Pastors are human

Much ado has been made about the former head of the National Evangelical Association and his admission (really an outing timed to maximize political effect) that he struggles with sexual sin.  The interest is two fold: the story has excited the anti-Christian left because it smells the blood of a hypocrite, which is quite frankly what it suspects every prominent Christian to be.  The second is the political angle as pundits debate how the revelation will effect the mid term elections tomorrow.

 

Clearly the standard for Christians in leadership is higher than it is for others, and this is very high profile blow.  No one is excusing his actions or justifying them.  His congregations seems to be handling it with maturity.

 

But the reaction and coverage is somewhat dishonest: we know that Christian leaders are sinners, so no one should feign surprise that this particular man is sinful.  The authority pastors claim is not sinlessness or perfection, rather a calling from God.  Pastors are sinners and there is no contradiction there - every Christian is a sinner and each of us will at some point condemn something that we ourselves have done. 

 

This is not hypocisy, but the struggle to overcome our sinful nature - something we cannot do with out Christ.