Dr. Albert Mohler (president, SBTS) and Russell Moore (SBC): Why Not Support Trump?

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Last month Dr. Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY, was part of a panel discussion during a Baptist21 event and he was asked about the election, what were first, second and third tier issues, and if evangelicals have always voted for the candidate that says they are pro-life and appoint conservative Supreme Court justices.

No, no, that is not what we have always done. What we have always done is vote in a fallen world for fallen candidates in a fallen political construct and done the best we could….

…. Yes I think the life issue is paramount, not stand alone, but is paramount. It is single issue dispositive to use the language of political science. I could not vote for someone that I believe would do any action that would expand the murder of the unborn or the assault upon the human dignity and sanctity of a single human life – period. So I go into the voting booth saying I can not vote for a candidate. That’s not enough. There is a difference between being single-issue dispositive and single-issue sufficient. Those are two separate things. Character is an indispensable issue.

The first time I met Bill Clinton was hours after I had been on the O’Reilly Factor calling on him to resign, and that was a quintessential awkward moment, but I was right in terms of the issues. But I could not possibly be consistent and somehow vote for someone whose character I believe eclipses Bill Clinton on so many of those very same concerns. Someone who has bragged about his adulterous affairs, someone who has given himself to the pornographic industry, basically to a form of the sex trade, and let’s just go on. In other words, I can’t being single-issue dispositive does not give an adequate political grid for when you go out. Because character is pretty much and also how prolife someone supposedly is after being so pro-abortion that they actually supported partial birth abortion.

So I find myself in a situation I never envisioned in my life as a Christian or as an American, but I am going to have to be Christian in order to be a faithful American. So I am going to find myself unable to vote for either of those two choices of our two major political parties.

Dr. Russell Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, concurred.

Yes, I will be writing in a candidate this year and the reason for that is simple. The life issue can not flourish in a culture of misogyny and sexual degradation. The life issue can not flourish when you have people calling for the torture and murder of innocent non-combatants. The life issue can not flourish when you have people who have given up on the idea that character matters. If you lose an election you can live to fight another day and move on, but if you lose an election while giving up your very soul then you have really lost it all, and so I think the stakes are really high.

And I think the issue, particularly, when you have people who have said, and we have said, and I have said for twenty years the life issue matters, and the life issue is important… When you have someone who is standing up race baiting, racist speech, using immigrants and others in our communities in the most horrific ways and we say ‘that doesn’t matter’ and we are part of the global body of Christ simply for the sake of American politics, and we expect that we are going to be able to reach the nations for Christ? I don’t think so, and so I think we need to let our yes be yes and our no be no and our never be never.

Here is the video:

12 Comments

  • Varnel Watson
    Reply August 2, 2016

    Varnel Watson

    Stan Wayne

  • Reply August 2, 2016

    Varnel Watson

    Troy Day liked this on Facebook.

  • Varnel Watson
    Reply August 2, 2016

    Varnel Watson

    Dont seem to bother Stan Wayne

  • Stan Wayne
    Reply August 2, 2016

    Stan Wayne

    CNN CBS ha ha

  • Jon Ray
    Reply August 2, 2016

    Jon Ray

    Mohler? SBTS? = about half of the evangelical vote (Not ha ha)

  • Stan Wayne
    Reply August 2, 2016

    Stan Wayne

    It is a very small sliver that would vote Hillary

  • Jon Ray
    Reply August 2, 2016

    Jon Ray

    You dont say – Dem pickups vs. 2012: NC GOP pickups vs. 2012: IA NH VA Clinton 277 vs Trump 214 http://www.electoral-vote.com/

  • Jon Ray
    Reply August 2, 2016

    Jon Ray

  • Reply April 24, 2020

    Varnel Watson

    cumenical. Non-Denominational. In certain circles of evangelicalism, these are dirty words. (“Catholicity” is another.) Critics say these words represent a weak or thin theology—one whose core conviction is that convictions don’t much matter provided we can all get along. For some, they represent a potential threat to the mission of the church or even the gospel itself.

