Posted on 02/07/2019 11:23:08 AM PST by SeekAndFind
In a recent Christian Post editorial, Napp Nazworth claims that evangelical Christians who voted for Donald Trump have compromised their witness and hurt the work of the gospel. He also believes that evangelical leaders who have been brought into Trump’s inner circle have become nothing more than useful idiots (my words), being duped by the allure of power.
With all respect to Napp, whom I honor as a committed Christian and fine journalist, I believe he has overstated his points and confused the roles of politics and the gospel.
Before sharing my perspective, however, let me make clear that: 1) to the extent evangelical supporters of Trump have looked to him to change the moral fabric of the nation, we have made a gross miscalculation; 2) to the extent evangelical leaders have excused the President’s bad behavior (especially in the present, with his tweets and his treatment of others), we have compromised our moral authority (a major point made by Napp); and 3) to the extent evangelicals have exchanged voting for praying and preaching, we have lost sight of our mission.
As the author of the book Donald Trump Is Not My Savior: An Evangelical Leader Speaks His Mind About the Man He Supports As President, I am under no illusions when it comes to our Commander in Chief.
That being said, I differ with Napp’s thesis for four principle reasons.
1. First, he confuses our vote for a political leader with our personal morality and witness. He wrote, “Before the election, I warned my fellow evangelicals to not vote for Trump, that associating with a person of Trump's character would damage us.”
But you can vote for someone without tying your soul to that person. You can vote for someone with reservation, even expressing that publicly. You can vote for someone while having a moral difference.
One of the main reasons I voted for Trump (after opposing him strongly in the primaries) was because I was voting against Hillary Clinton.
I felt she would be a staunch opponent of our religious liberties, a zealous advocate for abortion, and a supporter of radical LGBT activism.
In my view, her presidency could have negatively affected our country for many years to come, impacting our kids, our grandkids, and beyond.
Despite my very real concerns about Donald Trump, I hoped he would keep his promises in these key areas (along with supporting Israel). Thankfully, he has, which is why I’m still glad I voted for him, despite the collateral damage.
In the last two years, I have had serious gospel conversations with Trump-hating non-believers, and when I explained why I voted for Trump, expressing my reservations as a Jesus-follower, those I spoke with were able to separate my vote for Trump from my witness for Jesus.
2. Second, some evangelical leaders have made a positive impact on the president without compromising their moral authority at all.
One of my dearest friends is close to President Trump, and on several occasions, he has lovingly rebuked Trump in strong and clear terms. My friend’s public ministry goes on just the same, affecting as many people as he has for years, and he remains unimpressed by the lure of the White House, having been in different presidential circles over the years.
And he is not alone. There are strong evangelicals on the Cabinet, along with strong evangelical voices like former Ambassador Nikki Haley, who often spoke with prophetic clarity to the UN on behalf of Israel. And there is Vice President Mike Pence, who recently penned a strong article condemning the infanticidal comments of Virginia Governor Northam, calling his position “morally reprehensible and evil.”
This is highly significant, helping to energize the pro-life movement as well. How different things would be if Hillary Clinton had been elected!
3. Third, I believe Napp downplays the role of the courts in American society.
It is not just the Supreme Court that Trump is impacting. He is also impacting many other federal courts, again, with the possibility of changing the face of the courts for the next one to two generations.
Before Trump, we were facing a rising tide of judicial tyranny – what Mark Levin famously called Men in Black – a tyranny that was rewriting the Constitution and threatening our most fundamental liberties.
And while having better justices in the courts will not win the lost or bring revival – who ever thought it would? – it will protect some of our most cherished liberties and institutions.
Martin Luther King, Jr., once said, “The Christian gospel is a two-way road. On the one hand, it seeks to change the souls of men, and thereby unite them with God; on the other hand, it seeks to change the environmental conditions of men so the soul will have a chance after it is changed.”
We might say today that, while we seek to change the souls of men, we also want to preserve our right to live in accordance with our faith.
Not only so, but in my view (and the view of many), the issue of abortion is today’s slavery issue. How will we respond?
If Trump were a strong anti-slavery candidate in the 1850s, I would have voted for him. And I would have had no problem giving a Christian reason for doing so.
