(If you’re tired of this by now, read no further)
These comments are in response to the blogosphere mainly, or, more specifically, to the section of the blogosphere I read, because that is where most my observations have been made.
1) I’ve read statements to the effect that, without God’s saving grace we all deserve to go the way of the abject sinner, which is to say, we are all Ted Haggards in heart.
While I agree with the first part I don't believe the second part is true. I believe we do have some control over whether or not we succumb to our sinful tendencies, after we accept the truth of the gospel. I believe God makes available choices and means by which we can avoid some sin. Oftentimes, though, we turn from these. I know I do. I get lazy. I coddle myself, and this breeds a habit of spiritual laziness and bad habits of thought. The consequences of this usually serve as a warning, though, and I make some changes. I see the price that is or will be paid for my errors, and that is usually enough to wake me up. Sometimes it takes awhile, and the squeeze has to be pretty tight before I’ll do anything. But still, I thank God daily for His care of me (and those around me) in this way.
2) I read a statement to the effect that we cannot be prideful over Haggard’s fall because the only reason we’re at all saved or conquerors of our own disgraceful sin is because of God’s grace. We can’t say, “I’m not as bad as Haggard because I don’t sin that badly.”
I think there’s a fallacy here, and it is not that there are degrees of sin, but that we distinguish between degrees of sin wrongly. Yes, some sins are more outwardly destructive than others, but I know from personal experience that subtle sins – even those that look “good” on the outside – can have devastating consequences for both those who sin in this way and the ones whom these sins affect.
Also, if there is no reward for doing good; if the good is all of God and noneof us, then why are we told to run the race here on earth, looking to heaven and not to man, and to look for our reward in heaven? We will all be held accountable and rewarded according to our actions. I’m not looking forward to that, actually, because I fear I do and have done a lot more that’s not deserving of reward than I have done that is! Not that I’m trying to keep my own account, because that’s rather impossible and a waste of time. But I think that the credit God gets is that, without Him and all the means He makes available, we would be unable to conquer even the tiniest sin on our own. He made everything, anyway, which is why in Him we live and breathe and have our being. And we love because He first loved us.
Therefore, any bragging about what awful sinners we really are except for the grace of God – in essence bragging that we are as bad as Ted Haggard except for the grace of God – is of no use. Each of us is responsible for our own selves before God, so any sort of comparison is prideful. (And yes, I am guilty of this as well!) At the same time, any sin is that which separates us from God and brings down those around us and we are accountable for it.
We must also distinguish, perhaps, between salvation in Christ and perfection in salvation – what might be referred to as salvation as distinguished from sanctification. If it’s true that we have no choice over our own salvation, we certainly do have some choice concerning our own sanctification.
3) Many bloggers I’ve read have said that they’d never heard of Ted Haggard before, and one (can’t remember who) said that he believed that probably 95% of us haven’t.
I wonder, though, why that would be, and what it means. Does it mean that Haggard was really of no consequence? Or does it mean that, even in this Age of Information, we are still limited in our awareness by the spheres we live in? Can we help it that we live in such a limited awareness? Probably not. But I don’t think we should assume that we’re aware of more that’s important than we really are (I am guilty of this too), as much as we can help it...this again is pride. Whether pride in our own knowledge or in the technological capacities we have, it’s still pride – the pride of man.
If Haggard was not of consequence because of his erring theology (Pelagian, perhaps, whether he knew of it as that or not), yet he was of consequence because of his promulgation of errant theology, then he really is of consequence as a brother and leader and therefore deserves our loving aid and correction rather than our judgment for his errant theology.
4) Theology is very important, and is surely not taught as it should be. But I don’t think this means that it is not taught as much as it should be, for it is taught all the time! It just may not be labeled according to originator or system, or taught with any sense of organization. I’m not sure that this is necessary, anyway (for everyone, at least!). If we are to truly love our brothers and sisters both in Christ and in humanity, we must focus on people and not on theology as separate from them. If our theology does not inform a God-pleasing treatment of others, then what good is it?
