What Do Ravi Zacharias and Donald Trump Teach Us About Christian's Character?

Many of us were stunned by the sexual misconduct charges levied against world renowned evangelical Christian apologist last summer Ravi Zacharias. Upon hearing the charges my wife said, " it make me want to throw up." In life Ravi had an unimpeachable reputation. He had defended the faith and lead many to Christ. As the summer progressed it appeared more and more likely that the accusations were credible and that Ravi was a very flawed man. During the years of Donald Trump's political rise to the Presidency several women came forward with accusations of sexual misconduct some going back to his college days, others extending even into his current marriage. None of those accusations were ever proved, yet many people believed them because of Trump's two messy divorce and years as a celebrity playboy. But did they disqualify him from the Presidency or from a Christian's vote? Many Christian leaders argued that Christians were compromising to follow and support Donald Trump because of his many  peccadillos. What is the measure of Christian character? Is character the sum of our displayed virtue or is it something deeper? Do you have any sins that you keep hidden from the public? When you study the lives of Christian leaders through the centuries, you cannot find one who is without sin? Nearly every election cycle I am asked by Christians seeking my advice on who to vote "does character matter in public office?" 

They point to the qualifications for elders and deacons in Acts 6; I Timothy 3 and Titus 2 as determinative. Yet many of us who have actually worked in churches know almost no one even meets those qualities perfectly. How exactly are we to apply the criterion for eldership "husband of one wife," in the church? To lead a church can a person only have been married once, never having been widowed or divorced, or does it only refer to monogamy? And are the standards of leadership in the church applicable to our politicians. If divorce and a flawed life of celebrity disqualifies one from leadership, then why did some of those Christians who so willingly embrace Trump  idolize Reagan, which sins disqualify a person from office? 

The Scripture calls Lot, an absolute rascal, (of all people) a righteous man (2Peter 2:8). King Saul was the faithful husband of one wife (1 Samuel 14:50) he was  good father who ran his kingdom with integrity, yet God rejected him for the far more reckless David who turned out to be a murdering adulterer, and an absent father. Jesus restored Peter to leadership after his public denial. The examples of faith listed in Hebrews include the fornicating idolater Gideon, the immoral womanizer Samson and many others. Yet it is clear we are commanded to live holy lives, and the gospel clearly transforms. But what about public office should we only vote for people for office whose past is "relatively clean," if so what is measure of cleanliness?

Every politician who has run for the Presidency from 1964 to 2016 has claimed to be a Christian. Many of us have assumed that Christian character can only be measured by public virtue? Can a brash, uncouth, materialistic philanderer be saved or used by God? Should the last 52 years have produce a virtuous nation? Is it ironic that we just rejected a man who has lived a sullied life for a supposedly virtuous public servant, and the former did more to advance a virtuous culture in his four years than anyone since 64, for a wonderful grandfather who in his first week has implement the policies of Jezebel and Ahab. President Woodrow Wilson was an ordained Bible believing Presbyterian, but he was a racist, who had his political opponents jailed and who sought to establish world government. Perhaps no former President has a better Christian testimony than Jimmy Carter, yet his administration took us further down the road of secularization than any before. So the biblical and historic witness both have force me to answer the question, "Does character matter?" with yet another question, "How does one measure the character that matters?"

We tend to approach our attitude toward people based on a virtue score? The more public and more destructive a person's behavior the less acceptable they are to us, we  see them as somehow less valuable. The more virtuous a persons conduct the more desirable. Many  Christians would have voted for Saul over David, just as they would vote for Biden over Trump, because of their public virtue but is Biblical character a virtue score? While Ravi Zacharias lived what appeared to be for many years an impeccable Christian character a man of great virtue and integrity, we now know that his soul had a dark cancer. President Lyndon Johnson grew up in a Bible believing home, the grandson of a world renown evangelist, yet he lived a corrupt, racist immoral life until he succeeded to the Presidency. The Johnson administration was one of the least scandalous and most honest administration in history. Johnson became a close friend of Rev Billy Graham.  Graham's children sometimes called him Uncle Lyndy. When Johnson stood before God was he judged by his long history of sin, or by his more virtuous White House years? What about Trump or Biden?

I voted for Donald Trump twice. I know many believers who did the same. I also know many believers who looked at Trump as a pariah and at anyone who supported him as hypocritical, for them faithfulness to the gospel demanded conformity to a virtue standard. Many of them voted for Joe Biden and believe they did the right thing.  . Despite his personal history Donald Trump did more to strengthen the Judeo-Christian foundations of our nation than anyone in the last 52 years. What does that say about the character necessary for public office? Despite years of impeccable public service in one week in office Joe Biden has gone farther to tear down any sense of common virtue than any of his predecessor? Which man modeled Christian character in office? I am left with one conclusion and that is character can never be measured by displayed virtue? Christian character embraces grace and is characterized by faithfulness?

Joe Biden is only in office a week, so we can not yet judge his character or the impact of his presidency will have on our public virtue. I wish him success and will reserve judgment. What Ravi Zacharias and Donald Trump teach us about Christian virtue is that it is not the measure of character. Yes if one is Christ she is a new creature. If one is filled with the Spirit she will obey Christ and live for him, but regardless of the public virtue one displays or the public peccadillos one commits it is no measure of the heart. Christian character is measured by faithfulness to the call of God on a person's life:

[32] And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—[33] who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, [34] quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. [35] Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. [36] Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. [37] They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated—[38] of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. [39] And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, (Hebrews 11:32–39 ESV)

God's approval of civic leadership is unrelated to their personal virtue, but on their faithfulness in the role God has called them to play, "[4] for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. (Romans 13:4ESV)" I can not begin to guess whether Ravi Zacharias, Donald Trump, Joe Biden will be in heaven. The answer to that question will not be a quantitative measure of their good works, nor a valuation of their sin, it will be determined by whether their names are written in the lambs book of life. Grace belies any concept of virtue scoring. 

So when the question arises "does character matter in public office" I would submit that Christian character is not a measure of one's virtue score, it is a measure of whether one is faithful to God's calling in their lives. From where I sit (you may disagree) Donald John Trump while in office displayed a consistent Christian character, though having a less then virtuous personal testimony, while  Joe Biden in his first week has done more to turn this nation away from a Christian heritage than one imagined possible, while displaying grace and virtue? Should we judge their Presidencies on their personal attractiveness or public virtue on on faithful to what God called them to do as a leader? What do Ravi Zacharias and Donald Trump Teach us about Character? Character is more a matter of one's personal response to God's grace than to public virtue on display/


 

 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Nailing the Coffin Shut on Continuationism: Does the increase in tongues, healings, mirac!es and prophetic utterance evince a continuation of Pentecost (continued)?

Nailing the Coffin Shut on Continuationism: Answering Charismatic Objections to Cessationism

Nailing the Coffin Shut on Continuationism: Does the increase in tongues, healings, mirac!es and prophetic utterance evince a continuation of Pentecost (to be continued)?