{"id":8895,"date":"2020-08-14T11:30:50","date_gmt":"2020-08-14T16:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.twocities.org\/?p=8895"},"modified":"2020-08-16T21:45:20","modified_gmt":"2020-08-17T02:45:20","slug":"trump-my-former-professor-and-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/?p=8895","title":{"rendered":"TRUMP, MY FORMER PROFESSOR, AND ME"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear Wayne,<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thank you for the many kindnesses you showed me (and Doreen) during our time (90-92) at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Your recommendation that I receive the award for the best thesis on a theological subject encouraged me in my writing.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Your recommendation that I publish my thesis with the same publisher that did your Cambridge dissertation was also a wonderful blessing. And thanks for writing the foreword.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Your approaching me to serve as executive director of the Council of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood surprised and humbled me. I am the furthest thing from a one issue guy, so it was easy to turn down, but it was an honor to be asked.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And I will never forget that you regularly supplied us with doughnuts at your advisee meetings!<\/strong><\/p>\n

I read your Town Hall piece. Allow me to offer a few areas I wished you had addressed.<\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/townhall.com\/columnists\/waynegrudem\/2020\/08\/08\/letter-to-an-antitrump-christian-friend-n2573909<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Nothing is mentioned about the founding fathers on the needed character to govern. For many years, the\u00a0founding fathers were invoked by us conservatives, but then we slowly gave up their counsel because of Reagan’s divorce, Newt’s ruthlessness, etc.\u00a0Realpolitik grabbed the imagination of many conservatives, so we got more \u201crealistic\u201d about the limits of purity in our governing philosophy. The political machinations of bad boys like Lee Atwater and Newt Gingrich turned Republican politics into a blood sport. Yes, it is played that way on the other side of the aisle as well. Some would say the Democratic party plays it better. Since most of the people I speak with are on the conservative side of the ledger, I will keep my concerns focused there. I still think Madison and other founding fathers should instruct us on character. I find it telling that the counsel of those folks has faded into the political ether.<\/strong><\/p>\n

You\u00a0mentioned the illiberalism of the left. I agree. In the 1980s, I spoke on the\u00a0free\u00a0speech platforms at both Stanford University and Cal\/Berkeley. I wonder what that experience would be like today, so I understand your concern. Unfortunately, you\u00a0left out that freedom of speech is not just stifled by those on the left. It also gets stifled at bastions of not just conservatism, but Christianity, like Liberty University.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I wish there were more conservatives like Robert George of Princeton. He, as you well know, is close friends with Cornel West. They do not agree on many things, yet they truly seek to learn from one another. Trump, and many who follow him, find Professor George\u2019s model quaint and impractical. Again, realpolitik rears its head above such idealism.<\/strong><\/p>\n

My biggest concern is one I have not heard mentioned by any who support Trump, even by those who say he is the better option of the \u201clesser of two evils\u201d gambit.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What about the confusion Trump creates over the gospel? Christians who say Trump is the “lesser of two evils” seem to forget the integrity of the church and gospel. I was surprised you did not mention anything on this topic.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here’s a diagnostic\u00a0of sorts: Which candidate brings the most confusion to the gospel and hurts the integrity of the church? I would argue, and believe it is easy to do, that Trump does. The Democratic party has little use for evangelicals so no confusion to the gospel occurs. But a candidate who has health-wealth preachers and other Christians supporting him no matter what, certainly does untold damage. And that damage does not go away once Trump is out of office.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The church in America has lost much integrity in supporting Trump. You mentioned Trump\u2019s unsavory character which is a proper thing to do. I am afraid your\u00a0concerns over\u00a0his character got drowned out when you so quickly pivot to how great Trump\u2019s policies have been. In other words, your concerns over Trump’s character come across tepid and they lack the penetration of the prophet that is so sorely needed.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are several other things I keep hoping to hear from Christians, but sadly I keep hearing lots of crickets. For example, three times Jeremiah says that Nebuchadezzar was \u201cGod\u2019s servant.\u201d If God is still in charge with the likes of Nebuchadnezzar, should we really have a Chicken Little posture as we contemplate someone from the Democratic party being in office?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I did not vote in the last election. My reasons for doing so are too long to mention here, bu<\/strong>t a scholar of James Madison\u2019s political philosophy said Madison would have supported my right to do so. Three months out from the upcoming election, I continue to think (and pray) about how I should vote this November. And rest assured, my vote will not be for Joe Biden.<\/strong><\/p>\n

No matter what happens I would like to hear more Trump supporters, especially the Christian ones, say he is unfit for the presidency, even though they are glad for his policies. Saying Trump is less than perfect is hardly the same as saying he is unfit to govern. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

[One factual error in your piece: Schlafly did an MA at Radcliffe, but her JD was from Washington University not Harvard.]<\/strong><\/p>\n

Your Former Student,<\/strong><\/p>\n

David (George) Moore<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Wayne, Thank you for the many kindnesses you showed me (and Doreen) during our time (90-92) at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Your recommendation that I receive the award for the best thesis on a theological subject encouraged me in my writing. Your recommendation that I publish my thesis with the same publisher that did […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[90,43,106,53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-character","category-christianity","category-church","category-politics"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8895"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8902,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8895\/revisions\/8902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}