by an act of sin that became public.
When Paul speaks of restoring someone (e.g. in Galatians ch. 6), he means that the breach in fellowship that has been caused by sin is repaired by public repentance and forgiveness, and that person is accepted back into the church. It does not mean that you are entitled to your old job, if you held a church office previously. One of the qualifications for church leaders is marital fidelity. Obviously, getting caught with a gay prostitute isn't that.
My understanding is that Haggard refused the disciplinary procedures that his old church initiated. If that is accurate, then his "treatment" at the hands of other Christians is a situation of his own making. I find it hard to be sympathetic.
I watched the video. I did NOT see a man with Godly repentance for what he had done. By his words and body language I saw an man embittered that he was caught and lost his standing among men. His words and attitude on the video show his repulsion, not at his sin, but at the body of Christ. He is lashing out at the church. If he were right with God, he would be at peace with things, no matter if everyone turned their back on him.
Christ did no wrong and yet His people did much worse to Him than they did to Ted. Jesus didn’t go around calling His disciples names with a bitter attitude.
Before Ted can be “restored” to the church, he must first be restored to God. I do not know his heart, none of us does, but what comes from his lips shows that he is in dire need of God’s true peace and contentment.
Forgiveness only comes after true repentance and confession.