Posted on 11/06/2006 1:13:25 PM PST by Cecily
The Rev. Ted Haggard has been fired amid allegations of gay sex and drug use, but the evangelical leader can still be seen at the height of his powers _ preaching to thousands and condemning homosexuality _ in the documentary "Jesus Camp." In one scene of the film, which follows a group of children as they develop evangelical Christian beliefs, directors Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady visit Haggard's 14,000-member New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo. He tells the vast audience, "We don't have to debate about what we should think about homosexual activity. It's written in the Bible."
Then Haggard looks into the camera and says kiddingly: "I think I know what you did last night," drawing laughs from the crowd. "If you send me a thousand dollars, I won't tell your wife."
Later, another joke for the filmmakers: "If you use any of this, I'll sue you."
The married, 50-year-old father of five admitted in a letter read Sunday to his followers that he was "guilty of sexual immorality." He has yet to address specific claims by a male escort that Haggard paid him for sex over the past three years.
Haggard has acknowledged that he paid Mike Jones of Denver for a massage and for methamphetamine, but said he didn't have sex with Jones and didn't take the drug. He resigned last week as president of the National Association of Evangelicals, which represents 30 million people, and was removed Saturday as leader of his own church.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
I'm sure his attitude toward the gay agenda has softened considerably since he's gotten such fair treatment from them lately.
All Christians must condemn all sins.
I'm glad he was consistent on this matter.
Jesus spent time with prostitutes but that doesn't mean he supported what they did.
I do not think that this man was "counseling" the gay prostitute but he probably still thought that his own actions were wrong.
he's just a sore @ss, i mean sore loser.
Please tell me that's not the real title.
Liberals don't understand that for Christians, battling sins is everyday struggle. We're sinners who ask for forgiveness every single day. Pointing to sin doesn't make us saints.
Yep...that's the title.
Bogus, agenda-driven headline. But they would do that whether he was exposed as a hypocrite or not. They will needle this guy until they weaken him further. He'd better flee the public eye for a good long time. These people only want to use his failures to serve their own lusts.
You would think the worst thing in the world is hypocrisy or that a leader's failure negates the faith itself. We saw the same attacks on Catholicism around the minority of priests involved in molestation and cover up, for example. One should judge a faith on its own merits, not by the failures of the self-proclaimed faithful.
It seems his beliefs were sincere although it took him some time to own up to his activities. It's clear he lived as a heterosexual for almost 30 years and fathered five children. It seems he wasn't some man trolling public restrooms all that time, for example, and despite the firestorm of press there's been one "accuser" who failed portions of a lie detector exam.
He did the right thing, finally, by stepping aside.
I am, however, very concerned about the "methods" which may be employed in any rehabilitation he'll be undergoing. I see he'll be subjected to lie detectors, there's a battle of whether he was always wrestling homosexual feelings or had been 'recruited' or what. I believe one can manage behavior, control temptation, but am suspicious of claims so-called ex-gays are ever "cured" or "converted" into pure heterosexuals.
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