I watched the Ted Haggard story get kicked around today on the TV. The morning show that had been playing in the background of our daily routine (getting ready for school) caught my attention. Since we were running quite a bit early today, I stopped and listened to what they had to say.

It is interesting to watch non-Christians as they make observations in situations like these. Today the guest was Bill O’Reilly of Fox News.

Bill said his heart went out to the families. He said Ted Haggard was a “dirtbag,” or some equivalent term, though I forget the exact wording. He also said that if you were going to get up and say that people were “sinners,” then you have to be perfect.

Wow. That is pretty stern stuff, considering that Bill passes out strong opinions concerning people’s character all of the time.

That is not really what caught my attention, though. That’s the kind of stuff you expect from Bill and so it is not something that you have to work to “wrap your brain around,” so to speak.

What captured my mind was the charge of hypocrisy. Not the one leveled at Ted Haggard, but the one leveled at his church. The production piece that led into the Haggard story had a voice over reporter saying that critics were accusing New Life Church of being hypocrites.

Why? Because they had stood so defiantly against homosexuality in our culture, but wanted to offer forgiveness and love to their former Pastor, having just resigned.

This is a blob of goo. There is no way to systematically process all of this, so there is no point in trying. I will give a few thoughts and may come back to it later in the week.

We (evangelicals) have the reputation of passing out condemnation as if it were a toothbrush and floss at the dentist office. “Here, take this cheap freebie – it’s good for you.” When someone we know is guilty of decay, we want to rush in and help, love and support. We are commanded to do just that: 1 John 4:20 – 5:5.

When we spend a lot of time condemning “sinful sinners,” then offer love to one who has committed the exact same sin we have condemned, then are we not hypocrites? I think the stronger response (albeit a loving response) should be for the one who knows better and the more gentle response for the one who knows no reason to be righteous.

Another thought concerns the idea that we are so condemning in the first place. As I have mingled in the congregation of my new church, I have found many people who are kind and gracious to those who are lost. I look around the evangelical culture and wonder just how accurate it is that “we” are people of condemnation. I know some are, but are we all? If not, then we need to pull back people who plant themselves in front of the media and proclaim condemnation while speaking on our behalf. At the very least, we need to distance ourselves from them in a very public way.

In other words, if we are people who condemn the lost for being lost, then we need to change. If we are not, then we need to make sure every lost person in the world knows that the people who are do not speak for us. If we have it in our power, it would be best to remove them from our namesake, if that is even feasible.

I’m nauseous over all of it. I am praying for Ted Haggard and his family. I am also praying for our lost world and the barrier of hypocrisy, real and perceived (which is real for the perceiver), that has been erected.

At this point, I refer you to one of my first posts in the blogosphere: Another Bashing.

This was before I ever addressed any SBC issues and my posts were only about making church more effective in reaching our culture. Just for some historical perspective. This is who I was before I was an SBC blogger. ;)

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