The Ted Haggard Story

This week I read about the Ted Haggard story, how the one time megachurch planter/pastor and President of the National Association of Evangelicals was treated when it was revealed 2 years ago that he had engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct. Apparently he signed an agreement with his church to not speak about the situation for 2 years, in exchange for a 1 year salary "pay-off". Now that 2 years have past, Haggard is ready to come out and tell his side of the story.

I know there are always 2 sides to every story, and I have no interest in debating who's right and who's wrong in the whole situation. What caught my eye, however, was when Haggard revealed that a sexually abusive experience from his childhood had left emotional scars and internal trauma that he had to privately struggle with his whole life. I believe there is a valuable lesson to be learned here.

From my own personal experience in this past year, I have learned that behind every sin, there is almost always a context of personal and private pain. Unfortunately, in the church so often we choose only to look at the sin, and not the pain that caused it. I am not suggesting that we excuse personal responsibility for sinful acts. Rather, I am suggesting that we need to learn to look at sin more holistically and (dare I say it?) more biblically: Sin is not only individual and personal. It is communal. It is generational. It is environmental. It is part of the narrative of both the human race and each individual lives. Each of us, because of our brokenness and sinfulness contribute in our own ways to cause pain in others, and that leads to more sinful and hurtful behavior. In a very real way, when a person sins, all of us have 'blood on our hands'. Perhaps that's the greater truth behind Jesus' words to the mob ready to stone the woman caught in adultery: "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone." Perhaps not everyone in that mob had commited the sin of adultery, but the truth is that each person there had a hand in the woman's sin.

Back when I was in seminary, my preaching professor once said, "If you learn to speak to the pain in people's lives, that will make you a better preacher." Today, I learned a greater truth: If you and I choose to see the pain in each person's lives rather than the "sins" they've committed, that will make us better people.