Napp argues that, at best, overturning Roe v. Wade would merely push the battle back to the States. But that is something we already know and we already embrace.
The alternative, which we are witnessing in front of our eyes, is the push to extend abortion “rights,” up to and including infanticide. Which do we prefer?
That, again, is why I can vote for Trump without compromising my moral authority. I was also voting for the lives of the unborn.
Napp writes, “But backing Trump won't end abortion. Just the opposite. In aligning with Trump, pro-lifers are only extending the time that will ultimately be required to end abortion because they're losing their moral authority to speak on this issue.”
To the contrary, the pro-life push under Trump has only highlighted the moral bankruptcy – and radicality – of the pro-abortion position, thereby clarifying our moral differences.
Of course, I agree that we will put an end to abortion on demand only by changing hearts and minds. But that also presupposes that, once someone’s heart is changed, they will then vote accordingly.
4. Fourth, while it is true that some of our witness has been hurt by evangelical leaders who defend Trump at every point, overall, I believe it is largely the leftwing media that is driving this narrative.
They are the ones shouting at every turn, “You must renounce Trump if you want us to take you seriously! No Christian can stand with Trump!”
I for one refuse to play this game (as I articulated in some of the chapters in my aforementioned book).
The fact is that this same media was mocking our position before we ever voted for Trump.
And I don’t believe for a split second that if we suddenly renounced him that these media leaders would say to us, “Please, share your views on abortion and homosexuality and the Bible. We would love to hear what you have to say.”
Not a chance.
Moreover, this same media despises Vice President Pence, in particular, because of his strong Christian views.
Had he been our president (or, if he one day becomes president), evangelicals supporting him would be accused of seeking to set up a theocracy, and we would be vilified day and night.
In sum, I believe we make a grave, fatal mistake if we look to the President to bring spiritual renewal or moral reformation to America. Perish the thought.
And I believe if we excuse his ungodly conduct or feel the need to become his defenders in chief, we do compromise our moral authority.
But if we give our souls to our Savior alone, to Him who died for us so we might live for Him, and if we give the President our vote, our witness remains firm and our integrity uncompromised.
Brown left out the most important reasons a Christian can vote for Donald Trump without betraying his faith:
Namely, that because the narrative that Donald Trump is a man of low character is pure horseshit - an invention of the Leftist MSM to tarnish any conservative judge or politician, however pure, who dares to oppose their Marxist agenda.
The same MSM, by the way, who could never once admit that the Rapist-in-Chief, William Jefferson Clinton, was a man of low character - and who could never bring themselves to describe their darling JFK in those terms - even though he was a serial adulterer.
I’m glad that the author of this piece was able to “justify” voting for Donald Trump, “in spite of all his flaws”. Every vote counts.
But he is an awfully poor judge of character, and sadly uninformed regarding President Trump’s positions and his record of achievement on the many issues that impact people of faith.
RE: But he is an awfully poor judge of character, and sadly uninformed regarding President Trump’s positions and his record of achievement on the many issues that impact people of faith.
I don’t see the author as uninformed on the many issues. In fact, he ARTICULATES these issues in all 4 of his points in the article.
Here they are again:
1) Trump is the BETTER leader than Hillary
2) Trump is SYMPATHETIC and SUPPORTIVE of the Evangelical cause and has CONSISTENTLY shown it in his policies and in the Evangelical leaders he appoints and chooses ( See Mike Pence ).
3) He has chosen the right judges and justices to the courts who will uphold the constitution, which is INHERENTLY based on Judaeo-Christian values.
4) He has at every turn, fought the good fight against a media hostile to Christian values and morality.
The article in fact shows Brown’s good grasp of the issues And the President’s positions and policies.
No, sweet, you did not answer my initial question.
My initial comment is found up-thread at #27. My question was this:
“ WHO DEBATES A MORON?”
This is a dull exercise and, in CST, a waste of my time and yours. Thanks, for playing. May you get of the house soon.
RE: but Mr. Brown’s dislike of President Trump is more focused on his current refusal (and approach) to back-down from his enemies, something, as a Christian, I whole-heartedly support.
Where in the article does Brown show his dislike of Trump?
He does not like Trump’s past affairs and his past trysts and the words he said in the Hollywood Access Tape. That’s all. That does not mean that he dislikes him now.
