Update #2: The Day After. Apparently, he does. Haggard removed
Update not two minutes later: Uh-oh.
Ted Haggard may or may not be in hot water. It turns out his accuser has failed a polygraph test. That accuser, Mr. Jones, says his polygraph failure was the result of not enough sleep and a migraine. He’s willing to take another, he says.
And so it goes, on and on.
I’ve very little respect for Mr. Haggard’s theology, and in fact I would say the gospel he preaches is no gospel at all. He has resigned from the NAE, and though I wish it was for different reasons and under different circumstances, I’m relieved he’s out of there and hope he decides to stay out even if the accusations are false, and it wouldn’t surprise in the least if they were. It may be a chance for evangelicals to quit proclaiming the Gospel of Free Markets and start proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Even so, the man’s got a wife and children and it may be that he’s being eaten in the gears of the very machinery he’s helped to perpetuate, and that is sad no matter how you slice it. We really should be praying for him and especially for his family at this time. And above all, not rushing to judgment, but fleeing with Mr. Haggard into the grip of grace.
Technorati Tags: ted haggard, gospel
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November 3, 2006 at 12:13 pm
Stephen
(shrug) I’m not overly familiar with Ted, but I am praying for him.
November 3, 2006 at 3:15 pm
RC of strangeculture
Interesting…i’m not completly surprised Mike Jones failed…something about it just doesn’t seem quite right…
i don’t know.
–RC of strangeculture.blogspot.com
November 3, 2006 at 4:28 pm
jvjannotti
Yes, he did. However, if you click on the link in the update you’ll see that Ted Haggard has admitted that Jones’ story is at least partially true. Yikes.
November 3, 2006 at 8:03 pm
Kevin
It’s so hard to tell with this thing. It does feel wrong. That said, now Haggard is saying he got drugs once but didn’t use them, and that he got massages from the guy. But the phone calls have Haggard asking if the guy for “more” meth, which seems to mean that Haggard is either lying, or that he really enjoys buying drugs and then not giving into temptation.
November 3, 2006 at 8:18 pm
jvjannotti
I had a hard time believing him as soon as I heard the “I’m steady with my wife…” line.
I don’t know, it just had a desperate “how am I gonna get out of this?” ring to it. He’s already lied publicly, since he denied ever knowing the guy at first. He even said “What did you say his name was?” at one point while being questioned. When I heard that I knew there was going to be a confession sooner or later.
It stinks because he’s got a family, five kids and wife, that are now going to have to walk through hell with him (or without him; either way, they’re in for it). And of course, there will be the people who up until yesterday were singing his praises but are now going to say, “I always knew there was something wrong with that guy.”
There’s just nothing good in this. Yet.
November 4, 2006 at 11:00 pm
grace for the haggard « serotoninrain
[...] Though, it’s true, Mr. Haggard would be accorded no authority to continue leading the church had he been permitted to continue as Pastor. But I wonder, did he need to be dismissed? And now, post firing, he’s got to stand in front of the congregation and read a letter? And his wife too! [note: it isn’t clear from the wording in New Life Church’s press release (pdf) whether the letters will be read by him and his wife or by others, however, I know people for whom the “reading a letter to the congregation” thing was a live in-person deal]. I mentioned yesterday that his family would have to walk through hell with him; this is just the beginning). [...]