CHARACTER COUNTS . . .

so let’s talk about Joe

I’ve had a lot to say about the character of Donald Trump. I’m on record as declaring President Trump to be an immoral person whose very personage as President is doing great harm in the world. I’ve not held back in my declarations about his divisive behavior and the damage this behavior is doing to the image of Christianity in the United States.

My position is clear. I’ve said enough on the dearth of positive character traits for the Republican nominee.

However, as concerns the character of Joe Biden, I’ve said too little. This post is intended to address that deficiency on my part.

ONLY GOD KNOWS THE HEART

In Luke 16, Jesus reminded his followers that God is the ultimate judge of a person’s character: 

No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. He said to them, You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts.

Let me stress the intent of Jesus’ words. Jesus is not making this point about those who are clearly acting in ways that do not reflect the values of God. We often defend someone who is behaving badly by saying, “Only God knows the heart.” In so doing we profess that this person might be okay in God’s sight, and therefore in ours too, even though his actions are completely counter to anything reflective of God’s values. This thinking is not consistent with life experiences or biblical teaching:

By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them (Matthew 16:16-20).

Therefore, as we discern our vote in 2020, maybe we can look to fruit and judge the tree.

An Imperfect Human Being

Joe Biden has blemishes on his record. The fact is that Joe is far from perfect. And before you say, “Well, Marlin, nobody is,” just stop and remember that Biden is running for President of the United States, so he needs to be held to a tougher standard than the rest of us because of the power and influence of this position.

Joe himself grudgingly acknowledged this higher bar during the 1991 hearings to confirm Clarence Thomas: “We’re big boys,” he said. “I knew when I ran for president [1987] everything was free game. Anybody who runs for the Supreme Court or is appointed to the Supreme Court, to be more precise, should understand. It’s not Boy Scouts, it’s not Cub Scouts.”

Biden was forced to end his first presidential campaign after he was found to have used part of a speech by British politician Neil Kinnock without attribution. This was the same election year that unveiled the Gary Hart/Donna Rice affair. Before that year character was not as much an issue in who was fit to serve in public office. There was a distinction between public and private life. We can recall, for example, the affairs carried on in the White House by President John F. Kennedy. In those good-old-boy-days, the press refrained from reporting on “private” matters. This is not so today.

So it should not surprise us that Biden has also been called on the carpet for things he said to Anita Hill in the Thomas hearings and earlier this year about Black voters. He has, however, acknowledged his error in both cases. In fact, as he considered running for president, Biden called Hill to apologize for his role in her poor treatment during the hearings.

So, with those fallibilities in mind, what about more recent accusations about Joe?

IS JOE A PEDOPHILE?

Let’s begin with the most vile accusation slung at Joe Biden: Joe’s a pedophile. This charge is absolutely without any credible foundation. It is beyond ridiculous and is slander in the lowest form. You can do your own research, but I recommend PolitiFact as the most clear and thorough investigative source.

Here is Politifact’s ruling: “Social media users claim that Biden is a pedophile. There is zero evidence—no accusations, testimonies, arrests or investigations—that gives this claim any credibility. Photos that supposedly support the claim are taken out of context or have been directly contradicted by the families involved. We rate this Pants on Fire.”

In the same vein, Donald Trump has been accused on social media as being a pedophile. As with Biden, there is no truth to these egregious allegations.

But before we move on, it is worth noting that Biden has had no role in spreading these vile lies about Trump. However, both Donald Jr. and Sr. have not hesitated to sink to the lowest level in passing on these falsehoods regarding both Joe and Hunter Biden. This, too, speaks of character.

IS JOE INAPPROPRIATE WITH WOMEN?

Much has been said about Joe’s unwanted touching of women, with the most extreme charge made by staff assistant Tara Readel, who accused Biden of sexually assaulting her in a Senate office building. My heart goes out to her. However, it must be noted that subsequent investigative reporting has called into question Readel’s credibility.

But then Biden has a credibility problem as well. Several other women have raised concerns about Biden’s unwanted touching, and these women have also been dismissed. Lucy Flores, for example, wrote an essay for the Cut describing her discomfort as Biden touched her and smelled her hair.

To the Bidens’ credit, both Jill and Joe have addressed the matter of his invading personal space. On several occasions Jill has declared her admiration for the women who came forward. “Joe hears them loud and clear,” has been her response. Joe himself has acknowledged his affinity for getting “too close.” Sharing the Bidens’ response is not to excuse Joe, but I do want to recognize that the Bidens have at least faced the accusations head on.

DID JOE AND JILL BIDEN HAVE AN AFFAIR?

The accusation of infidelity on the part of Jill Biden comes from her first husband, Bill Stevenson.  “I was betrayed by the Bidens,” Stevenson told  Inside Edition: “Joe was my friend. Jill was my wife.”

Stevenson claims that Jill and Joe met in 1972 and began an affair in 1974. This account refutes the couple’s story that they met on a blind date in March of 1975.

Stevenson is writing a book on his own life which supposedly includes details of his split with then spouse Jill. So far, Stevenson has not provided any proof of a Jill/Joe affair, and the upcoming book does make one wonder about motive.

IS JOE BIDEN A LIAR?

On the matter of lying, Joe gets a high grade, and this category is where a high grade is not desired. Again, to be fair, over 40 years in the public sphere allows for a lot of material to be considered. The same is true of President Trump, by the way. However, it is still clear that Biden has a history of distorting the truth.

It is well documented that he lied about his standing in law school. But more troubling are the strange lies he repeatedly tells—about being arrested en route to visiting Nelson Mandela even though he wasn’t, about marching in the civil rights movement even though he did not. The need to embellish his own story is, in and of itself, a character flaw.

So what to do with all this character madness?

GRADE ON THE CURVE?

The problem, of course, is that on the character front, Donald Trump has bottomed out the curve. You really have to get low to get under the bar set by Trump, and Joe Biden does not even come close to that basement standard.

The very first blog that I wrote on the election was entitled Uncle Joe, The Donald and Jesus . In this post I wrote the following: “If Jesus was still in the tomb he’d be rolling over. ‘These two are the best you can do, really?’” I went on to write, “In my book, there is a clear choice, and my choice may not be yours. Neither Joe or Donald is perfect, and far from it. They are not the best we can do, but they are who we did. And we ought to be ashamed of ourselves, in my opinion, because there are better choices out there.”

While I stand by those words, I must add that as time and research have passed, I have grown to admire the Biden couple a great deal. What I see in Joe Biden that I don’t see in Donald Trump is a man aware of his flaws and wanting to be better. And Jill Biden is simply extraordinary. She will be an outstanding First Lady.

THE FIRST STEP TO SANITY

Biden is not the perfect candidate. But the madness of Donald Trump must come to an end. This much is clear to me. The choice facing us as Americans is not over an individual’s moral standing (i.e. Biden or Trump), but more importantly, over our nation’s moral reputation in the world. As Christians we are also faced with the cultish relationship much of the evangelical world has with our current president. The smug face of Donald Trump is now the one many see as the face of American Christianity. My deep sadness in this unfortunate fact is that this face does not reflect in any way the face of shared suffering presented of Jesus in the Gospels.

For the Lord to win, the Donald must lose. In order for the divide-and-conquer strategy employed by Donald Trump to be replaced by something better, Joe Biden has to become our next president.