In a recent post, theologian Wayne Grudem crafted a detailed (5,325 words, eleven-pages) article entitled Why Voting for Donald Trump Is a Morally Good Choice. As you might imagine, his post has created a stir and motivated bountiful responses.
I’ve begun collating some of the more significant responses—responses that for the most part disagree with Grudem’s personal assessment. I list 18 of them below with little comment so that you can make your own judgment. Of course, I do not endorse everything in any of these posts, nor does my listing of them constitute an endorsement of the author of the post.
Alex Chediak: Is Voting for Donald Trump a Morally Good Choice?
David French: A Good Christian Makes a Bad Case for Trump
Kevin Baird: A Response to Dr. Wayne Grudem’s Endorsement of Donald Trump
John Mark Reynolds: A Good Man Justifies a Wicked Deed: Grudem on Trump
Douglas Wilson: On Dodging the Flaming Hailstones
Jonathan Merritt: Wayne Grudem, Donald Trump and Admitting When You’re Not an Expert
Matt Emerson: #NeverTrump – Responding to Wayne Grudem
Kevin Vallier: Why Voting for Trump is Not a Morally Good Choice for Christians: A Reply to Wayne Grudem
Jake Meador: Evangelicals Endorsing Donald Trump: The Evangelical Case for Voting for David Duke
Please do not just look at the title and jump to conclusions. This post is not an endorsement of David Duke. It uses irony, sarcasm, and a tongue-in-cheek literary style to propose that the arguments made by Grudem could be used for Duke—and that neither Trump nor Duke should be endorsed by Evangelicals.
Erick Erickson: Why Bowing to Nebuchadnezzar Is a Morally Good Choice, By Wayne Grew Dim
Again, please do not just look at the title and jump to conclusions. This post is not an endorsement of Nebuchadnezzar! It uses irony, sarcasm, and a tongue-in-cheek literary style to propose that the arguments made by Grudem could be used for Nebuchadnezzar —and that neither Trump nor Nebuchadnezzar should be endorsed by Evangelicals.
Warren Throckmorton: An Answer to Wayne Grudem about Donald Trump and What is Best for the Nation
Andy Naselli: Can You Vote for Donald Trump with a Clear Conscience?
Naselli original crafted this post long before Grudem’s article. However, later in Naselli’s post, he updates his article with responses to Grudem.
Denny Burk: Character Matters in Public Leadership
Not a direct response to Grudem, but written after Grudem’s article and reflecting on John Piper’s thoughts on the presidency and character.
Shane Vander Hart: Albert Mohler and Russell Moore Explain Why They Can’t Support Trump
This is not a response to Grudem. Instead, the post links to previous articles by Albert Mohler and Russell Moore on why they can’t support Donald Trump.
Bart Gingerich: 7 Reasons Why White Evangelicals Support Trump
Not a response, per se, but rather the author’s interpretation of motivations of Trump supports.
Jane Mayer: Donald Trump’s Ghostwriter Tells All
Not a response, but an interview with Trump’s (biased) ghost-writer.
Jared Wilson: Politics Ought #NeverTrump Principle
Not a response directly to Grudem, but an overall reflection on the “lesser-of-two-evils” mentality.
David Bahnsen: It’s Hillary or Trump: What’s a Conservative to Do?
Not a direct response to Grudem, but rather further reflections on our choices in this election.
Join the Civil Conversation
What other posts have you seen on Grudem’s article?
What are your thoughts on Grudem’s article?
Note: Let’s keep the conversation civil. Angry, disrespectful, ranting, and venting comments will not be posted.
This is a good post from Owen Strachan — http://cpt.mbts.edu/2016/07/21/13-thoughts-on-trump-and-our-confusing-political-moment/
Yes, Jim, Owen’s post is a fine post. Had I seen it sooner, it would be one of 19! I’m sure I will update this post at a future date with further links. Thanks for adding this one.
