Headlines

There has been a lot of newspaper and magazine stories about Ted Haggard, founder and former senior pastor of New Life Church, and his recent admission of wrongdoing. Ed Young just wrote a piece on the topic which was published in Relevant Magazine's recent e-newsletter. The article is available online and it offers an incredible perspective. The title is "A Fall to Grace" and it's one of the best things I've read in a long time.

Read the Article

Comments

[James "Smiler" Farrer]

Nice article by Ed there, I can recommend another, along similar lines....

http://www.challies.com/archives/002181.php

[Evan Erwin]

"A fall from grace is the self-righteous person who tries to earn his or her salvation through the guise of moral living, declaring that Christ's work on the cross was unnecessary—at least for them."

That's a pretty narrow definition, don't you think? Haven't we (rightly) used 'fall from grace' in manners that don't fit that definition?

How about we define it as the self-righteous person who tries to tell millions of people that an act is wrong, against God and what he teaches, then gets behind closed doors and throws those teachings away.

The fact that gay people will still be demonized and hindered (no marriage for you) after one of the most well-known leaders dabbled in it, makes me extremely sad. He'll be forgiven, he'll pay hefty fines, he'll make emotional sermons, and I doubt he'll be far from where he was a few weeks ago.

Good read because Mr. Young is a good writer. Bad read because he molded 'grace' to fit Haggard's model of misleading and preaching against what is a natural phenomena (homosexuality) and that it's okay he got all meth-ed and gay-ed because "Sin does those things."

Sin is greek for mistake. It is not an entity, not a hunter, not a fighter. Sin isn't waiting to jump you in an alley. The guy screwed up and badly. We're fallable, etc. I would forgive him but never give him a position of power again. But unfortunately, I can guarantee you the latter won't happen.