Politics,  Theology/Bible

Wayne Grudem on President Bush

Dr. Wayne GrudemThanks to Justin Taylor for bringing our attention to Dr. Wayne Grudem’s “Memo on prayer and the Nov. 7 election.” In this memo, Grudem gives an extended explanation of how he prays and why he is thankful for President George W. Bush. Grudem writes,

Overall I am so very very thankful for an outstanding, I think excellent President. He has done right. And he is changing world history in a right direction, a direction that will give more freedom for everyone to determine their own governments and their own religion, and (of significance to me as a Christian), more freedom for the proclamation of the gospel around the world, so that people would have a fair chance to hear and consider (but never ever be compelled to accept) that good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Agree or disagree with Grudem’s assessment of President Bush, this essay is a good reminder to Christians of the common grace of God and that we all should be praying for our local, state, and national leaders.

1 Timothy 2:1-2 “First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.”  

13 Comments

  • Brian W

    I respect Grudem; he’s an excellent man. But I seriously doubt whether he really knows if Bush has done right. Think of all the private meetings, private counsel, private decisions this politician (yes, Bush is a politician) has made over the last 6 years. Has he been honest with us, with himself? Has he looked his supporters in the face saying, “No, I’m making this decision because I believe its right”? I know he’s done that to his adversaries, but so what. Has he really demonstrated an exemplary character in a Dr. Cloud sort of way (read his book “Integrity”; outstanding)?

    My point is this: we truly see such a small, rosy-colored picture of the president and what really motivates him. So to make such a definitive statement like “he has done right” doesn’t really take into account what is real, which is we know much less than we think we know. I’m not trying to suggest we know Bush has been deviant; I’m saying we are much more ignorant than we think. And if so, then maybe its better not to say anything at all, or at least qualify it.

  • debbie wimmers

    WE live in a fallan world. No one is perfect. I feel that GWB has done all he can to maintain his credibility and his faith. What happened to the country that supported the president? We need to pray for him and other leaders, government and religious. I dont agree with him that we need a national ID card and I didnt agree with him pushing Ariel Sharon into pulling ISreal out of Gaza. I’m sorry to say Sharon has taken a turn for the worse.
    Unfortunately, if you want Democrats who are openly against our values, go vote for them. I have voted and did straight Republican. I will not let a minority of corrupt republicans cloud my judgement on doing what is right for our country.
    There are possibly two seats on the Supreme Court opening and Bush needs his party to fill those seats with conservative judges. The partial birth abortion ban will be looked at Nov 8th, I pray SC supports it.

  • Paul

    Trying to stay nice here, but I have to say that Grudem is delusional here.

    I agree that we should be praying for our leaders. One wonders how much positive praying was done for Clinton, but I agree that we should pray for our leaders to make rational and pragmatic decisions while they are in office. I agree that we should pray that our leaders are wise in their actions, and I agree that we should pray that our leaders do their best to be holy while in office.

    Unfortunately, God has not heeded these prayers, as best as I can tell. Bush’s policiies have killed thousands of Americans, wounded tens of thousands more and done countless damage to the personal economies of perhaps millions. On top of that, he has divided the country, and worse, he’s divided Christians, to the point that even his apologists won’t even acknowledge the place of the peace churches in the fabric of the evangelical movement.

    Some of the dumber statements in Grudem’s article include…

    “(c) defense against terror – astoundingly, he has kept us free from attack for over 5 years (and been criticized and attacked for every part of that effort), and he has seen democratic governments established in the Afghanistan and Iraq, setting in motion a movement to change the history of the world by marginalizing Islamic terrorism in Muslim countries,”

    we’ve been free from attack in spite of, not because of Bush’s policies. On top of that, Britain and Spain have both paid for our policies in Iraq. The democratic government in Iraq is quickly moving towards radical shiaism (that can’t possibly be a word). Afghanistan is being overtaken by the Taliban once again, and with a force of only 20,000 to fight them, we’re powerless.

    “(b) appointing dozens and dozens of Circuit Court and District Court judges who are committed to just interpreting laws, not making new laws from the bench,”

    yeah. look at the way that many of those appointees have looked at business law however, and you will see that they are just as “activist” as the “liberal” judges are.

    “(g) the economy, pushing through several tax cuts that help everyone, and as the tax cuts have helped the economy they have done much good for the poor who need jobs, so that the economy has weathered both 9/11 and the 2001 recession and is now booming, the Dow Jones average is at its highest point in history, and we produce three times more goods and services than any economy in the world (we now produce about 33% of the world’s goods and services, and no other nation comes close),

    (h) creation of jobs, with economic policies that have given a strong economy so that people who want jobs can find them (the unemployment rate today is only 4.4%, the lowest in years), something again that especially helps the poor,”

    The economy is raging because companies can now cut costs by shipping jobs to India, China and Mexico without a worry. Unemployment is down due to the fact that people like my dad are considered chronically unemployed, and are therefore taken out of the unemployment tallies. The quality of the jobs created in the Bush economy pay less than the job growth created under Clinton (with acknowledgement to the pre-corruption ridden Republican congress…gotta give credit where credit is due), and people like me that work in the public sector are constantly looking over our shoulders wondering when funding cutting will get so bad that we lose our jobs.

