My only response to this whole scandal is sadness, for Ted, for his family, for Mike, and for all of us. As scripture reminds us, "when one member of the body suffers, all the members suffer". If we're all part of same body of humanity, then all of us are diminished by Haggard's failure. There's no room for gloating, or for using the Haggards' pain to promote our own ideological agendas, whatever they may be.
At 11/14/2006 10:22:00 PM, 
Mike Clawson
Hey Chris,
Welcome to my blog. Thanks so much for sharing your perspective. I really appreciate it. I wasn't aware that Canada was a Scandanavian country. ;)
I definitely agree that the worse sin in Ted's life right now is his deceptiveness and dishonesty with his wife, his church, and himself. Regardless of whether or not we agree about whether homosexuality is a sin, Ted still has a problem. The problem isn't the sex and the drugs. The problem is the hurt and the pain that his double life has caused to the people around him. The problem is the lies he has repeatedly told to the people closest to him. This problem doesn't go away just by saying "I'm gay and there's nothing wrong with it." He would still have to deal with the devastation his deception has caused. And he would have to deal with the pain and sense of betrayal such an announcement would undoubtably cause to his wife and kids.
From my perspective it seems like the whole situation is a lot messier and more complicated than just "I'm gay that's okay." Though I do get what you're saying too.
Peace,
-Mike
At 11/15/2006 08:53:00 AM, Shawna
Chris,
Thanks for joining the conversation. May I take a moment to clarify?
The intention of my comment was not to say anything for or against homosexuality. I was saying that when people around us are hurting or do things that hurt us,(in this case Ted was hurting his wife and his church by not being honest about his choices) it is not them (the person who hurt us) that we should be angry with. They are just caught up in the situation.
To me this applies to all people regardless of sexual orientation.
For instance I have seen the need in my life to be "rescued" because of my temper and my sharp tongue. I needed friends to come alongside and love me even though I wasn't being kind. I needed them to take the risk of being hurt in order to help me.
I believe the same is true with Ted. He doesn't need a bunch of people telling him what is right or wrong, but people who would come alongside and love him for who he is and help him to step away from the destructive path (the lying, not being honest about himself) he is on.
I agree. A friend of mine recently was going through a very rough time with a relationship. And she really had every right to be angry and irritated at the person, because they had made some terrible mistakes that caused serious consequences for my friend. As I was praying for my friend and asking God to bring justice to this situation, He spoke to my heart very clearly. He said to me that the people around us are not the enemy. No matter what they do, they are not the enemy. Satan is the enemy and he is the one we should be angry with. The people need rescued. The need our mercy, our compassion, and our willingness to put ourselves at risk for their rescue.
No Ted's church cannot sweep the whole thing under the rug and forget about it, but my prayer is that they are seeking ways to "rescue" Ted.
Of course this is easier said from my position of not being directly impacted. I hope that I would have the same loving spirit if it would ever happen in my immediate body of believers.