Christian author and speaker Eric Metaxas reinforced his support for GOP nominee Donald Trump in the wake of the tape controversy.
This is the first time he has stated his position since news of the Trump tape broke out. Metaxas joins the growing list of conservative Christians who have expressed that they will stand by the billionaire candidate in the midst of the controversy.
Metaxas did not dismiss the gravity of the recorded comments from Trump, calling them “especially horrifying” and admitting they were a deal breaker.
“Can there be any question we should denounce them with flailing arms and screeching volume?,” Metaxas wrote in an article published in the Wall Street Journal. “I must not hang out in the right locker rooms, because if anyone I know said such things I might assault him physically (and repent later).”
However, he also threw some serious questions regarding Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
“But we have a very knotty and larger problem. What if the other candidate also has deal breakers? Even a whole deplorable basketful?” he asked. “Suddenly things become horribly awkward. Would God want me simply not to vote? Is that a serious option?”
He asked readers to consider if not voting for Trump would be tantamount to “electing someone who has actively enabled sexual predation in her husband before—and while—he was president.”
Metaxas went on to say that Clinton once defended a man who raped a 12-year-old girl and later laughed about “getting away with it.” He further criticized the channeling of funds into the Clinton Foundation, some of which came from nations where women were discriminated against and treated as second-class citizens.
Metaxas emphasized that deciding not to vote, especially if the voter is aware of these truths, does not excuse a person of the responsibility to choose and dictate the nation’s future direction.
“It’s a fact that if Hillary Clinton is elected, the country’s chance to have a Supreme Court that values the Constitution—and the genuine liberty and self-government for which millions have died—is gone. Not for four years, or eight, but forever,” Metaxas wrote. “For our kids and grandkids, are we not obliged to take our best shot at this? Shall we sit on our hands and refuse to choose?”
Many Republicans and conservative Christians have distanced themselves from Trump after the Trump tape surfaced. Popular evangelical theologian Wayne Grudem, whose initial endorsement of Trump surprised many, has taken back his support for the Republican presidential candidate.
Grudem said Trump’s actions were “morally evil” and showed pride in violating God’s commands. He called on Trump to withdraw from the race.
However, Grudem said he is still uncertain about his vote and weighed the importance of voting against not voting. He also weighed the different views represented by the two candidates on religious freedom, the military, gender identity, abortion, terrorism and others.
“As to how I will vote, I honestly don’t know at this point. The election is still a month away,” Grudem wrote in Townhall. “I have friends on both sides who are surprised that I do not find this an easy question to decide. But I do not find it an easy question. I continue to pray and seek God’s wisdom, and ask that God will yet provide a better solution.”