RE: My initial comment is found up-thread at #27. My question was this:
“ WHO DEBATES A MORON?”
___________________
OK, before I answer the question, I want to question your assumption first — who is the moron and why?
RE: 1. Big If.
It is not a secret that Trump PAID Stormy Daniels to keep quiet during the campaign. She agreed to do so and broke her promise after the elections were over.
This leaves the question open -— why, if he did not have an affair with her, did he have to pay her?
You also asked me another question, which I believe I answered. It is this : Not to butt in, but where do you stand on the value of this wordy chat piece?
I said I agree with his reasoning.
And you have not answered my question -— what part of his article do you find questionable. I’m waiting....
Ninth commandment violation.
"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.".
Repeating something that you do not know to be true is bearing false witness.
Perhaps you should go pray about this sin you are allowing to consume you.
Not altogether because I make no excuses for voting for Trump other than he is the man for the job.
Because she was making an accusation to get some money out of him because she felt she had him “over a barrel” since he was running for President?
We’ve seen lots of people over the years make false, very public accusations that proved to be outright lies.
So you have to ask yourself, who are you going to believe, President Trump, or the Stripper?
The gist of the piece can be summed up by his concluding statement, as follows:
“And I believe if we excuse his ungodly conduct or feel the need to become his defenders in chief, we do compromise our moral authority.”
What ungodly conduct?
If Brown wants to help shed light on the truth for his readers, he should be showing them how to see through the Left’s lies and smears - how to recognize how the Left targets those on the Right for character assassination, especially people of faith and politicians who advocate for them.
Instead, he talks about the President’s “ungodly conduct” - thereby paying lip service to a Leftist smear campaign. Why aren’t we ever talking about the ungodly conduct of Democrat presidents? Hint: because these narratives are inventions of the Left - they aren’t designed to destroy Democrats - they are designed to destroy Republicans, and this guy is helping by his off-hand reference to Trump’s supposed ungodly conduct.
RE: Because she was making an accusation to get some money out of him because she felt she had him “over a barrel” since he was running for President?
The issue is this — are the accusations true?
If not, why bother paying?
The fact that he paid her and asked her to keep quiet about it does not give me much confidence.
RE: What ungodly conduct?
1) Stormy Daniels
2) Karen McDougal
3) The Access Hollywood Tapes
4) Trump’s first marriage imploded on the covers of all of New York’s tabloids after he brazenly took his mistress, Marla Maples, on a family vacation in Aspen along with his wife, Ivana, and attempted to hide her away until she approached Ivana and said, “I’m Marla and I love your husband. Do you?”
Just 4 of them.
If these were not ungodly conduct, I don’t know what is.
And I disagree, these are not concoctions of the left. THEY WERE THERE LONG BEFORE HE RAN FOR PRESIDENT.
I will grant you this, they were in the distant past, decades ago. But smears? They were known conduct long before he ran for President.
Michael Brown does not excuse what he did, he acknowledges their existence but explains in his column why evangelicals CAN STILL support him even as they do not condone what he did in the past.
RE: he should be showing them how to see through the Left’s lies and smears
Yes, Many of the left’s smears are fake and false. Especially today.
But please, let us not pretend that some of Trump’s past sins never existed.
RE: I make no excuses for voting for Trump other than he is the man for the job.
Then you agree with the author of this column because this is essentially what he is saying.
RE: “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.”.
Repeating something that you do not know to be true is bearing false witness.
_________________________
You are assuming that the 9th commandment has been violated.
Again, if the accusations are false, why pay Stormy Daniels to make her keep quiet? Just say that she is lying.
The guy is as close to a saint as any President in American History.
ML/NJ
RE: WHAT FLAWS ???
Read the rest of the exchange in this thread. We can start with his affair with Marla Maples while married to Ivana, the Access Hollywood tapes and so on.
But as far as the big picture is concerned, they are irrelevant and unlike Clinton, he hasn’t disgrace the office of President in his tenure.
I am an evangelical, I suppose, and I voted for Trump and have never ever felt the need to justify or explain the vote.
Anyone who does is buying into the Alinsky tactics of the Left.
All I will ever say that if the vote doesn’t measure up to what some degenerate thinks I should strive for, he can go to hell.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.