Ted Haggard -- still not straight (should he just pray harder?)

[Irvine511]

perhaps not everything is possible with God ...



[q]Ted Haggard Quits New Life 'Restoration Team'
by: Cara DeGette
Tue Feb 05, 2008 at 09:10 PM MST

Technically, it only took three weeks of intensive "restoration" a full year ago to make Ted Haggard a "complete heterosexual." But on Tuesday night, the new pastor of the Colorado Springs megachurch that Haggard founded has announced that Haggard is quitting the team -- and that "the process of restoring Ted Haggard is incomplete."

Ted Haggard Quits New Life 'Restoration Team'

The latest twist in the Haggard drama comes via a vaguely-worded letter sent Tuesday to friends of New Life Church by its new pastor, Brady Boyd. In the letter, Boyd indicates that Haggard -- the charismatic evangelical leader who was fired by his church in early November 2006 in a shocking gay sex and meth scandal involving male escort Mike Jones -- is moving on.

"New Life Church recognizes the process of restoring Ted Haggard is incomplete and maintains its original stance that he should not return to vocational ministry," according to a statement. "However, we wish him and his family only success in the future."

After he was fired, Haggard and his family, including his wife and three boys, moved to Phoenix. Haggard agreed at the time to undergo "spiritual restoration" under the auspices of New Life Church. At the time, the church's claim of Haggard's so-termed "restored" sexual orientation status was met with disbelief from many quarters, most notably from the Christian group Soulforce, whose gay and lesbian members reject claims that homosexuality is either:

a. Something that can be "cured, or,"
b. A sin.

Here is Boyd's Tuesday letter and release:

[q]Dear New Life Church family and friends,

Today, our church's board of trustees will release a statement regarding the end of the restoration process for Ted Haggard. This process may receive some media attention, and I want you to hear of it from us before you read about it in the newspaper or hear it on the evening news.

Let's continue to pray for Ted, Gayle, and their family.

God bless you,

Brady Boyd
Senior Pastor
New Life Church
Colorado Springs, CO

--
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Ted Haggard's leadership of New Life Church for many years was extraordinary and the depth of spiritual maturity that is found today in the church is in large part attributed to his leadership as the founding senior pastor.

In January 2007, Ted Haggard voluntarily agreed to enter a process of spiritual restoration. He has selected Phoenix First Assembly and Pastor Tommy Barnett as his local church fellowship and is maintaining an accountability relationship there. He has recently requested to end his official relationship with the New Life Church Restoration Team and this has been accepted by them.

New Life Church recognizes the process of restoring Ted Haggard is incomplete and maintains its original stance that he should not return to vocational ministry. However, we wish him and his family only success in the future.

Because spiritual restoration is a necessarily confidential process, the church does not anticipate that it, or its Overseers or Restorers, will make further comment about it.[/q][/q]

 

[U2isthebest]

perhaps not everything is possible with God ...



[q]Ted Haggard Quits New Life 'Restoration Team'
by: Cara DeGette
Tue Feb 05, 2008 at 09:10 PM MST

Technically, it only took three weeks of intensive "restoration" a full year ago to make Ted Haggard a "complete heterosexual." But on Tuesday night, the new pastor of the Colorado Springs megachurch that Haggard founded has announced that Haggard is quitting the team -- and that "the process of restoring Ted Haggard is incomplete."

Ted Haggard Quits New Life 'Restoration Team'

The latest twist in the Haggard drama comes via a vaguely-worded letter sent Tuesday to friends of New Life Church by its new pastor, Brady Boyd. In the letter, Boyd indicates that Haggard -- the charismatic evangelical leader who was fired by his church in early November 2006 in a shocking gay sex and meth scandal involving male escort Mike Jones -- is moving on.

"New Life Church recognizes the process of restoring Ted Haggard is incomplete and maintains its original stance that he should not return to vocational ministry," according to a statement. "However, we wish him and his family only success in the future."

After he was fired, Haggard and his family, including his wife and three boys, moved to Phoenix. Haggard agreed at the time to undergo "spiritual restoration" under the auspices of New Life Church. At the time, the church's claim of Haggard's so-termed "restored" sexual orientation status was met with disbelief from many quarters, most notably from the Christian group Soulforce, whose gay and lesbian members reject claims that homosexuality is either:

a. Something that can be "cured, or,"
b. A sin.

