First, please use a grammer and spell checker next time. There is no such word as "incidences". Whar the documentary reported on were "incidents".
Secondly, since Evangelicals point to such things as their reported "sexual happiness" as evidence that the Evangelical message leads to a good, or better, or more fulfilling life, than it is perfectly acceptable, even necessary for intellectual honesty to point out that Evangelicals can be, and are, as messed up as anyone else, sexually, and every other wise.
That Haggard was a very public and easy target is not Pelosi's fault. She did not make him the very public symbol of American Evangelicalism that he became. Liberals did not give him the forum, the audience, or the "credibility" that he once commanded. Evangelicals gave it to him. If Haggard, and other Evangelical leaders, were viewed a bit less less heroically and perhaps just a bit more skeptically, then falls such as Haggard's, or those of Jim & Tammy Faye, Swaggert, etc,. would not be so traumatic, or be so easily used to paint Evangelicals as foolish.
I watched the show with a different attitude than Jason. It's not the "misunderstanding and mockery" that is "chilling". It's the fact that so much of church culture is disfunctional.
Can we please get real with each other in the church and strip off the unnecessary baggage that sidetracks the good news??!?
Is there anyone else out there that thought that giving the kids in those video clips pat answers was hurtful both to them and our culture?
Will we practice real love by speaking the truth in love to our brothers and sisters? Or will we be mocked for our inability to face our own occasional ridiculousness. (and blaming others for pointing it out).
Our message is too beautiful to be sabotaged.
Lord, help me, and help us!
i agree with Pastor Mike.
i was brought up in Hong Kong in a Christian family and at that time, missionaries and church workers were mostly poor folks and there was a saying that to be a pastor or church worker,you were poor for life. But now, as i moved to America, i found that most of the churches are rich and that i saw a lot of hyprocay.
To me, being rich and christian should not be mutually exclusive but we have to share our wealth. Also we should guard our own heart --by the grace of our Lord, we can walk closer to Him everyday.
But i do think that we have a responsibility to uphold the Biblical truth--to love each other.
Dear Lord, have mercy on me.
karl c
Prejudice always skews the presentation. If the writers and the producers have a preconceived idea, it will taint the topic they're reporting on.
How else would we expect Pelosi to report on Evangelicals. She has a common impression of the church. Those on the outside seem to think, that we think we're perfect. When they see us behaving like losers, they think that they've built a case against our hypocrisy.
Truth be known, it might shock the world that most of us in the church, individually and corporately, are just a bunch of well intentioned losers who love Jesus.
As one who actually helped Alexandra with the filming of the documentary while working for one of the profile, I believe that Alexandra was more than impartial. In fact I think God was really working in her life and she was seeking to help herself and her audience understand the good side of the Evangelical church.
And then Ted Haggard was exposed and yet another Christian leader fell from grace. The project was almost done in the summer of 2006 - before national news made Ted Haggard a bigger name that he ever was as head of the NAE.
I don't think Alexandra failed the church - the church failed her. She was looking for good and we went and showed our hipocracy and sinful nature - ignoring the 2x4 in our own eyes!
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