Recently Wayne Grudem, Seminary Professor and Bible commentator, wrote an article entitled “Why Voting for Donald Trump Is a Morally Good Choice”. I have the utmost respect for Dr. Grudem and appreciate his commentaries. I was rather disappointed to read his article which is posted over at townhall.com. There are several reasons in which I find myself at odds with Dr. Grudem.
Dr. Grudem begins early on in his article referring to Trump as a “flawed candidate”. I do agree that all candidates are flawed. Anyone not wanting a flaw in their political candidate is living in a dream world. The problem with this point, Dr. Grudem makes, is that he either ignores the long and illicit history of Trump or he is completely unaware. Trump, much like Bill Clinton, is known for his philandering and promiscuous activities. In his book “The Art of the Deal” Trump wrote:
“If I told the real stories of my experiences with women, often seemingly very happily married and important women, this book would be a guaranteed best-seller,”
Not only has Trump engaged in these ungodly activities but he has bragged publicly about them. This shows he has no shame, repentance, or concern for the damage and hurt he has taken part in. It shows he has no sense of what a family should be and no concern over their destruction. I would argue that Wayne Grudem needs to consider that fact that when our families are weak so will our churches, communities, and country be weak. When we elect leaders who have no moral values concerning family then we allow and even take part in the break down of the God established nuclear family and the continued destruction of our country and American founding.
If we are going to vote for someone like Donald Trump or even Bill Clinton then we need to remain silent on the homosexual and transgender issues so as not to be hypocrites. Christians need to be consistent in order to have an effective gospel message. Voting for Donald Trump makes us inconsistent, it makes us hypocrites, and it does effect the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Trump also has built and has his name on Casinos which have strip clubs in them. Aside of the immorality of the Casinos themselves and aside from the immorality of strip clubs, sex trafficking and prostitution are often associated with strip clubs. I do not think Trump would intentionally engage in or allow the latter activities but you have to question the moral character of one who would engage in that which is so closely associated with those horrific crimes.
Further, in 1990 Trump appeared on the cover of Playboy magazine. Given his philandering, strip club owning, and lack of concern for an industry that often enables sex trafficking and prostitution we see a pattern of behavior that should give any Christian solid concern. Do we set aside the moral character of our political candidates because of other reasons? What possible good reason could we do such a thing? I will posit to you the following.
The reason I believe Christians are willing to overlook the long and illustrious history of illicit behavior from Donald Trump is fear. This is due to the many conversations I have had with Christians who express anger, animosity and in some cases the use of ugly rhetoric when they think someone who is a Christian, conservative, or otherwise just not going to vote for Hillary, may vote for someone other than Trump. There is no doubt the stakes are high this election cycle. We have just gone through a long eight years of the Obama administration who ignores the rule of law, works to by pass the constitutional checks and balances created by the founders of this country, and has a seemingly strong hatred for American Judaeo Christian values.
For America to have to endure another single term of a President with very similar problems places the fear for our country into the hearts of many Americans. We are looking at possible Supreme Court nominees, the permanency of Obama care, gun control laws and many other issues that Americans find near and dear to their hearts. The threat of a Clinton presidency is real and quite scary. However, we need to slowdown, take a breath and think this through rationally rather than emotionally.
Folks we have got to stop voting for political candidate simply because they are espousing the right agenda. Moral character has to be priority and must always come first. After we have determined their moral character is what it should be then we listen to their agenda. When we put the cart in front of the horse we will have wreck. People voted for Bill Clinton in that exact way and look at the scandal after scandal he put the country through. I would argue that Trump is most likely worse in moral character than Bill Clinton.
Lastly, I want to address the idea that if you are looking to vote for someone other than Hillary and you vote for someone other than Trump then your vote helps Hillary. This is a cheap shot and continues to ignore that moral character matters. I was rather disappointed to see Dr. Grudem take part in such poor argumentation. This country was founded on being able to vote our conscience. It amazes me that as Christians and as conservatives we would demonize those who choose to vote their conscience. I would argue that placing a candidate, that has little to no moral character into the position of candidate of the President of the united states creates the problem. Not refusal to vote for them.
Christians we need to make moral choices and not fearful choices. We have a growing corrupt political system simply because we discount moral character and find political agenda more important. This is not what our country was founded on and it is not what God has called us to do.
