Hypocrite?
GetReligion: November 13, 2006
Is Ted Haggard a hypocrite? Perhaps... Here's the definition of one:What’s so interesting about this story and so many others that deal with the “root causes of homosexuality†is the underlying assumption that an individual who engages in both heterosexual and homosexual behavior is, well, obviously and unequivocally gay. Take Ted Haggard. Here is a man who has been married to a woman for decades and has five children. He also, allegedly, paid a man for sex for three years. Isn’t it interesting that so many people assume that combination means he’s gay? You bake one loaf of bread, it doesn’t mean you’re considered a baker, but for some reason we think differently about sexuality. But only in one direction — men in homosexual relationships who’ve slept with — or even been married to — women aren’t considered straight. Anyway, what’s missing from the whole Denver Post article is the view of some Christians that homosexuality — whether or not it is genetically influenced or some product of cultural influences — is not the best expression of God’s plan for sexual desire. The absence of that information or perspective makes the rest of the article — which more or less condemns evangelical efforts to assist homosexuals in modifying their behavior — ring hollow.
hypocrisy |hiˈpäkrisē| noun ( pl. -sies) the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform; pretense. ORIGIN Middle English : from Old French ypocrisie, via ecclesiastical Latin, from Greek hupokrisis ‘acting of a theatrical part,’ from hupokrinesthai ‘play a part, pretend,’ from hupo ‘under’ + krinein ‘decide, judge.’As Mollie Ziegler notes, Mr. Haggard isn't play acting. He struggles with sin like everyone else. The truth is not condemned by his succombing to sin. He is condemned for sin. The truth remains intact and whole, unblemished by one man's action. Mr. Haggard seems to fit the modern definition of hypocrite. But look at the derivation of the word "hypocrisy." Do you honestly believe that he was only acting, pretending that homosexuality is sinful because he has engaged in the acts of the sin? Or does he struggle with sin just as Paul says in Romans 7:13-25: "For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil that I will not to do, that I practice." Really, the whole of chapter 7 and Romans deals with this issue of the evil old Adam having what seems the upper hand over the new Adam. Hypocrite? Not really. Sinner? Absolutely. And I? No different that Mr. Haggard.
