Two Baptist leaders express opposing views on Trump, abortion

In a recent column, John Piper, the founder of desiringGod.org, former chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary and former pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, recently argued that boastfulness is worse than abortion, and because President Donald J. Trump is boastful he says he did not vote for him.

In a recent article Piper wrote, “I think it is baffling and presumptuous to assume that pro-abortion policies kill more people than a culture-saturating, pro-self pride. When a leader models self-absorbed, self-exalting boastfulness, he models the most deadly behavior in the world.”

Has Piper lost his mind?

Did he retire because he was diagnosed with dementia?

Boastfulness is the most deadly behavior? Seriously?

Last week, well-known faith leader @JohnPiper wrote an article about why he could not vote for @POTUS @realDonaldTrump. I completely disagree with his reasoning—he is wrong on this issue.
Former Planned Parenthood worker @AbbyJohnson had a great response. https://t.co/ZsE2dZUUBA

— Franklin Graham (@Franklin_Graham) October 28, 2020

In response, a former employee of Planned Parenthood, Abby Johnson, had a lot to say on the matter.

Johnson, who is CEO and founder of And Then There Were None, and author of Unplanned, wrote in the Christian Post,

“No one likes a braggart, but I’ve never seen boastfulness rip a baby limb from limb. Yet I have seen an abortion suction tube do just that. And I have seen a 13-week-old innocent baby fight for his life against that abortion instrument, only to die trying.

“What a ridiculous comment from someone seen as a faith leader. And what a ridiculous justification to vote for a party that stands for the expansion of elective abortion through 40 weeks for any and every reason. Pathetic.

“Pride doesn’t kill babies. Boastfulness doesn’t tear them apart in their mothers’ wombs. Arrogance doesn’t cause a baby to flee for their lives as sharp instruments seek to rip them limb from limb while they are still alive. No. Abortion does that and abortion alone.

“We can’t legislate pride or boastfulness or arrogance. But we can legislate abortion. In fact, we can make it illegal. And that is what is on the line. Life is on the line. The innocent lives of precious babies are on the line. Not pride. Not arrogance.

“Grow up. You aren’t voting for prom king. This isn’t a popularity contest.”

(The entire article is worth reading.)

In contrast to Piper’s article, Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, the flagship school of the Southern Baptist Convention and one of the largest seminaries in the world, admitted he was wrong for how he had misjudged Trump in 2016.

On the matter of abortion, Mohler, writes,

“The Democratic Party became the party defending abortion rights and the Republican Party became the party opposing abortion rights. Over time, the divide has grown even more dramatic. By 2016, the Democratic Party had eliminated all meaningful opposition to unconditional abortion rights and demanded that taxpayers be coerced into paying for abortion. The Republican Party defined abortion as the killing of an unborn human being and called for an affirmation of the sanctity of human life.”

When it comes to how and why he voted in 2016, and for whom and why he’s voting in 2020, Mohler writes:

“I didn’t vote for Donald Trump in 2016. Repulsed by his character and unable to see him as a conservative, I voted for neither major party candidate. I made a symbolic vote. I had to hope that Hillary Clinton would not be elected president, but it seemed almost determined. As we know now, it was not. Having argued loudly for the resignation of President Bill Clinton on national television many times over in the wake of the Monica Lewinsky affair, I felt that I could not vote for Donald Trump without hypocrisy. I even went so far as to say that if I voted for Donald Trump I would have to apologize to Bill Clinton.

“Well, I am voting for Donald Trump in 2020 and I make no apology to Bill Clinton. I do apologize, but my apology is for making a dumb statement that did not stand the test of time. I am not about to apologize to Bill Clinton, who stands guilty of having desecrated the presidency by his gross sexual immorality while in office. I still believe in the necessity of character for public office, but I have had to think more deeply about how character is evaluated in an historic context.

“When it came to Donald Trump in 2016, I made note of his pro-life promises, especially with reference to the federal courts culminating in the Supreme Court. As a conservative Christian, I have lived through decades of frustration and heartbreak as the nation’s highest court transformed itself into a super-legislature inventing newly-declared “rights” at the expense of human dignity and ordered liberty. But I doubted that Donald Trump meant to fulfill his promises. I was wrong. As I told the New Yorker in an article that was just published, ‘He actually did what he said he’d do,’ adding, ‘It’s the oddest thing.’

“It is the oddest thing. The candidate who had been pro-abortion became pro-life. I have no means of reading Donald Trump’s heart on this issue, but I can easily evaluate his actions. In terms of presidential action, Donald Trump has been the most effective and consequential pro-life president of the modern age.”

What a contrast between two Baptist leaders. Piper’s article exudes pridefulness and arrogance (ironically) whereas Mohler’s exhibits humility.

One can list all of the boastful things former presidents have said and done. One can even list all of the death and destruction they have caused through the endless wars they led, or anti-life policies including a 10-day rule under then former Texas Governor, George W. Bush, who while claiming to be pro-life secured one of the most unconstitutional and anti-life laws in Texas.

But at the end of the day, 60 million children in the U.S. are dead– from dismemberment, from having their spines snipped with scissors, from chemicals being injected into their brains, and from the most inhumane treatment imaginable in the false name of “women’s rights” or “choice.”

America will always stand in judgment for “legalizing” the greatest crime being committed against humanity– the murder and torture of innocent babies, who are very much alive and move away from the instrument coming towards them to kill them. Babies feel pain. They scream and cry. Their screams– ultimately stifled by bloody murder- -are far worse than anyone’s boastfulness or pride.

Yet Joe Biden, and Democrats, want to kill babies up to and even after they are born– and make taxpayers pay for it. Not only is this inhumane, it’s not biblical. Which is why it should be obvious to everyone that Christians must vote for policies, not personalities, of which the first and foremost is every human being’s right to live.