New Life Church in Colorado Springs has fired Ted Haggard as their pastor. Read the Press Release:
We, the Overseer Board of New Life Church, have concluded our deliberations concerning the moral failings of Pastor Ted Haggard. Our investigation and Pastor Haggard's public statements have proven without a doubt that he has committed sexually immoral conduct.
The language of our church bylaws state that as Overseers we must decide in cases where the Senior Pastor has "demonstrated immoral conduct" whether we must "remove the pastor from his position or to discipline him in any way they deem necessary."
In consultation with leading evangelicals and experts familiar with the type of behavior Pastor Haggard has demonstrated, we have decided that the most positive and
productive direction for our church is his dismissal and removal.
In addition, the Overseers will continue to explore the depth of Pastor Haggard's offense so that a plan of healing and restoration can begin.
Pastor Haggard and his wife have been informed of this decision. They have agreed as well that he should be dismissed and that a new pastor for New Life Church should be selected according to the rules of replacement in the bylaws.
That process will begin immediately in hopes that a new pastor can be confirmed by the end of the year 2006. In the interim, Ross Parsley will function as the leader of the church with full support of the Overseers.
A letter of explanation and apology by Pastor Haggard as well as a word of encouragement from Gayle Haggard will be read in the 9:00 and 11:00 service of New Life Church.
Read Ted Haggard's Letter to New Life Church
Read Gayle Haggard's Letter to New Life Church
A fallen pastor
Sunday November 5, 2006
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Tenoch, it is a fact that there were multiple thousands of Christians praying for President Clinton during his fall from grace. History is written and cannot be undone and I certainly am not capable of being deceptive enough to undo it. I invite you to read President Clinton's apology here: http://www.zpub.com/un/un-bc-sp1.html
As I said, if he had issued a simple statement such as Mr. Haggard did, his life would have been so much less complicated. But in the end, as Kevin Young and Amy said, we shouldn't compare, just grieve with the rest of the Church over this and pray for all involved.
Is anyone now willing to consider that homosexuality is not something that can be repressed out of existence? That perhaps it is not a 'choice'. Do you choose what attracts you, what results in feelings of sexual attraction?
It appears that Ted Haggard struggled with his homosexuality and that denial and repression may have only contributed to his attraction to it. It would not be the first time that being forbidden and repressed added spice and fire to latent urgings. If Ted were reading this, I would tell him that he has to deeply explore his psyche, to exercise brutal personal honesty, but devoid of judgment. If he can do this, he may uncover a clearer picture of himself, and from that make better choices which will cause less difficulty to himself and others. Of course his Christianity cannot be removed from this process, and it should not. He will, however, have to look deeply into what are the foundation stones of faith, and be willing to walk into the desert, to drop his predispositions and judgments, to in short seek God alone, without encumbrance, and wait patiently. This is no easy task. It is a very, very difficult one. It is however the surest way. St. John of the Cross is one of the prime examples for his consideration. He would do well to read him.
Zero, that is a very good post. I must admit that I don't have a clue when it comes to this subject. If a person is not somehow predisposed to be attracted to a person of the same sex, why on earth would you be? Nothing about that makes sense to me. In other words, I just don't get why a man is attracted to another man. It isn't, to me, like any other temptation at all. OTOH, the Bible clearly states that this type of behavior is against the wishes of the Creator. So, I remain confused but as in all other things in life, MUST be in line with the word of Truth that is in the Bible.
Zero, you make a very good point, as do you bigjolly. For the record, I believe homosexuality is something created in the individual. It is not a choice, as much as it is a predisposition. I would also like to point out a phrase used by Paul "unnatural affection" could very well refer to closeted homosexuals like Ted Haggard who force themselves to marry and propagate in order to appear "normal". We must admit that the greatest victim of this incident would be Ted's wife. And Ted himself must have endured years of torment through living a lie.
In the Old testement we find two examples that could very well be the homosexual relations of godly people. David and Johnathan (2 Samual 1:26) has risen many eyebrows, as well as Ruth and Naiomi (Ruth 1:14-17). Now take those examples with a grain of salt, the matter boils down to this: Do you believe God is omnipotent? (I do) and if He is omnipotent, could he then be unable to prevent men and animals from being attracted to members of their same sex? Statistically, 1 in 10 newborn infants will be attracted to members of the same sex. This is not a perversion of nature, but rather the persecution of a misunderstood minority by an overzealous religious institution. I believe the most telling evidence in this matter is what Jesus says about homosexuality...which is absolutely nothing! If you are a Christian and believe in John chapter 1, how can you recconcile your persecution as godly behavior?
If they are the Overseers, shouldn't they have seen this coming? What part of keeping watch over Haggard and his ministry didn't they get? The seeing over part, I guess. What's really sad about this is how many people around Haggard allowed him to spiral out of control this way. I agree with David; be careful what you ask God for, God just might give it to you.
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