Pastor John Piper weighed in on the Presidential Election of 2020. Unlike me, who few people know exist much less listen to, Piper has a huge following in the Evangelical Christian world – and beyond. His advice carries authority. Mine less so, to a major degree.
In “Policies, Persons, and Path to Ruin: Pondering the Implications of the 2020 Election,” published by Desiring God, Piper explains his reasons for rejecting both Donald Trump and Joe Biden as the next President of the United States. He evaluates character deficiencies, primarily, and also cannot countenance Biden’s support for abortion on demand.
Piper chooses to vote for None of the Above, and by implication, suggests other Evangelicals should do likewise. I disagree.
We have a system of government that seldom affords us the opportunity to elect a best option to the office of President—that is, if we consider the entire pool of qualified Americans, but they are not on the ballot.
You always have three options: Using the 2020 presidential race as an example, it’s either Trump, Biden or None of the Above (or Someone Else). I exercised the third option in 2000, because I could not countenance George Bush’s support to further nationalize education. I voted for him in 2004 as the better option over John Kerry.
Pastor Piper sees neither Presidential candidate as an option. He is unwilling to judge Trump on his record as a President, but in many ways rejects Biden based on his record. He judges both men as lacking character (evident in the opening quote).
Can you think of any election in which the public determines the outcome, where the two major parties give us two persons of high character, nearly flawless humans, from which to choose? Hardly. Think through our past Presidents (and other elected officials) and their many moral flaws – publicized with zest by their detractors.
In 2020, the two parties asked us to a man whose pre-presidential life displayed serious character failures – Mr. Trump. He has family that dotes on him, and by the Trump name they have become wealthy – albeit by working hard, with a record of demonstrable accomplishment. Or Mr. Biden, a Roman Catholic, who believes there is moral justification for taking the lives of unborn humans created by God. The Biden family has used the Biden name and position to build wealth. Trump is a career developer. Biden is a career politician.
About abortion on demand, both men have changed their minds. Prolifers, who are quite demanding of elected officials, say that Trump is the most prolife president in history, based on his record. Biden swung to the far left, abortion for any reason at any time position. If you are prolife (antiabortion) which do you prefer? If you are prochoice (proabortion) then your choice is clear, if you ignore the rest of their records.
As for me, I am not now nor have I been a Trump supporter, but I am a Trump voter. The distinction, and where I disagree with Pastor Piper, is Trump’s record as President. I agree with far more of it than the parts with which I disagree. And truly, which president in our history has been more of a friend to Israel? Or since Roe v. Wade, more assertive about at least setting up the opportunity for We the People to protect God’s creation of a human life from murder at the hands of an abortionist?
For a year or more, I implored my few Democrat and Anti-Trump friends to produce an alternative who folks like me can openly and vigorously support. They cannot do it, because the Democratic Party is now home to an openly socialist/communist influence that demeans human life. And about the latter, I mean preborn and late-in-life elders.
Pastor Piper talks about a future when Christians will be openly persecuted, and that it is the Christian’s duty to point people to Christ, not to Trump or Biden. So Piper points people to None of the Above. The idea of pointing people to Christ is spot on (at another time, I will write about how far too many of us worship life instead of God). But as citizens of the United States, we cannot abdicate our responsibility as We the People – rulers and kings in the U.S. We the People are responsible to help determine our future, and we do that by voting, and almost as the norm, choosing as it were, the evil of two lessors.
It’s hard to take on John Piper. It might be that Heavenly Citizenship is, after all, a permission to ignore the politics of mankind. Many Christians today believe that the U.S. is just another country, just another system of government. Our loyalty lies, they suggest, only to heavenly Government led by Jesus Christ. True in the larger picture, but I don’t see that we have a right or an obligation to opt out of our responsibility as We the People, the sovereigns in the U.S.
If we do not like the two choices the parties have given us, then next time, Christians must engage in choosing those two options ahead of time, instead of abdicating their responsibilities as We the People, and hiding in the holy huddles of their churches, waiting for the Second Coming, while letting the world around them plunge into moral darkness and anarchy.
#Trump #Biden #Christian
[i] Piper, John. “Policies, Persons, and Paths to Ruin: Pondering the Implications of the 2020 Election.” Desiring God, October 22, 2020. https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/policies-persons-and-paths-to-ruin.