    Other believers take a friendlier view of conciliatory language. Without compromising their core convictions, they want to build bridges with a range of churches and Christian organizations around the world, joining together in mission wherever possible. These principles are central to the work of groups like the Lausanne Movement, Evangelicals and Catholics Together, the Reforming Catholic Confession, and the Center for Baptist Renewal (where I serve as editorial director).

    Yet even those of us who champion C. S. Lewis’s ideal of “mere Christianity” find it difficult to put into practice, especially in the face of entrenched theological and denominational divides.

    Several years ago, Albert Mohler popularized the phrase “theological triage.” Although the basic concept shares a certain kinship with other “mere Christian” buzzwords, it sparked a renewed conversation about how and why Christians agree, disagree, or agree to disagree about various points of theology.

    The term triage, of course, comes from the field of medical care. It refers to the choices medical professionals are compelled to make in the direst of circumstances, when a flood of patients (or a scarcity of resources) ensures that some cases must be prioritized. In the realm of theology, then, practicing triage means determining which beliefs are more urgent or foundational than others. More specifically, it has often meant sorting theological claims into three categories: the primary (what Christians must believe), the secondary (what denominations or groups can disagree about), and the tertiary (what individuals or local churches can disagree about within their denomination or group).

    In his book, Finding the Right Hills to Die On: The Case for Theological Triage, pastor and theologian Gavin Ortlund addresses the basic questions raised by a triage mindset: When should doctrine divide, and when should unity prevail? Ortlund lays out both the blessings and dangers of theological convictions, while offering advice on weighing the relative importance of the doctrines we hold dear.

    http://www.pentecostaltheology.com/dr-mohler-our-nation-is-one-vast-mission-field/

    • Louise Cummings
      Reply April 24, 2020

      Louise Cummings

      Troy Day I just alway try to say things as close to what the Bible says. But as far as missions go. I love them. Pray for them. I don’t know what all of them teach. But if they know who Jesus is. I pray they can lead souls to the Lord. If someone is trying that doesn’t know the Lord. I don’t know how they could lead them to someone they don’t. But if it was possible that someone reall did come to know the Lord. It’s possible they could be possible the one or two that did really happen by Jesus seeing their sincerity. And help the ones that was trying with blinded eyes. The true one that did except Jesus. , maybe could show them the way. But when someone preach false doctrine knowing the truth. They will stand before God condemned. They will give an account before God for not preaching false doctrine. We have no place of compromise if we know the truth. But I can’t read minds. Unless I know a little of the way they mean to go. But we need to sincerely pray for missionaries. That God will open their eyes that they will see clearly what God is saying in His Word. I don’t know how God would look at them on Judgment day. But if they are sincere. It might be when Jesus comes back with the Church that they will understand. But I believe God will someone how help them to understand , even if it’s in the Tribulations. I

    • Reply April 24, 2020

      Varnel Watson

      Louise Cummings yes you do madam

  • Louise Cummings
    Reply April 24, 2020

    Louise Cummings

    If when you talk about God. And mention The Spirit Of God leading them. And they call it dirty words. I think God gives every one a chance. They prolly have bibles. I really believe God will hold accountable. Look at Daniel. How God Gave Nebuchadnezzar. Chance after Chance. Even one. Tim he even admitted to Daniel.God was the God of Heavens d earth. Some commentators thinks the way he a knowledge at the end. He might have gone to Heaven. But look at the beast or Empires all the way the book of Daniel. Hoe they went against God. Of course God brought them down. They had to give an account. But it isn’t over. We are not at the end yet. But they have had Jesus alive they killed Him. But they had to give an account. Of course we are waiting on the last one now. That’s when the final judgment will come. But none of those will get by. So I’m praying God have mercy on these missionaries. Show then before it’s to late. But I love missionaries. I’m not talking certain churches. I’m talking about let the lost. Their eyes be opened.

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