“No leader…is an abstract collection of policies. We select leaders to make decisions about matters that haven’t happened yet. A dentist who screams profanities at opponents and promises a practice built around “revenge and retribution” and the tearing down of all norms of modern dentistry is not someone you should trust with a drill in your mouth. How much more so when it comes to entrusting a person with nuclear codes.” 

This is from a recent article in Christianity Today by its Editor-in-Chief, Russell Moore, entitled “Why Character Doesn’t Matter Anymore.”  

Gotta love that man’s courage.  

In Moore’s view, character matters, across the board. It mattered in the Bill Clinton debacle…and it matters now.  

Moore goes on. “The Bible not only warns us about what character degradation, from immorality to boastfulness to ruthlessness, can do to the souls of those practicing such things, but also about the ruinous effect on those who “approve of those who practice them.” (Rom. 1:32) 

Nobody has flawless character. Leaders aren’t perfect. Course corrections and apologies are always welcomed when a mistake is made. But notice the use of the word “practice” in Romans 1:32. Some people practice a lack of character over and over, intentionally, loudly, without remorse. And their vulgarity and violence get outrageous applause…and votes. 

I don’t think character is the only measuring stick, but I think it matters. Intentional lack of character isn’t funny. It’s a matter of life and death.