"THEOLOGIAN IN RESIDENCE"
FOR JOHN WIMBER'S
CHARISMATIC "VINEYARD CHURCH";
ON THE TRANSLATION COMMITTEE FOR THE ENGLISH STANDARD VERSION OF THE BIBLE
WHO THEN IS FIT TO BE PRESIDENT IN THIS MAN'S WORLD? HE WON'T SAY!
www.waynegrudem.com
Is Wayne Grudem Lying About Not Knowing Donald Trump’s Past? Watch The Video
BY TOBIN GRANT
SEE: http://religionnews.com/2016/10/10/is-wayne-grudem-lying-about-not-knowing-donald-trumps-past-watch-the-video/; republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
Evangelical theologian Wayne Grudem was in a particularly sticky situation. Grudem is a thought-leader to many evangelicals. His book on theology is (literally) required reading in many evangelical churches. Because of this, his defense of Donald Trump as “a morally good choice” drew a lot of attention among evangelicals.
Then came the video of Trump boasting of his infidelity, attempts to sleep with a married woman, and his sexual assaults on women. Grudem wrote a new essay and had Townhall.com take down his previous defense of Trump. An archived copy of his July essay is still available.
But this isn’t the story of a theologian who came to his senses. This is the story of a theologian who railed against Trump’s infidelity as disqualifying in February, downplayed Trump’s past as a mere “flaw” in July, and now claims he was ignorant of Trump’s past now that Trump has become too embarrassing for a theologian to support.
In his updated assessment of the ethics of voting Trump, Grudem stated,
I previously called Donald Trump a “good candidate with flaws” and a “flawed candidate” but I now regret that I did not more strongly condemn his moral character. I cannot commend Trump’s moral character, and I strongly urge him to withdraw from the election.
He says he came to this new conclusion after seeing the video of Trump, which opened his eyes to Trump’s immorality.
His vulgar comments in 2005 about his sexual aggression and assaults against women were morally evil and revealed pride in conduct that violates God’s command, “You shall not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14). I have now read transcripts of some of his obscene interviews with Howard Stern, and they turned my stomach. His conduct was hateful in God’s eyes and I urge him to repent and call out to God for forgiveness, and to seek forgiveness from those he harmed. God intends that men honor and respect women, not abuse them as sexual objects.
The video made Trump’s words and actions clear, but they were not surprising. The video revealed little new information. This is not a case of a hypocrite being caught in a lie. Trump had a history of bragging about his infidelity and sexual behavior. So why turn on Trump now based on his moral character?
Grudem’s excuse is that he didn’t know. He says he should have known, but he didn’t do enough research:
Some may criticize me for not discovering this material earlier, and I think they are right. I did not take the time to investigate earlier allegations in detail, and I now wish I had done so. If I had read or heard some of these materials earlier, I would not have written as positively as I did about Donald Trump.
The only problem with this I-didn’t-do-my-homework excuse is that he is on record of knowing about Trump’s boasts of infidelity and exploitation of women.
In his earlier endorsement, Grudem acknowledged Trump’s past.
“[Trump] has been married three times and claims to have been unfaithful in his marriages,” Grudem said. “These are certainly flaws, but I don’t think they are disqualifying flaws in this election.”
But the real evidence of Grudem’s understanding of Trump comes from a video of an address he gave to pastors during an Illinois Family Institute event in February.
Grudem stated again and again that Trump’s infidelity and moral character disqualified Trump “because a man who cannot be trusted to be faithful in his marriage cannot be trusted to lead the most powerful nation on earth.”
Grudem was explicit about Trump boasting about his infidelity and sexual past:
Now we have a Republican candidate leading in many polls who boasts that he has slept with many women, married and unmarried, many of the most beautiful women in the world. He boasts about it and yet he is leading in many polls. Does a man’s moral character no longer matter in choosing someone to be the most powerful man in the world?
Grudem went further, recounting that Trump made millions of dollars on casinos and strip clubs. Grudem said that these strip clubs “scarred the souls” of women and men.
Grudem called on pastors to speak out that “moral character matters” and to remind themselves that “moral character matters” when they are tempted to vote for Trump.
During his talk, Grudem avoided saying the name “Trump.” Instead, in the middle of his discussion of Trump’s past, Grudem joked, “I’m not going to mention the candidate’s name. If you don’t know, you have no business voting.”
The audience laughed because they knew Trump and his character. So did Grudem.
But now, in the aftermath of Trump’s so-called locker-room banter video, Grudem expects evangelicals to believe that he did not know Trump lacked the moral character to be president.
