The Lies We Tell Ourselves . . .

. . . in the dark of the night or the light of the day. Do they make us happy? Do we believe them? Are they (the lies) really worth telling?

Okay, I'm not really going in depth about the lies (what I said really wasn't that bad, what they don't know won't hurt me, etc., etc., etc.,) we tell ourselves in the dark of the night or the light of the day. What I am going to talk - well, write - about is the lies New Life Church in Colorado continue to tell. If you've been following this blog, then you might recall the post I did about Ted Haggard, the founder of New Life Church, when it was revealed that he - an anti-gay person who preached his anti-gay verbal spam from the pulpit - had an affair with another man and then, after brainwashing, declared himself cured. Search through the old posts, because I really don't feel like rehashing my opinions about the alleged curing of homosexuality.

So, now, three years later, in the wake of another sex scandal involving Ted Haggard and New Life Church, the current pastor has revealed that Ted Haggard had more than one affair - No, Seriously, WTF - with a man. In fact, the church went so far to "pay the man in exchange for his pledges not to talk publicly about the relationship". No??? What is the world coming to? A church paying a man - wait, is that what they call blood money, the same reason Judas Iscariot committed suicide??? - to keep silent about a scandal? Has that been done before? Oh, wait, in a way - yes - I believe that would be the Catholic Church . . . but, like Sophia Petrillo, I digress. New Life Church "provided the man (in question) the money to pay his college tuition, moving expenses and counseling" Why counseling? Well, according to the folks at New Life Church, homosexuality can be cured. Excuse me, I laughed so hard my tiara fell off!

Let me discuss the 'blood money' aspect of all of this. According to current Pastor Boyd, the money was "compassionate assistance" to help the man "move forward, not a settlement to keep him quiet". Dang, there goes the tiara again. I've got to quit laughing so hard. I mean, does the Pastor actually believe the crap he's spewing forth? Is he so befuddled by his religion that he cannot recognize the truth?? New Life Church did not want to silence the man. First lie.

Why is that statement a lie? Well, Pastor Boyd - open mouth, insert foot, and hope no one notices - later goes on to say that the man (btw, the man has agreed to interviews, which New Life Church found out about, thus their sudden defensive posture) is "in violation of the agreement we signed with (him)". What does it matter? If the agreement wasn't to keep him quiet, then why would New Life Church care that the man was finally speaking out? Oh wait, because New Life Church allegedly lied. The agreement was all about silence to protect the battered image of the church.

Okay, obviously I'm sort of pissed about the whole thing. How many lies must churches hide behind to protect their ignorance . . . of life, of humanity, of homosexuality? How can a Pastor, an alleged man of God, spew forth such drivel and not see the lies dancing right in front of him? In my opinion, lofty and arrogant as it might be at times, this behavior is inexcusable from an alleged man of God! A lie is a lie, no matter how a person sugar coats the lie! New Life Church paid off a twenty year old man so their organization would not be rocked by another homosexual sex scandal. The only reason Pastor Boyd is even speaking out now is that the scandal was about to break. Otherwise, Pastor Boyd would have been content with the silence of the lies, the blood money.

Whew!!!

Lastly, Pastor Boyd made the following statement: "We had a leader with flawed character and we're trying to clean up from the residue of the past. This will not always define us. I can promise you that in the days ahead, we won't be identified with scandal, but helping the widows and orphans."

Oh, yes he did play the widows/orphans card!! I believe that is one of the classic actions of denial. "Oh, but we do so much good for the widows and orphans, so what if we bought a man's silence rather than stepping up to the plate and dealing with a situation honestly. We are a church after all. Why should honesty count?"

Okay, so he didn't say that, but his actions - in my opinion - say all that and more. How many times will a church tell blatant - or not so blatant - lies, and not feel the slightest guilt about those lies? What harm was done to the 20 year old? Yes, I know, his education was paid for, he received counseling, and what happened between him and Ted Haggard was swept under the expensive carpets of New Life Church. In the end, however, the man pays the greater price and New Life Church hides behind the lies they so eagerly spew to protect their image so they can do good for the widows/orphans of the world.

I'm sorry, but that is the lamest excuse in the world. The Catholic Church hid behind their power for decades while priests were transferred from parish to parish to continue their molestations of trusting parishioners. Time and again, the priests were giving new positions in the church, while their victims suffered in silence. Only now is the Catholic Church paying retribution to the victims of their convenient lies. Shouldn't New Life Church be required to pay retribution as well? How many more men (20 years old, older than that, younger than that) did Ted Haggard have sex with? How many more college educations and counseling sessions has New Life Church paid for so that they can help out widows and orphans?

A lie is a lie, Pastor Boyd, and you're allegedly spewing them out left and right to protect (at least in my opinion) not the victims involved, but rather the financial livelihood of New Life Church. Now, isn't that something to be proud of???

S