Here is Boyd's Tuesday letter and release:

[q]Dear New Life Church family and friends,

Today, our church's board of trustees will release a statement regarding the end of the restoration process for Ted Haggard. This process may receive some media attention, and I want you to hear of it from us before you read about it in the newspaper or hear it on the evening news.

Let's continue to pray for Ted, Gayle, and their family.

God bless you,

Brady Boyd
Senior Pastor
New Life Church
Colorado Springs, CO

--
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Ted Haggard's leadership of New Life Church for many years was extraordinary and the depth of spiritual maturity that is found today in the church is in large part attributed to his leadership as the founding senior pastor.

In January 2007, Ted Haggard voluntarily agreed to enter a process of spiritual restoration. He has selected Phoenix First Assembly and Pastor Tommy Barnett as his local church fellowship and is maintaining an accountability relationship there. He has recently requested to end his official relationship with the New Life Church Restoration Team and this has been accepted by them.

New Life Church recognizes the process of restoring Ted Haggard is incomplete and maintains its original stance that he should not return to vocational ministry. However, we wish him and his family only success in the future.

Because spiritual restoration is a necessarily confidential process, the church does not anticipate that it, or its Overseers or Restorers, will make further comment about it.[/q][/q]

I'm confused. Do you think they're trying to infer that the "treatment" failed, or that he is "straight again" and just moving on to some other restorationg movement or whatever they're calling it these days to make themselves look less like bigots?

 

[Diemen]

You know, if we were dealing with rational adults I would think that there would come a point where the mountain of evidence against "well my church tells me it's a choice" simply couldn't be dismissed any longer.



If only we were dealing with rational adults.

 

[Irvine511]

Re: Re: Ted Haggard -- still not straight (should he just pray harder?)

I'm confused. Do you think they're trying to infer that the "treatment" failed, or that he is "straight again" and just moving on to some other restorationg movement or whatever they're calling it these days to make themselves look less like bigots?

i think they're saying that it just didn't take -- he's still totally gay.

 

[U2isthebest]

Re: Re: Re: Ted Haggard -- still not straight (should he just pray harder?)

i think they're saying that it just didn't take -- he's still totally gay.

It didn't take, it's nice to know that the "ex-gay" people compare homosexuality to an organ transplant. They have an unbelivable basic knowledge of the human body and mind.

 

[anitram]

Well he should just keep at it! You can't always succeed on the first try. Like, for example, maybe it took a little and now he only likes hot guys? You gotta build your way up to like George Clooney.

 

[U2isthebest]

You gotta build your way up to like George Clooney.

I don't. But then again, I'm a straight woman who's attracted to a man old enough to be my dad. Along with gorgeous George, I would also not kick Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, or Hugh Laurie out of bed. Do they have a movement for me?

 

[joyfulgirl]

Like, for example, maybe it took a little and now he only likes hot guys?

You mean like some of the guys on the New Life Church Staff?
http://newlifechurch.org/staff.jsp

 

[Diemen]

Meh. They need to go in baby steps. Give him back the drugs and hookers, only make them female prostitutes this time around. If they're supplying the high, he'll come around eventually.

 

[U2isthebest]

You mean like some of the guys on the New Life Church Staff?
http://newlifechurch.org/staff.jsp

Hellooooo, Jared Anderson.

 

[U2isthebest]

he'll come around eventually.

I see what you did there.

 

[LemonMelon]

Well he should just keep at it! You can't always succeed on the first try. Like, for example, maybe it took a little and now he only likes hot guys? You gotta build your way up to like George Clooney.

Well, even the straightest of men such as myself know men like Clooney and Barack Obama are sexy manbeasts

 

[Vincent Vega]

You mean like some of the guys on the New Life Church Staff?
http://newlifechurch.org/staff.jsp

http://newlifechurch.org/staff_bio.jsp?id=38

What a waste.

 

[martha]

I feel so bad for this guy. (And his wife and children.) I really do. To think that a basic part of who you are is a sin and a mistake must be devastating.

I hope that the people in gay and lesbian churches really are praying for him.

 

[anitram]

I feel so bad for this guy. (And his wife and children.) I really do. To think that a basic part of who you are is a sin and a mistake must be devastating.

The sad thing is that his is a problem that has a solution. And a pretty simple one at that.

 

[martha]

The sad thing is that his is a problem that has a solution. And a pretty simple one at that.

I know. That's what I'm hoping his gay brothers are praying for.

 

[U2isthebest]

I just called my grandma and told her the news, and we got into a big argument over homosexuality and its origins.

