Couldn’t Disagree More

In this video, Ted Haggard spouts off about forgiveness and restoration.  Haggard, an ex-evangelical preacher, you may recall, was caught up in a web of lies when his gay male prostitute “mistress”, also a meth addict, outed him and exposed him to not only his wife and children, but to his congregation (New Life Church in Colorado Springs – a non-denominational mega church) and the world.  Haggard was destroyed in the tabloids, the news, the reports, on the web and especially in Christian circles.  He was a fraud and led many astray because of his actions.

When Haggard speaks of restoration, he speaks as though he deserves it.  Although he can be forgiven, his attitude doesn’t seem (at least not to me) to be in the right place and it doesn’t seem that he wants to take any responsibility.  I’ve seen him in other videos and have always felt the same about those interviews.  He seems to place a lot of blame and like he doesn’t want to accept his consequences.  Not very manly, if you ask me.  “…Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

I couldn’t disagree more with what he says in this video.  He speaks of “the church”, as most Protestants do, as the group of people who believe in Christ.  As Catholics, we speak of “The Church” in a different way and I think that, as She always has, The Church does a great job of restoring people.  It’s frustrating to see a video like this because this ex-pastor, who still has influence on people and can give them reasons not to believe, feels like he can say whatever he wants with complete disregard for who hears it or who he affects.

Watch it and see what you think.  Leave me comments.

TrueMan up!

The People Only Make Up The Church…

The people only make up the Church, they don’t make it.  Truth makes the Church.  I have two examples in two days of people missing the boat on what “the Church” is all about.  First example: I just watched a video of a pastor who spoke complete blasphemy about what the Church does.  He said something like “the church is one of the biggest hindrances to conversion.”  Obviously, this pastor is from a church that is wishy-washy and not centered in truth.  (It appeared, from the video to be an amphi-theatre style mega-church where laser lights and smoke machines play the role of sacramentals.)  His church, most likely, is centered on “whatever feels good” and “whatever it takes to “save” someone”.  It’s sad, really.  He’s missing the boat. 

He told this story about a pastor who was fear-mongoring people into not having sex.  The young lady that he took with him (a young, single mother in an extra-marital affair) wasn’t ready to hear that message, so this pastor was essentially blaming the Church for this poorly-delivered message, that most likely was “off” when it comes to sound doctrine.  He’s aligning everything that one or more individuals may do with the Church as a whole and totally missing the point.  See, Christ set up the Church to spread the Love of the Father, the Truth.  He set it up to bring people to the Father, not to push them away from it.  We grow closer to God through the Church.

Second example: yesterday, I was talking with a woman who said to me “I was raised Catholic, but I don’t go anymore.  Is that bad?, it’s bad, isn’t it?  I don’t like going because of all the hypocrisy… I’d see people there on Sunday and then they’d be talking bad about people the rest of the week.”  This lady went on and on about it being “bad” that she doesn’t go any more.  Then, she said to me “I used to like Fr. S0-and-So because his sermons were good.  Once he left, I haven’t been back.  Is that bad?”  I said to her, the people only make up the Church, they don’t make it.  If the people inside the Church are bad, it doesn’t mean that the Church is bad.  You should go, give it a try again.  It was very obvious to me that this lady doesn’t know what the Eucharist is.

It’s frustrating when people make condemning judgments (especially when they are made out of ignorance) like this that really affect the lives of others.  In the first case, the pastor is going to have to answer for his blasphemy and how he led many people astray.  The lady is going to have to answer for leading her kids astray, as well as herself.  If you are reading this and understand what I’m saying, you realize that it’s a big responsibility to be a servant of the Lord.  What are you saying or doing that may lead others closer to Christ?  What are you saying or doing that make lead others away from Christ?

Man up!