    “(i) wise use of the environment, resisting the immense pressure to bring us onboard with the foolish Kyoto Protocol that is now harming European economies and helping nothing, and wisely supporting more domestic production of energy (especially ANWR in Alaska),”

    Ummm, of all of the things that can’t even be twisted in Bush’s favor, stewardship of the environment has got to top the list. The National Geographic issue on global warming brought me to tears. THIS IS THE PLANET THAT OUR CHILDREN WILL HAVE TO LIVE ON! THINK FARTHER DOWN THE ROAD THAN YOUR NEXT PAYCHECK, PLEASE!

    “(k) huge increases in aid to overcome AIDS in Africa, along with promotion of abstinence-based programs, for which he has again taken immense criticism,”

    1) considering the percentages of new cases of AIDS which are caused by RAPE or INCEST, abstinence-based programs don’t really hold much water.

    2) Their culture is not our culture. When Grudem puts up numbers that say that our abstinence-based programs have actually worked, come talk to me.

    “(p) seeking to repeal the wrongful “death tax” on personal estates (but the Democrats blocked it in the Senate, because of the foolish rule needing 60 votes to pass anything, never intended by our Constitution),”

    the “death tax” that only 0.3% of the population will ever have to pay? The temporary repeal of the “death tax” has driven down charitable giving by a huge number. Considering that you have to be a HUGE moron to even pay the estate tax in the first place (even I can tell you that you can shelter most of your estate if you’re clever enough), the fact that the “death tax” is even an issue is proof that these “Christians” have nothing to do with Christianity.

    “(r) personal conduct that is “above reproach,” giving moral leadership to the nation by example of life and by kindness that amazes me toward those in politics and in the press who continue relentlessly to attack him,”

    like mocking our lack of finding WMD’s? Like patronage rearing its ugly head with the appointment of morons like Michael Brown? Sure he doesn’t drink or smoke, but that’s about all you’ve got there.

    Yes, Bush started the faith-based initiative. But he underfunded it, and it’s so full of holes as to be completely ineffective. That’s the only decent thing he’s done while in office, and he majorly botched that one.

    Yes, we should pray for our leaders. But we should also pray that God actually sends us some leaders that seek to be like him instead of just saying his name all of the time.

  • debbie wimmers

    I did pray for Clinton. I even defended him for a while. When he lied about having a relationship with Monica I felt like Clinton was abusing his authority. Which he admitted to later in his book. I voted for Clinton both times, I voted Democratic for a long time. When Clinton decided not to own up to his deciet of the American people, I decided to vote for Republicans. I know there are good people from both parties but I voted for the one that supports my values. I liked John Kennedy but my dad hated him because Kennedy was trying to get the civil rights for blacks moving in a positive direction. He was going to do a speech that he felt the downfall of this country was coming. It was about that time that Madeline o Hare convinced the courts to take prayer out of school. Johnson took kennedy’s bill for the civil rights and passed it. What really confused me about my dad was that he read the bible, said I was to love everyone, yet he supported agencies like the John Burch Society which was like the KKK in hating anyone who wasn’t white, anglo-saxon, protestant. When my dad died, that prejudice died with him.
    I realize Kennedy and Johnson were about as bad as Clinton had become. i just wished that Ted Kennedy would be a little more civil. He is the worst politician we have.

  • Paul

    Well, it will be interesting over the course of the next few days to find out just how much of a lame duck president Bush will be.

  • Luke Britt

    I think there are dangers in backing a political figure. God has allowed us to live in a place where we can proclaim the gospel freely and for that we should be thankful. It is not because of a political figure.
    Christian values are not Republican or Democratic values – plain and simple. Therefore, if you put your hope in a political agenda, you will be disappointed, as many are in Mr. Bush.
    Do not forget who your allegiance is to – not a country or a man, but to a King and a Kingdom.

  • debbie

    We are still told several times to pray for those in authority. If it’s God’s will for Bush or anyone like Foley to fall while in office, then it is not our place to say wether they should be there or not. What would this country be like if Gore or Kerry were president? I don’t even want to imagine it.

  • Paul

    Debbie,

    what would this country be like with Gore or Kerry in office?

    Well, certainly, we’d have a lot more allies in the world.

    Certainly we’d be doing more to stop the damage that we’re doing to the environment.

    Certainly we’d be doing more to not just stop terrorist plots on our own soil, but we might have prevented 3/11 and 7/11 as well.

    Certainly we wouldn’t be arguing about whether or not to properly equip our children for college by not teaching them the principles of evolution.

    Certainly we’d be valuing the education of our children more than President Bush and his plan which just sent student loan rates up to 7%.

    Certainly we’d be doing more to save the least of these.

    Certainly we might have seen more competence in handling Hurricane Katrina.

    Certainly we’d be doing more to ensure that American jobs stay on American soil.

    Certainly we’d make trade with China and India more fair than it is now.

    The list goes on and on.

  • debbie

    Paul, I get information from the news, internet and other things. There is a lot of media bias that is just putting out the bad news and leaving out the bad news.

  • Rick Tatina

    Grudem’s material is still good (after several years)and most Christians are in the dark on Bush. The movement towards social justice which he mentions in the Q and A of the Bush sermon is scary. Especially within emergent circles. I even see it at one of the most conservative seminaries in the USA. There is a trend that forgets abortion as a social justice issue and links arms with other issues that are more relevant and popular.

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