| On forgiveness |
[Nov. 6th, 2006|01:54 pm] |
The articles in today's papers on Ted Haggard and his church's response to his shifting acknowledgement of various "improprieties" is just one more example of what exactly forgiveness is NOT.
Ted Haggard is, for the moment, the shining example on the hill of "love the sinner, hate the sin." The only problem with this is, well, there are a few problems...
1) Ted's initial response was to deny even knowing the guy, then to admit only to buying meth, then to admit to some "repulsive life." Meanwhile, the only person who seems to actually have a modicum of honesty in all this, the escort, Mike Jones, is talking. And, from the sounds of it, Ted can't admit publicly to the "sins" that his congregation hates.
2) Ted is withdrawing from public life for the moment - Mark Foley anyone? - so that he can work on his relationship with his wife. But, of course, this only works if he believes he can stop being gay. It's one thing to believe Earth is 6,000 years old. It's quite another to believe you can stop wanting guys.
3) We'll see what happens over time, but my guess is that Ted Haggard's disappearance is more permanent and, at some point, his wife smartly decides that she can't be married to a gay man and moves on with her kids, likely finding another suitor at some point down the road, while Ted either (a) sinks into an unfortunate depression or (b) finally comes out and lives his life as a full human being, and an honest one too, and realizes that God's love isn't conditioned on his being comprised of some pre-set characteristics.
As for the congregation, I'm a little tired of all this crap about how he is repenting and they're forgiving him. Sorry, folks, but this "forgiveness" is crap, because it's conditional. True forgiveness would rejoice in Ted's finally being the person he is, rather than covering up to make everything appear hunky dory, much less railing so publicly against the very demons that possess him. Instead, this "forgiveness" comes with the caveat that Ted will "overcome" his "tendencies" and come back to Jesus, as if Jesus wants him to be a gay man in a straight marriage who continues to deny himself as the person he is.
I'm so sad for all of this, because this very public figure has exploited his own inner fears for power and control, and now he finds himself standing at the edge between a freefall into an unknown, but honest, life and a return to his life of denial. It's a sad commentary on our society, and on what we will accept and what we won't.
We'll accept a man who admits to cheating on his wife, taking meth, and all the while lying to the entire nation about it before we'll accept the loving relationship of two people of the same gender.
Not sure I understand. |
|
|
![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
politicaluke's journal
