John Piper is right that policy isn’t the only thing that matters in an election, and that the character of a president matters. But he is wrong that the character of Trump specifically matters more than the policies of the Trump administration specifically. https://twitter.com/johnpiper/status/1319439397335502848

Piper is also correct that the wages of all sin is death, and that Americanism and Republicanism can be easy idols for believers. But he is wrong to conflate standing for those truths with a stance on voting or not voting for Trump.

We’ve had 45 presidents. Not one was an example of sinlessness. Is Trump’s character uniquely bad? Perhaps, though slave owners, duelers, serial philanderers, and LBJ may have something to say about that.

Here I don’t mean to normalize Trump’s flaws, but to contextualize them.

Moreover, some policies reveal character. Trump is a blowhard, but when push comes to shove, he’s shown a resistance to violence and to centralizing control in himself. Those are quite rare virtues - and that they are virtues is undeniable if you are a Christian or conservative.

Moreover, how one votes says something about their character, too. Not voting for someone with a now proven record of defending the life of the unborn is different than not voting for someone you aren’t sure will do so. And it reveals a lack of care for your unborn countrymen.

Not voting for someone now known to protect the fundamental - including religious - freedoms of your neighbors against an also now known revolutionary left bent on destroying those rights also shows a disregard for the well-being of your countrymen.

To be clear, I am questioning the character of John Piper. Is he a good man as far as that goes? I’m sure he is, but he’s still a man, after all. And here he reveals a serious flaw - a disregard for the temporal good of his reader because of a personal distaste for Trump’s flaws.

I say personal distaste, because while Trump’s flaws are readily apparent, I don’t believe Piper has made a case that they are uniquely severe in practice - and he does not suggest abstaining for voting for every flawed candidate. Only Trump.

Piper gets points for consistency, I guess, but being consistent is more admirable when you are right. Bill Clinton did deserve impeachment - for breaking the law and perjuring himself. But his sexual sin was hardly unique among presidents.

In the end, Piper is elevating his pride in his own consistency and his personal aversion to our boorish president above the actual temporal good this administration does while minimizing the evil the radical left represents.

He’s essentially guilty of Mitt Romneyism - letting your personal sensibilities - which I share - make you a co-conspirator with the left.

That he makes a fine but disconnected theological point while doing so is not a recommendation.