There is nobody I respect more than Grudem on applying a biblical worldview to politics. I didn’t buy in to his argument mostly because it depends on the belief that Trump is likely to follow thru on positions only very recently taken. I’m grateful he wrote it – my 13-year old son read it out loud on a long drive and we were able to talk about it at length.
Mike, I, too, have great respect for Wayne Grudem’s theology–his text is a classic, if not the classic evangelical theology text of our generation. Like you, I think Grudem “mis-reasons” on a number of his points. It’s almost like a theologian who will build his model of theology and THEN go to the Scriptures to prove his model. It appears to me that Grudem decided he must endorse Trump, and then crafted or created reasons why. Seems like a backwards logic to me. And it seems to minimize the very character issues that Grudem rightly argues for throughout his life, ministry, and writings…
“I have been convicted of late that I have not worked very hard to understand the appeal of Donald Trump to his working class white poor constituency.” — Justin Taylor, The Gospel Coalition
“[H]umans appear to have some need to look down on someone…And if you’re an elite white professional, working class whites are an easy target: you don’t have to feel guilty for being a racist or a xenophobe…you can get that high of self-righteousness and superiority without violating any of the moral norms of your own tribe. So your own prejudice is never revealed for what it is. A lot of it is pure disconnect – many elites just don’t know a member of the white working class.” — J.D. Vance
https://blogs.thegospelcoalition.org/justintaylor/2016/07/23/perhaps-the-most-insightful-interview-youll-read-this-election-year/
Here’s a 19th: Trump Replacing Scalia Is Not Enough, by Matthew Franck:
http://www.nationalreview.com/bench-memos/438633/trump-replacing-scalia-not-enough
A Response to the False Piety and Self-Righteousness of the” Never Trump” Crowd
In a recent article by Denny Burk, a Professor of Biblical Studies at Boyce College, the undergraduate school of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, he wrote an article “No, #Never Trump is not over….at least it shouldn’t be.” He, not unlike others at the seminary, elsewhere and including Russell Moore, President of Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, should cause the faith community some grave concerns as to the judgment, or lack thereof, being exercised in these troubling political times by leaders in our religious institutions.
Burk, Moore and others are wrong for all the reasons Dr. Wayne Grudem sets out in his article, “Why Voting for Trump is a Morally Good Choice.” With all due respect, Denny Burk is no Wayne Grudem and neither are the others at the seminary and related institutions. Oddly enough, Grudem was one of the original founders of the Counsil on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood of which Burk is now president. Wikipedia lists Grudem’s other accomplishments and credentials as follows:
Wayne Grudem holds a B.A in Economics from Harvard University, an M.Div and D.D. from Westminster Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. in New Testament studies from the University of Cambridge. In 2001, Grudem became Research Professor of Theology and Biblical Studies at Phoenix Seminary. Prior to that, he had taught for 20 years at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School where he was chairman of the department of Biblical and Systematic Theology.
Grudem served on the committee overseeing the English Standard Version translation of the Bible and from 2005 to 2008 he served as General Editor for the 2.1 million-word ESV Study Bible (which was named “2009 Christian Book of the Year” by the Evangelical Theological Society. In 1999 he was the president of the Evangelical Theological Society. Wikipedia.
The accomplishments of this man goes on and on and on. So, Grudem, one of the greats in the theological world, plays no second fiddle to anyone in Christendom. He is not only at odds with some of his colleagues, the “Never Trump” group, but has a rationale, divorced from self-righteous piety and emotional hyperbole, that gives perspicuity to the choice we have in this election year. While Trump was not Grudem’s first choice either, as he was on the Religious Liberty Advisory Board for Marco Rubio, Grudem shows real wisdom.
