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John Piper, in an article last week exploring “Paths to Ruin†in the 2020 election, didn’t so much tell Christians who to vote for as much as he projected guilt and shame onto those who support Donald Trump for president. Piper is “baffled†that Christians could think one candidate’s immoral character is less deadly than another candidate’s pro-abortion policies.The famed pastor and theologian’s purported purpose in writing the article was “to point to a perspective that seems to be neglected.†His musings, however, are far from a “neglected†perspective. They fill every column of NeverTrumper David French and litter the smooth rhetoric of Democratic Mayor Pete Buttigieg — and they merit a response, especially coming from such an influential evangelical figure.Piper’s article was not explicitly about Trump and Joe Biden. In a tweet, he later declared he would not be casting his vote for either of the two men. Still, the implications of his writing weren’t ambiguous. He set up a clear dichotomy: One candidate displays the character traits of pride, vulgarity, and sexual immorality, and the other candidate supports the policies of abortion, LGBT, and socialism. I wonder who he could be talking about. ...Piper’s framing is at best problematic and at worst intellectually dishonest, for he doesn’t make an appropriate comparison. Piper doesn’t juxtapose Trump’s character with Biden’s character or Trump’s policies with Biden’s policies. Instead, he compares Trump’s immoral character with Biden’s immoral policies.It’s here that he finds himself “baffled†that Christians don’t take Trump’s character seriously. Many Christians, however, refuse to equate these two unequal realms. Character should be weighed against character, and policy against policy. Piper’s value judgment comes at the disposal of Trump’s policy victories, many of which are advantageous to those pursuing godliness, and at the oversight of Biden’s demonstrably depraved character. ...The Christian voter’s choice, then, is not between one man of bad character, Trump, and another of bad policy, Biden. It is a choice between a man with poor character and another man with both poor character and deadly policies. ...
