NEWS STORY: Arkansas Baptists to pray for, not chastise Clinton

c. 1998 Religion News Service UNDATED _ Arkansas Baptists, meeting in Arkadelphia, have overwhelmingly passed a resolution committing them to pray for _ but not chastise _ President Clinton. The measure was approved by delegates to the Arkansas Baptist State Convention meeting Wednesday (Nov. 4) after several proposals, including some that would have chastised the […]

c. 1998 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ Arkansas Baptists, meeting in Arkadelphia, have overwhelmingly passed a resolution committing them to pray for _ but not chastise _ President Clinton.

The measure was approved by delegates to the Arkansas Baptist State Convention meeting Wednesday (Nov. 4) after several proposals, including some that would have chastised the president or his Little Rock church, were rejected.


The resolution stated that Clinton”faces the challenge of rebuilding his character after confessing sins that have caused great harm and embarrassment to the office of the presidency of the United States, to himself, his family, his country and the Christian community.” It also added that”sin is serious and offensive to Holy God”and delegates to the convention”recognize that God alone is the judge of all people.” The resolution concluded that”prayer is the most powerful tool at the disposal of Christians”and the delegates”commit (themselves) to pray asking God to bring redemption, healing, and righteousness for the president, the Congress and the nation.” The statement, which was approved by voice vote, did prompt some dissenting voices.”I think they would have liked to have seen a stronger reproach,”said Pastor Michael Seabaugh, chairman of the state convention’s resolutions committee.”I think the resolution is measured and I think it’s a restrained tone … What we wanted to do was to give a statement that Arkansas Baptists would affirm and then from there … expound personally their view on that.” Seabaugh said the committee received resolutions with”varying views”on the Clinton scandal and his admission of an inappropriate relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.”I think we all felt the need to say something, to say it strongly, … redemptively,”he said.”But at the same time to say this is a serious matter. It’s not just a political matter.” Among the proposals were resolutions that had already been passed by smaller Arkansas Baptist entities that had taken different stands on the Clinton situation. Two related to calls by prominent Southern Baptist officials for Immanuel Baptist Church of Little Rock, Clinton’s home church, to discipline its most famous member.

The executive board of the Pulaski Baptist Association in Little Rock, Ark., passed a resolution declaring that Immanuel Baptist and its pastor, Rex Horne, should be allowed to conduct its ministry in the way that church’s officials deemed was appropriate.”No one outside that congregation has the right, nor the privilege, of trying to coerce Immanuel Baptist to do otherwise,”the Pulaski board said.

Taking a different stand, the Northwest Baptist Association in Rogers, Ark., affirmed Southern Baptist leaders who had called for Immanuel Baptist to discipline the president.

In the midst of Baptist opinion-making on the topic, President Clinton himself sent a letter to Immanuel Baptist expressing repentance and seeking forgiveness from his fellow church members. Horne read the two-page letter at the end of the church’s worship service on Oct. 18.

In a move to handle the various opinions about Immanuel’s role, Seabaugh said the resolutions committee offered two other resolutions _ both adopted by the convention. One affirmed local church autonomy and the other”affirming soul competency and the priesthood of the believers,”all of which are basic foundations of the Baptist faith.

Soul competency refers to the”freedom of every believer to have direct access of God,”and the priesthood of believers allows each person to interpret Scripture”under the direction of the Holy Spirit,”according to the related resolution.”What we tried to do was to just plainly and clearly state and articulate authentic Baptist principles without trying to get into personalities or church polity,”Seabaugh said.

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