Here is Grudem’s reasoning which leaves little doubt that those “Never Trump” folks are aiding and abetting the real enemy.
http://m.townhall.com/columnists/waynegrudem/2016/07/28/why-voting-for-donald-trump-is-a-morally-good-choice-n2199564
It’s impossible to argue logically or scripturally with Grudem. The “Never Trump” crowd barely ever mentions Hillary Clinton in their reasoning. Many of us lived through the years of the Clintons in the White House. Hillary and her husband have constructed one of the greatest criminal enterprises this country has ever known. If I were to list their misconduct, an impeached president and disbarred in Arkansas just as starters, it would take volumes and indeed volumes have been written about the Clintons and their scandals. Yet, all the self-righteous focus is on Donald Trump. Were they to list Hillary’s misdeeds their arguments and rationale would fall flat. Thus, they don’t.
Donald Trump was not my choice, but he is now. I make no excuses for the man. We all know his sins. As scripture says, any man who says he is without sin is a liar. 1 John 1:8. At least we know Trump’s sins. We don’t know the sins of the “Never Trump” crowd, do we? Do we know the sins of those who teach and preach in our religious institutions and seminaries? No!
I worry a great deal about the weaker brothers, as R.C. Sproul once referred to in a sermon. Weaker brothers who work their way into leadership positons, legislate and make new rules for the rest of us, adding yokes around our necks. These folks all too often are found safely hidden and protected behind brick walls of institutions in their air-conditioned offices, usurping the role of the stronger brother who lives in the trenches fighting and knowing the enemy every day. It’s all too easy for the weaker brother to armchair general from their comfortable perch to those in the trenches.
Now, for full disclosure, I have been a member on the Foundation Board of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, donate annually and give grants out to professors, of whom Burk was one. I can tell you for a fact that not all professors at the seminary share the views of Burk or others within the institution who are “Never Trumpers.” But, few, if any, of these folks of Burk’s belief have lived in the political trenches as I have for the last 20 years. They may have been observers from afar, but not from within the inner workings of the system itself. They offer opinions that I consider self-righteous, overly pious, naive, emotional and devoid of logic. I’m not preaching pragmatism, its God given good judgment. In critical times when the choices are not good, a choice nevertheless has to be made and doing nothing is not an option. The coward’s way, the safe way, the weaker brother’s way is to do nothing. Doing nothing is supporting Hillary Clinton and to claim that you are not makes you a liar. Don’t try to convince me, make your case to God after you confess your sins, and don’t act like a Pharisee and thank God that you are not like that sinner Donald Trump, because you are! We are all sinners, yes just like Trump.
The problem with the “Never Trump” crowd within our religious institutions is naivety, self-righteousness and what really boils down to being sore losers because their more evangelical-like guy didn’t win. Consequently, they are going to punish the nearly 16,000,000 voters who elected Trump with historic margins by giving the election to Hillary Clinton who hates everything about Christendom. The “Never Trump” crowd has lost all perspective. There is no tomorrow after a Hillary Clinton presidency. There will be no electoral means for a Republican or conservative acceptable to the “Never Trumpers” to regain the White House. Wake up! Learn your electoral map! I don’t like where we are in this any more than many, but it’s a reality.
The very same millions who voted for Trump are the people who sit in the pews of religious leaders who are espousing “Never Trump” sentiments. This is a very unhealthy and short-sighted disrespect coming from our religious leaders toward those who sit in their pews every Sunday. Our leader’s fail to recognize the utter frustration and disgust these millions of church goers have had for an “establishment” who have failed, if not betrayed, them time and time again. Now they feel the betrayal of those behind the pulpit and the brick walls of their religious institutions. So here we have religious leaders who are part of the “Never Trump” crowd influencing impressionable young minds that are preparing for ministry. The question is will they have been trained to preach suicidal messages from the pulpit such as the “Never Trump” crowd professes? God help us if they do! God may not be judging the nation as much as he may be judging our religious institutions and leaders who will feel the heat of persecution under a Hillary Clinton presidency. Of course once they realize the errors of their ways it will be too late.
