Flawed, striving
Won’t leave church despite Trump
Ihave enjoyed reading the opinion columns by Gwen Faulkenberry in the Sunday paper. Her opinions regarding most topics have been similar to mine. As a fifth-generation Arkansas Southern Baptist, I was especially interested in her column about moving on from her Southern Baptist roots.
Her background and experience as a Southern Baptist mirror mine, except I was in Royal Ambassadors instead of Girls in Action and I am a generation older than her. Like her, I am a follower of Jesus first and Southern Baptists second.
Gwen gives an accurate description of the puzzling, almost cult-like following of Donald Trump among many evangelicals and some leading Southern Baptists. They seem able to overlook any moral failure, character flaw or foolish decision of Trump which they would condemn if seen in Bill or Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. They confuse immature name-calling with strength. If Clinton, Obama or Joe Biden had described Vladimir Putin as a savvy genius for going into Ukraine as a peacekeeper as Trump did, Republicans and conservatives would have accused him of being a communist puppet.
If they do admit he has character and ethical failures, they excuse this by saying they support his policies. However, they ignore his racist, nationalistic, anti-democratic policies and actions that are antithetical to the clear teaching of the Bible and our American heritage. On June 11, 2019, I wrote an opinion column in this paper pointing out the inconsistencies in Trump’s statements with evangelical beliefs. Little has changed.
Unlike Gwen, who says she must leave our denomination and can do no other, I will not leave the denomination I love and have served for over 60 years. Southern Baptists are a people and therefore flawed and sinful at times. We are not defined by our elected leaders or famous pastors. Our only Lord is Jesus Christ and our guide is his word, the Bible. If Gwen looked around, she would discover there is a remnant, in fact millions of Southern Baptists, who have not bowed their knees to Baal and are as offended by Trump’s personality and policies as she and I.
I will remain a Southern Baptist because no other denomination or independent church has a doctrinal statement that so nearly reflects my own beliefs. I will remain a Southern Baptist because they believe the Great Commission to carry the gospel to the ends of the Earth is to be obeyed and are striving to carry that out. I spent 30 years supported by Southern Baptists as a missionary on the other side of the world. I cannot leave the churches that supported me or my colleagues with whom I have served.
We are a unique and complicated people with members from a variety of political backgrounds. Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich were Southern Baptists at the same time, as were Jimmy Carter and Jesse Helms. At times in our history, we have not lived up to the biblical teaching on issues such as race relations or protection of women from abuse. We have often ignored the log in our eye while condemning the splinters in the eyes of others.
This paper provided excellent coverage of our annual national meeting last summer as a younger generation of Baptists led in seeking to provide transparency to past mistakes. My prayer is we will now correct our past efforts to prioritize political movements over our biblical mandate.
I respect Gwen’s decision and she must decide what is the best way she can serve God through the church. I still believe I can follow God’s will in my life by working and serving in a local Southern Baptist church and taking part in our state and national denomination decision-making process with hope we will be a witness to the world of God’s love and plan of salvation. No convention leader or political clique in the denomination can drive me from the denomination I love.