1 Peter 1:15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, (ESV)
https://pastormarkmitchell.com/2016/09/03/why-voting-for-donald-trump-is-not-a-morally-good-choice/
Dr. Grudem begins early on in his article referring to Trump as a “flawed candidate”. I do agree that all candidates are flawed. Anyone not wanting a flaw in their political candidate is living in a dream world. The problem with this point, Dr. Grudem makes, is that he either ignores the long and illicit history of Trump or he is completely unaware. Trump, much like Bill Clinton, is known for his philandering and promiscuous activities. In his book “The Art of the Deal” Trump wrote:
“If I told the real stories of my experiences with women, often seemingly very happily married and important women, this book would be a guaranteed best-seller,”
Not only has Trump engaged in these ungodly activities but he has bragged publicly about them. This shows he has no shame, repentance, or concern for the damage and hurt he has taken part in. It shows he has no sense of what a family should be and no concern over their destruction. I would argue that Wayne Grudem needs to consider that fact that when our families are weak so will our churches, communities, and country be weak. When we elect leaders who have no moral values concerning family then we allow and even take part in the break down of the God established nuclear family and the continued destruction of our country and American founding.
If we are going to vote for someone like Donald Trump or even Bill Clinton then we need to remain silent on the homosexual and transgender issues so as not to be hypocrites. Christians need to be consistent in order to have an effective gospel message. Voting for Donald Trump makes us inconsistent, it makes us hypocrites, and it does effect the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Trump also has built and has his name on Casinos which have strip clubs in them. Aside of the immorality of the Casinos themselves and aside from the immorality of strip clubs, sex trafficking and prostitution are often associated with strip clubs. I do not think Trump would intentionally engage in or allow the latter activities but you have to question the moral character of one who would engage in that which is so closely associated with those horrific crimes.
Further, in 1990 Trump appeared on the cover of Playboy magazine. Given his philandering, strip club owning, and lack of concern for an industry that often enables sex trafficking and prostitution we see a pattern of behavior that should give any Christian solid concern. Do we set aside the moral character of our political candidates because of other reasons? What possible good reason could we do such a thing? I will posit to you the following.
The reason I believe Christians are willing to overlook the long and illustrious history of illicit behavior from Donald Trump is fear. This is due to the many conversations I have had with Christians who express anger, animosity and in some cases the use of ugly rhetoric when they think someone who is a Christian, conservative, or otherwise just not going to vote for Hillary, may vote for someone other than Trump. There is no doubt the stakes are high this election cycle. We have just gone through a long eight years of the Obama administration who ignores the rule of law, works to by pass the constitutional checks and balances created by the founders of this country, and has a seemingly strong hatred for American Judaeo Christian values.
For America to have to endure another single term of a President with very similar problems places the fear for our country into the hearts of many Americans. We are looking at possible Supreme Court nominees, the permanency of Obama care, gun control laws and many other issues that Americans find near and dear to their hearts. The threat of a Clinton presidency is real and quite scary. However, we need to slowdown, take a breath and think this through rationally rather than emotionally.
Folks we have got to stop voting for political candidate simply because they are espousing the right agenda. Moral character has to be priority and must always come first. After we have determined their moral character is what it should be then we listen to their agenda. When we put the cart in front of the horse we will have wreck. People voted for Bill Clinton in that exact way and look at the scandal after scandal he put the country through. I would argue that Trump is most likely worse in moral character than Bill Clinton.
Lastly, I want to address the idea that if you are looking to vote for someone other than Hillary and you vote for someone other than Trump then your vote helps Hillary. This is a cheap shot and continues to ignore that moral character matters. I was rather disappointed to see Dr. Grudem take part in such poor argumentation. This country was founded on being able to vote our conscience. It amazes me that as Christians and as conservatives we would demonize those who choose to vote their conscience. I would argue that placing a candidate, that has little to no moral character into the position of candidate of the President of the united states creates the problem. Not refusal to vote for them.
Christians we need to make moral choices and not fearful choices. We have a growing corrupt political system simply because we discount moral character and find political agenda more important. This is not what our country was founded on and it is not what God has called us to do.
1 Peter 1:15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, (ESV)
https://pastormarkmitchell.com/2016/09/03/why-voting-for-donald-trump-is-not-a-morally-good-choice/
