{"id":25250,"date":"2016-10-11T09:42:40","date_gmt":"2016-10-11T13:42:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=25250"},"modified":"2016-10-11T16:06:34","modified_gmt":"2016-10-11T20:06:34","slug":"wayne-grudem-takes-back-his-endorsement-of-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/10\/wayne-grudem-takes-back-his-endorsement-of-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"Wayne Grudem takes back his endorsement of Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Wayne Grudem is a prominent and influential evangelical theologian. \u00a0As we blogged about,<\/a> he surprised quite a few people when he endorsed Donald Trump. \u00a0But now, in light of that tape of Trump\u2019s sex talk and of the\u00a0things he said as a regular guest on the Howard Stern show (including sexual talk about his own daughter)<\/a>, Grudem has taken back his endorsement.<\/p>\n

But read Grudem\u2019s entire statement after the jump. \u00a0He said that Hillary Clinton is \u201cno better\u201d and says that he will definitely not vote for her. \u00a0He argues that Christians should not simply refuse to vote. \u00a0He says that he does not know what he will do come election day.<\/p>\n

One issue he raises is the \u201cwitness\u201d of Christians, if they support someone so blatantly lecherous. \u00a0That makes it look as if Christians care only for power. \u00a0He fears that Christians won\u2019t be taken seriously if they gloss over gross moral failings in the candidates they support.<\/p>\n

\n

What do you think of what he says?<\/p>\n

From Wayne Grudem, Trump\u2019s Moral Character and the Election \u2013\u00a0T<\/a>ownhall:<\/em><\/p>\n

There is no morally good presidential candidate in this election. I previously called Donald Trump a \u201cgood candidate with flaws\u201d and a \u201cflawed candidate\u201d but I now regret that I did not more strongly condemn his moral character. I cannot commend Trump\u2019s moral character, and I strongly urge him to withdraw from the election.<\/p>\n

His vulgar comments in 2005 about his sexual aggression and assaults against women were morally evil and revealed pride in conduct that violates God\u2019s command, \u201cYou shall not commit adultery\u201d (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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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. I am grateful that Townhall.com has agreed to remove my earlier statement.<\/p>\n

But if Trump refuses to withdraw, where does that leave us? Hillary Clinton is no better. She vilified the victims of Bill Clinton\u2019s sexual advances; she abandoned our diplomats to be killed by terrorists in Benghazi and then lied about it; she illegally handled classified emails on her private server and put national security at risk; she left much of the world in chaos after four years as Secretary of State; and she has a lifelong pattern of acting as if she is above the law, protected by the Obama administration\u2019s Justice Department, the FBI, and the mainstream media.
\nShould we not vote for either candidate?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some Christian friends tell me they can\u2019t vote for either candidate, because they think that voting for either one is compromising with evil. They say that we must absolutely repudiate Donald Trump in order to demonstrate to every Republican voter in the nation that evangelicals will never support a blatantly immoral candidate, and if one is ever nominated in the future he will lose the evangelical vote and lose the election. I respect that argument, and because of it I am not now sure who I am going to vote for. I absolutely will not vote for Clinton. I\u2019m hoping that Trump will withdraw.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[Keep reading. . .]<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wayne Grudem is a prominent and influential evangelical theologian. \u00a0As we blogged about, he surprised quite a few people when he endorsed Donald Trump. \u00a0But now, in light of that tape of Trump\u2019s sex talk and of the\u00a0things he said as a regular guest on the Howard Stern show (including sexual talk about his own […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":7,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,36],"tags":[3881,4606,4708],"class_list":["post-25250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church","category-politics","tag-donald-trump","tag-trump-and-evangelicals","tag-wayne-grudem"],"yoast_head":"\nWayne Grudem takes back his endorsement of Trump<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Wayne Grudem is a prominent and influential evangelical theologian. \u00a0As we blogged about, he surprised 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