 

[LemonMelon]

I just called my grandma and told her the news, and we got into a big argument over homosexuality and its origins.

Isn't she the same one who called you a horrible sinner for swearing?

 

[U2isthebest]

Isn't she the same one who called you a horrible sinner for swearing?

Oh yes. She's a delight to have a reasonable debate with.

 

[LemonMelon]

Oh yes. She's a delight to have a reasonable debate with.

I feel the same way about my own parents. My father is pretty reasonable on social issues, but gets a bit out there when it comes to international affairs. My mother is just out there, period...abortion debates are essentially impossible. No middle ground at all.

 

[joyfulgirl]

I guess I don't feel all that sorry for him (his family, yes. Him, no). As President of the National Association of Evangelicals (representing 30 million conservative Christians), he and other evangelical leaders pressured Bush aggressively for years for a federal marriage amendment (just for starters) while having sex with men. There are a lot of young men under his influence I feel a lot sorrier for. He did this to himself. He said he was conflicted his whole life. Yet he continued to exert damaging influence over a lot of truly innocent young men.

 

[martha]

There are a lot of young men under his influence I feel a lot sorrier for. He did this to himself. He said he was conflicted his whole life. Yet he continued to exert damaging influence over a lot of truly innocent young men.

I know. But he's getting more pathetic every time he's in the news.

 

[joyfulgirl]

I know. But he's getting more pathetic every time he's in the news.

You're right. I'll try to find some compassion. Maybe he'll do something good with this.

 

[Irvine511]

i can only imagine the hell that gay men of a certain age had to live in, and i can only imagine the hell that gay men of all ages who grow up in fundamentalist (for lack of a better word) households live in.

so i do have sympathy for Ted, at least the man. Ted the political figure, no sympathy. and for the forces he worked for, no sympathy either.

could someone please explain this to me. we know FOR A FACT that sexual orientation is innate and immutable. we know FOR A FACT that these programs fail. why do the religious continue to point to their Bibles -- when it's obviously rather vague in it's condemnation of homosexuality, as Melon has repeatedly pointed out -- and ignore what is plain old common sense.

they've lost the argument. it's embarrassing. how many more Ted Haggards must there be before this ends?

 

[U2isthebest]

I feel bad for him too. He, and people in similar situations, likely have grown up in homes where they were taught from a young age that homosexuality is wrong and against God's Word. (I won't go into the misguided knowledge and sometimes completely wrong translations of said Scripture) Most people who have gone through an ex-gay movement will say that they felt an attraction to the same sex since they were young children and repeatedly tried to make it go away whether through prayer, counseling, etc. That has to seriously affect one's mental health. I see Ted Haggard as a man who felt so badly about who he is that he desperately tried to make it as difficult as possible for him to be that way.

 

[anitram]

they've lost the argument. it's embarrassing. how many more Ted Haggards must there be before this ends?

What they routinely do is write him (and "Senator Widestance" or whatever they're calling him) off as a PERVERT so that they don't really care whether their programs work in his case or not. These people are unhinged.

 

[phillyfan26]

i can only imagine the hell that gay men of a certain age had to live in, and i can only imagine the hell that gay men of all ages who grow up in fundamentalist (for lack of a better word) households live in.

so i do have sympathy for Ted, at least the man. Ted the political figure, no sympathy. and for the forces he worked for, no sympathy either.

could someone please explain this to me. we know FOR A FACT that sexual orientation is innate and immutable. we know FOR A FACT that these programs fail. why do the religious continue to point to their Bibles -- when it's obviously rather vague in it's condemnation of homosexuality, as Melon has repeatedly pointed out -- and ignore what is plain old common sense.

they've lost the argument. it's embarrassing. how many more Ted Haggards must there be before this ends?

Because Diamond can find some conservative doctor to say, "We're not sure, so clearly it's a choice."

 

[U2isthebest]

Because Diamond can find some conservative doctor to say, "We're not sure, so clearly it's a choice."

Hey, don't you tell me it's not a choice. Do you know what a struggle it is for me to wake up every morning and decide if I'm going to be attracted to males or females that day?

 

[martha]

could someone please explain this to me. we know FOR A FACT that sexual orientation is innate and immutable. we know FOR A FACT that these programs fail. why do the religious continue to point to their Bibles -- when it's obviously rather vague in it's condemnation of homosexuality, as Melon has repeatedly pointed out -- and ignore what is plain old common sense.

Fear.

 

[Irvine511]

let's look on the bright side.

maybe Ted met someone who was also being heterosexualized.