Some of our leaders in fact now accommodate the very people they originally opposed in retaining their positions. One, who will go unnamed at this point, was always found of telling me he was a Democrat. Go reconcile that and the party’s platform! That’s what you call growing in office. That is what the millions who voted for Trump were protesting. They are tired of those who become comfortable with the enemy. Our so-called conservative and religious leaders begin to want to be liked by our enemies. People who will never like them and will never agree with them. The establishment, so-called conservatives, religious leaders, however you want to group and identify them, over time, betray their beginnings. They stray from the path. Millions who sit in your pews revolted and rightfully so. Now, the “Never Trump” crowd want those same frustrated millions to surrender to nothing less than a Jezebel.
The “Never Trump” crowd rationale is nonsensical, irrational, illogical, self-righteous. Frankly, it is a piety that is frightening and we should be looking into their closets. Again, my candidate did not win, but knowing Clinton historically as I do and what she has planned for this country and Christendom is frightening. One need only look to her mentor, Saul Alinsky in his seminal work, “Rules for Radicals.” That’s her core belief system and clearly there is no other choice but to vote for Trump. If you know nothing about Alinsky then you know nothing about Hillary and you have no business counseling anyone on how to vote in this election. In Wikipedia’s summary of Alinsky in part reported;
] Shortly before his (Alinsky) death he had discussed life after death in Playboy magazine. That says a lot there.
ALINSKY: … if there is an afterlife, and I have anything to say about it, I will unreservedly choose to go to hell.
PLAYBOY: Why?
ALINSKY: Hell would be heaven for me. All my life I’ve been with the have-nots. Over here, if you’re a have-not, you’re short of dough. If you’re a have-not in hell, you’re short of virtue. Once I get into hell, I’ll start organizing the have-nots over there.
Alinsky was Hillary’s mentor. If you are too young to remember the sordid history of the Clintons then read Alinsky’s book Rules for Radicals and then you will know what you need to know about Hillary Clinton. Then you will further understand how misguided and uninformed the “Never Trump” crowd is in their pronouncements. My conscience is clear as I first see myself as a sinner, not a self-righteous Pharisee. Once you can accept that truth about yourself then you can see clearly to a logical and rational and yes, as Grudem says, a moral reason to vote for Trump.
Jack L. Richardson, IV
Attorney
Former Chair of the Louisville/Jefferson County Republican Party
Member off the Kentucky Republican Party Executive Committee
Former student at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Member of the Foundation Board at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Reformed Christian
Jack,
Just because Grudem has great credentials doesn’t make him infallible. Kelleman makes a very keen observation: “It’s almost like a theologian who will build his model of theology and THEN go to the Scriptures to prove his model. It appears to me that Grudem decided he must endorse Trump, and then crafted or created reasons why. Seems like a backwards logic to me. And it seems to minimize the very character issues that Grudem rightly argues for throughout his life, ministry, and writings…”
I also find it ironic that you believe “there is no tomorrow with a Clinton presidency” and you claim to be a Reformed Christian.
As much as I detest Hillary Clinton’s policies and believe her character is unfit for the Presidential office, I refuse to make the far-out accusations you have made against her in your post. You slandered her which is sin (I Peter 2:1) Hillary wrote her senior thesis on Alinsky and although she believed he had good intentions, she was highly critical of his methods and his dogmatism. Our current president was much more influenced by him than Clinton ever was. To try to make a strong connection between Clinton and Alinsky is a huge distortion of the truth and you need to be called out on it.
Also you have insinuated twice in your post that liberals are the enemy. This is a direct contradiction of Ephesians 6:12 which states “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
Your conscience may be clear, but I feel you have deceived yourself and made your conservative politics your idol, which has produced both slander and malice. As the greek philosopher Demosthanes once said, ““Nothing is easier than self-deceit. For what each man wishes, that he also believes to be truth.”
Wow this article and comment section is dizzying with the benefit of hindsight. So many of these guys ended up selling their soul to Trump while he was in office, and now that he lost the last election, have been quick to take up the mantle of “character” again and push Desantis on us.
Another example of Christian leadership political hypocrisy: Grudem (shortly after Trump started attacking Desantis) was asked “What are the biggest threats to orthodox Christianity”? and Trump was one of his answers.