wfn.org | Church Leaders Issue Statement on the Clinton Crisis

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15-September-1998 
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    Church Leaders Issue Statement on the Clinton Crisis 
 
Editor's note: General Assembly moderator the Rev. Douglas Oldenburg, 
General Assembly Council executive director John Detterick and General 
Assembly stated clerk the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick have issued the 
following statement on the presidential crisis. - Jerry L. Van Marter 
 
    A Word to the Church on the Crisis in Our Nation 
 
    Our nation is in a state of moral crisis. As no one else in our 
society, the President of the United States is the living embodiment of our 
nation's highest values of freedom, democracy and compassionate concern. 
Seen in the context of Reformed doctrine, the president is the epitome of 
the civil magistrate, a public servant ordained by God to be "God's servant 
for (our) good" (Romans 13). Every public official is sworn into office 
under the assumption that this is a sacred trust, with accountability to 
the people and to God. 
 
    The admitted infidelity and lying by President Clinton are not only a 
violation of his marriage vows and the confidence of friends and 
colleagues. They are also a violation of that sacred trust with which the 
nation's highest office is endowed, and he must be held accountable for his 
actions. 
 
    As a matter of Christian concern for a brother who has erred, the 
church must listen with humility and sensitivity to his confession of sin, 
remembering that we too are sinners in need of God's forgiving grace. The 
path to true forgiveness is marked with genuine contrition and the 
determination, with God's help, to turn from the sinful behavior - a 
determination that can only be revealed over time in faithful living. 
 
    The judgment that adultery is immoral and contrary to God's will is 
clear. The availability of God's forgiveness is equally clear. What is not 
so clear is what will be required for healing to occur in his relationships 
with his family, friends, colleagues, and the nation he was elected to 
serve. 
 
    In the face of the tremendous amount of energy and money being poured 
into this very important case of personal immorality, it is critical for 
those of us whose Christian faith is shaped by the Reformed tradition to 
keep the matter in perspective. Our particular faith tradition suggests 
that public officials who fail to tend the "widows and orphans" under their 
care are under at least as great condemnation as any who err in their 
personal behavior. Let us not forget to hold all our legislators to God's 
standard of corporate morality, even as we hold the president to God's 
standards of personal morality. 
 
    Perhaps the most important thing we can do is pray.  We call on all 
Presbyterians to join us in praying for the Clintons, the Lewinskys, 
friends and colleagues of the president, the members of congress, Special 
Prosecutor Starr and those who assist him, as well as those who will work 
to defend the president in the face of the charges in the referral from Mr. 
Starr. Let us pray that the work done by Congress in the days ahead will be 
marked by wisdom, compassion and integrity. Let us also pray for our nation 
to the end that we will be able to look beyond this crisis to the ordering 
of our life together in the interest of  "the common good." 
 
    Finally, let us pray for our own church and for the Church of Jesus 
Christ in every corner of this nation, that together we may be a community 
of hope for a discouraged people.  May we renew our efforts to break from 
our cultural captivity and speak with a loud and clear voice on behalf of 
God's concern that we not only live holy lives as individuals but that we 
live for others, knowing that as we serve the most vulnerable among us, we 
serve our Christ himself. 
 
Douglas Oldenburg, Moderator, 210th General Assembly 
John Detterick, Executive Director, General Assembly Council 
Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly 

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