Spinning Morris Chapman
Jun 13th, 2007 | By art rogers | Category: Live Blogging, SBC, San Antonio '07I hate spin. Honesty is so much more refreshing. I try my best to be honest without spin, but am sometimes found having fallen to the temptation.
Morris Chapman’s address yesterday seems to be spin central in the blogosphere.
If you are reading this, you probably know that I believe he made it clear that he and the EC report sided against the additional doctrinal parameters.
Rather than debate this further, I think Morris Chapman can best speak for himself:
Leading by Example! can be found at morrischapman.com or by clicking the link.
An excerpt:
Only a very few years ago it seemed sufficient for all missionaries and Convention leaders to sign the Baptist Faith and Message as a statement of loyalty to Christ and the Convention. Now other doctrines are beginning to be required aside from our adopted confession. It causes one to ask, “Where does it end?” Let me propose two suggestions for future consideration:
(1) Any practice instituted by an entity in the Southern Baptist Convention that has the force of doctrine should be in accord with the Baptist Faith and Message and not exceed its boundaries unless and until it has been approved by the Southern Baptist Convention and secondly,
(2) If an entity of the Southern Baptist Convention adopts a confession of faith separate and distinct from the Baptist Faith and Message and it includes a doctrine unsupported by our confessional statement, the entity should request approval from the Convention prior to including the doctrine in its confession.
Can you spin that to say he hasn’t come out against additional parameters?
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Brother Art,
Amen!
Who was special guest yesterday? Or today? President Bush?
Is there a reason there is a break all afternoon on Wednesday? I don’t remember that format in Greensboro…. but maybe they had it
Yes, they had the same afternoon break in Greensboro. Although in Greensboro there’s not much to do with that time. In San Antonio, there is much to do. In fact, if I were there, I would have a hard time choosing whether to attend the convention sessions or spend time in the city. :-)
Conservatives typically argue that legal texts
should be interpreted by ’strict construction’
of the text according to the ‘orginal intent’ of
the authors. They typically condemn interpreta-
tions that may (or may not) be consistent with
the wording of a text, but are inconsistent with
the authorial intent and meaning of the text.
It seems to be very clear what the Executive Board and Dr. Chapman intended / meant by the wording of the resolution. It was clear last night to both proponents and opponents. It seemed clear today to Dr. Mohler – hence his disagreement and opposition
to the Convention’s action in accepting the resolution.
Those who argue that the resolution does not
mean (for them!) what Dr. Chapman said it meant
and what the vast marority last night (on both
sides!)understood it to mean are being disen-
genuous. They would never accept such an
interpretive philosophy applied to the Bible or
to the Constitution.
Those seminary presidents who may ignore this
action of the Convention in their adminstration
of SBC institutions are doing exactly what it
was claimed “liberal” seminary presidentds were
doing prior to the ‘Conservative (&Fundamentalist) Resurgence!’
Art,
It breaks my heart to see SBC leaders try to hijack the BFM motion and Dr. Chapman’s message. I thought they were above that. Guess who’s eyes are wide open now?
Les
Let no one be deceived. This is not an overnight fix. This is a long term issue that has yet to be decided. We’ll know in a few years if victory is a possibility, but there is no way of predicting it now. It will take a while, but it is now up to the leadership of the convention to fight it out. Frankly, it is beyond most of us at this point.
Art,
Something to remember, the Patterson/Pressler/Mohler crowd formulated and stuck to a 14 year plan to take over the convention. It was strategic. It was political. It was decimating to anyone that stood in their way… They really did take no prisoners.
Be careful. You guys have their ire up…
Oh, and we can’t watch what happened on Tuesday yet. It hasn’t been archived, as of 3:30pm on Wednesday…though, we can watch Monday’s Pastor’s Conference.
Tim
Guys,
You are right on target. This is no more than an unexpected use of the same powers of the mid 80s. I wrote a longer piece over at the outhouse…oops, outpost. (tongue firmly in cheek) I figure some humor might be needed about now. Watch and see how this motion is used/spun/ignored by the same ones who used this same power back then to gain the resurgence. Anyone who blogs or is regular posters on the blogs in support of “reform” should watch to see how it goes. Did we need resurgence? Yes. Do we need reform? Yes. Just be ready to stay at it for 10 years if needed. Doing a great job with the info. I thank you.
Trey