Grudem claims he made a mistake by not following up on “allegations” made against Trump. It’s not true. In February, he was willing and able to rattle off Trump’s immoral behaviors, including his boasts of infidelity, in a forceful charge that Trump’s moral character made him unfit for office.
Grudem is acting as if now—and only now—he has enough information to conclude that Trump treats women as sexual objects. The video shows the opposite. Grudem knew Trump’s past. He talked about it in detail. He called on pastors to talk about Trump’s treatment of women and to not be tempted to back Trump. Between then and July, Grudem failed to follow his own advice to pastors.
The video released this weekend did not provide new information. It did not reveal anything new about Trump’s moral character. But it did reveal something about Grudem’s own moral choices.
And the choice Grudem must now face is whether he is willing to admit that he knew Trump’s past but ignored it or if he wants to continue to feign ignorance of something he already knew about Trump.
You should also read Jonathan Merritt’s column from July, Wayne Grudem, Donald Trump and admitting when you’re not an expert
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SEE OUR PREVIOUS POSTS ABOUT WAYNE GRUDEM:
AND FROM OTHER AUTHORS:
http://www.challies.com/interviews/continuationism-and-cessationism-part-2-an-interview-with-dr-wayne-grudem
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GRUDEM: Why Pastors Should Preach About Political Policies
IF AND WHEN HE DOES,
IT'S NOT CONSERVATIVE
Grudem: Politics According to the Bible,
or According to Grudem?
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Wayne Grudem’s Flip-Flop on the Donald Trump Moral Conundrum
BY JEFF MAPLES
SEE: http://pulpitandpen.org/2016/10/10/wayne-grudems-flip-flop-on-the-donald-trump-moral-conundrum/; republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
Remember back in July when Wayne Grudem said this?
I do not think that voting for Donald Trump is a morally evil choice because there is nothing morally wrong with voting for a flawed candidate if you think he will do more good for the nation than his opponent. In fact, it is the morally right thing to do.
We at Pulpit & Pen have continually warned about the lack of discernment in those who are pushing support for the morally “flawed” presidential candidate, Donald Trump. In fact, we believe that the same lack of discernment that would allow Grudem to be a continuationist–or sign an ecumenical document like the Manhattan Declaration–or pronounce a devout Roman Catholic saved, is the same lack of discernment that would allow him to throw his support behind the debauched candidate. We’ve heard over and over about how much worse the opponent is, therefore, we need to vote to “do the least damage.”
Grudem, a man who believes we can still hear directly from God today outside of Scripture, was unable to predict the moral catastrophe that Trump has become.
The issue here is that anyone with a sense of biblical discernment could see that Trump’s character was a cataclysmic failure. Yet, Grudem would defend him anyways, saying,
I do not think it is right to call him an “evil candidate.” I think rather he is a good candidate with flaws.
Really? He isn’t evil? Jeremiah 17:9, maybe?
Anyways, apparently he’s now come around–and it’s taken a freight train derailment to convince him. Now, on the same blog site, Grudem has officially Canerized his original post praising Trump, and in a seemingly 180-degree turn in which he withdraws his endorsement for the man, now says this:
There is no morally good presidential candidate in this election. I previously called Donald Trump a “good candidate with flaws” and a “flawed candidate” but I now regret that I did not more strongly condemn his moral character.
Hey, thanks for coming around, Wayne. But maybe, just maybe, you should have seen this before. After all, the lesser of two evils is still evil. Even Jerry Garcia knew that. But the simple fact that someone who calls themselves a Christian could unhesitatingly throw support behind a man whose character is that awful is quite telling of one’s discernment–or lack thereof.
A man who has openly stated that he hasn’t asked God for forgiveness because he doesn’t have anything to ask forgiveness for. A man who claims he was led to Christ by one of the foremost false teachers in the world, Paula White. And now, recently released, the audio of a man who unashamedly brags about groping women for sport, and says things so horrible that even the left-wing news outlets won’t repeat what he said.
I mean, come on…who didn’t see this coming?
Apparently, not Wayne Grudem.
The bigger issue at stake here is that these so-called evangelical Christian leaders go out on a limb to throw their support behind this debauched man. What does this say about Christianity to those on the outside watching this charade? “Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals”,” says 1 Corinthians 15:33. You get behind someone as morally corrupt as Donald Trump, and it just might start rubbing off on you. This is far worse than a mere lack of judgment…a mistake to simply be sorry for. This affects the Church’s witness for Christ.
This nonsense goes on in evangelicalism all the time.
[Contributed by Jeff Maples]
See also:
