As the self-declared spokesman for all of Christendom (at least for the next few minutes), I find the text of Pastor Hagee’s apology to Roman Catholics one of the most equivocal, off-point, and self-preserving that I have read recently. On the other hand, unfortunately, it is also pretty much standard.
Saul it seems, was instructed to have the Israelite completely destroy the Amalekites – people and animals. Rather, Saul allowed the Israelites to capture the Amalekite king, and to bring back the choicest live stock. When Samuel returns to visit Saul, the bleating of the sheep and the lowing of the cattle are clearly audible. Assuming that the Israelites had done what had been directed, Samuel finds this noise to be somewhat unexpected, and so he asks Saul to explain what has happened. Saul’s response is a two-parter. The first is that the people have brought back the best of the plunder to sacrifice it to God. The second is that Saul was afraid of the people and so he let them bring back the plunder [and in this explanation, we don’t know why]. Samuel’s response is his mission for God, and he will complete it. Samuel tells Saul that he has failed in his mission to destroy the Amalekites and as a result God has rejected him as king of Israel. In Samuel’s discussion with Saul, he says:
I do not know if it is good or bad that ministers/pastors are now in the news almost daily. Part of me thinks it is simply more of the ungodly trying to make the people following Christ look like fools. Of course, most of those raked across the coals are doing a very good job of making themselves look and sound foolish without anyone's help. So many televangelists, with their thousand dollar suits and multi-car garages (filled with Mercedes or Rolls Royces) or million dollar homes seem to go against the lifestyle of Jesus. Hagee is not the only one who frequently sticks his foot in his mouth and the worldly news outlets love it.
ReplyDeleteI think it's a bad thing if they make the rest of us look silly - or if they don't quite "look" Christian in their behavior. Since all of us fall short, my concern isn't about imperfection as such. More so though, when we are prominent, have a history of virulent oratory, and then offer a somewhat less than direct apology for that history.
ReplyDeleteI suppose that until our society (read: church-at-large) learns to accept simplicity as a way of life, we will be attracted to multi-thousand dollar suits, gold-encrusted sets, and enough make-up to spackle a house.
That by the way, is one thing the Roman Catholic church (at the local level) does practice - local priests don't get paid all that much - and of course monasteries model simple community lives rather well.