Such Shame Is Not Inevitable by Ted Slater on 11/08/2006 at 4:14 PM

I want to bring balance to something I wrote recently about the Ted Haggard scandal.

I love how Tim Challies explored the issue, and I was convicted and drawn to the cross as I considered that the darkness of my sin isn't much different from the darkness of Haggard's.

However, while it's true that I am a sinner daily in need of a Savior, and while it's true that the Lord's grace has kept me from pursuing the sin that daily tempts me, it is not inevitable that I follow in Pastor Haggard's footsteps. And while it helps me appreciate God's continued grace toward me to think of my life as being "like a spider being held over the flame by a nearly-invisible web," the metaphor doesn't take into consideration that my decisions affect whether I fall or not. God is not capricious.

There are in fact things that I can believe and do, and things that I can resist and avoid, that contribute to a life that does not bring calamitous shame to the Lord, to my church, to my family, and to myself.

(Let me interject that I recognize I'm walking on dangerous ground right now. My pride so wants to bubble up, to proclaim that of course I could never be so bad as Pastor Haggard. And that is a frighteningly dangerous place to be. I mustn't boast, or exalt myself in any way. At the same time, I also recognize that it is possible to exercise caution and humility in such a way as to live a life that honors, not dishonors, the Lord.)

Rick Phillips at Reformation21 explores this issue, critiquing both the "Just Like Ted" position and the "Denounce Ted" positions. Here's an excerpt:

What Ted Haggard did should not be normative for any of us, much less for Christian leaders. Ted Haggard had given himself over to sin. It started with him toying with sin, no doubt -- let us fear to do so! It continued by means of an active course of deception and gross hypocrisy -- let us desperately flee to Christ for the very salvation of our souls if we are doing the same. And if any of us looks into our own hearts and says, "I'm just like Ted," then let us renounce the works of the devil, flee to the cross to embrace Jesus as Lord and Savior so that we may be saved....

So let's make sure that we really are not "just like Ted Haggard." Let us abase ourselves before God in contrition for our sin which he represents. Let us apologize to our non-Christian neighbors. Let us walk in the light so as to be what the Bible describes as Christian. Let us acknowledge the pure shame of what Ted Haggard has done. And then let us pray for his full restoration to the light of God's grace in Christ (though never to the office of minister, in my opinion)....

May I be on guard against temptation, may I be skeptical of my motivations and desires, may I not let sin get a foothold in my heart and habits, may I mortify my flesh, may I be more transparent with my loved ones, may I be vividly aware that what I sow I will indeed reap, may I be satisfied in the Lord's kind provision. And by His grace may I not allow sin to grow unfettered to the point of bringing such shame to my Savior as has been witnessed this past week.