Why Evangelical Christians Should Not Support Donald Trump

Townhall.com ^ | November 29, 2015 | Michael Brown

[Kaslin]

I understand the tremendous popularity of Donald Trump in America in 2015.

He is a larger than life reality TV star; he is incredibly rich and not beholden to anyone; he is fearless and speaks his mind; he articulates the frustrations and anger of millions of his countrymen; he gives the impression that he can fix our economy and will put an end to illegal immigration; he is not a Washington insider; he could be a strong leader who could face down our global enemies; he can even be winsome and self-effacing at times.

Yes, I do understand all this to the point that, for some weeks, I wondered to myself if I could get behind Trump as a candidate. And the question still remains, if the presidential race was between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, could I cast a vote for Trump? (I could not possibly vote for Hillary Clinton.)

But let's not deal in hypotheticals now. The immediate question is: Should evangelical Christians support Donald Trump as the Republican candidate? I do not see how we can if the Word of God is to be our guide and if it's important to us that a candidate have a solid moral compass and a biblically based worldview and I mean to be our president, not our spiritual leader, since we are electing a president, not a pastor or priest.

The Scriptures teach that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks (Luke 6:45), and so Trump's consistent pattern of reckless speech points to deeper issues which could make him unfit for the office of the presidency.

I'm not just talking about his silly attacks on Megyn Kelly (blood), Carly Fiorina (face), and Marco Rubio (sweat) or his more serious attacks on Mexican immigrants (accusing the many of what the few do) and others. I'm talking about his character assault on Ben Carson, comparing him to a child molester who has pathological problems and, most recently, his apparent mocking of the disability of New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski.

Worse still, rather than apologizing for his most recent remarks, he claims he is being unfairly attacked for his comments and alleges that he doesn't even know what Kovaleski looks like. Is he lying?

Notice that he referred to Kovaleski, who suffers from arthrogryposis, which visibly limits flexibility in his arms, as a "nice reporter," before saying, "Now the poor guy, you've got to see this guy," flailing his arms as he pretended to be Kovaleski.

Is this the man you want to be our president? The warnings in Proverbs are strong: "Do you see a man who is hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him" (Proverbs 29:20). And, "A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back" (Proverbs 29:11).

We need a statesman, not an irresponsible flame thrower, and one can be a strong political leader who is cutting and fearless with words think of Winston Churchill without making a fool of oneself.

What of Trump's claim that, "I have no idea who this reporter, Serge Kovalski is, what he looks like or his level of intelligence," and, "Despite having one of the all-time great memories, I certainly do not remember him"?

If this is true, why did he refer to him as a "nice reporter" and what did he mean when he said, "Now the poor guy, you've got to see this guy"? And did he merely flail his arms mocking someone who, he claimed, couldn't quite remember things correctly this was Trump's defense or was he making fun of Kovaleski's arms? (Watch for yourself and you be the judge as to whether he is telling the truth.)

Kovaleski, for his part, states that, "Donald and I were on a first-name basis for years. I've interviewed him in his office. I've talked to him at press conferences. All in all, I would say around a dozen times, I've interacted with him as a reporter while I was at the Daily News."

How could Trump have forgotten someone with Kovaleski's condition?

Trump pointed to the large sums he has given to help people with disabilities, and I don't doubt that he has, nor do I doubt that he cares about the disabled and handicapped.

But what is undeniable is that he is often irresponsible and reckless in his speech, something that could be utterly disastrous for the president of the United States of America. As noted by Jay Ruderman, an advocate for the disabled, "It is unacceptable for a child to mock another child's disability on the playground, never mind a presidential candidate mocking someone's disability as part of a national political discourse."

Yet there's something that concerns me even more when it comes to evangelicals supporting Donald Trump and that is the issue of pride, the sin that is often at the root of a host of other sins (Isaiah 14:11-15), the sin which God resists (James 4:6), the sin which leads to destruction (Proverbs 16:18).

Trump seems to have little understanding of what it means to ask God for forgiveness, while his very open, unashamed boastfulness is part and parcel of his persona. Trump and pride seem to walk hand in hand, quite comfortably at that.

So, while I do understand why many Americans are behind Donald Trump and while I do believe he could do some things well as president, I cannot understand how evangelicals can back him, especially when we have a number of solid, God-fearing, capable alternatives.

(For my video commentary on this, with the relevant clips from Trump, click here. The ugly comments from Trump supporters are quite telling.)

[ripnbang]

I’m not voting for nice-guy-in-chief...don’t have time for that. Perhaps when the ship is righted, we’ll have time for niceties and pleasantries.

[Tzfat]

There you go again, why is it one or the other?

So, is it the jerk, Trump, or the sleaze Clinton? Those are my only choices? Conservatives used to stand for something more than “not sleazy.”

I certainly don’t want to make a choice between a jerk from NYC or a jerk from Chicago/Arkansas/New York.

[roamer_1]

Gore and Bush “waxed religious” were both stumping on how many “tent revivals” they attended when they were little kids. I suppose hoping to win the Evangelical Vote... I remember it well and thought - who would base their vote on that?

So, the Christian Right - The biggest single voting block in the country - Should throw away their principles because they don't think like you? They should go to the back of the bus and shut up? Fat chance. Their whole life is living according to Biblical principles. Why would they elect for themselves a leader who lives outside of those principles?

To expect them to is nothing short of idiotic.

The story is not in America’s best interests, Brown is not helping the cause, merely supporting more holier than thou thinking that will get us another Rat president to weaken our Country further.

To the contrary, this article is precisely right - You will not win without the Christian Right, and to support a candidate that is not attractive to them is the height of fallacy. The Value Voters debate should tell you guys something. All of Trump's fame and bombast fell absolutely flat with those folks. He will not get the Christian Right. And if he does not get the Christian Right, he will lose.

Wat appalls me is that so many are willing to discard the Christian principles of their Conservative comrades in arms in some vain hope that they can get enough from the middle or across the isle. In what way is that ANY different than the GOPe which y'all claim to hate? !UP! the middle has never worked. Never.

What works - The only thing that works - is for Conservatives to work together == That the principles of *ALL* Conservatives are upheld by the candidates we support, to include the principles of the Christian Right. That, and only that, is what sounds the clarion call and causes the Conservative juggernaut to rise. Anything less has proven to be Pyrrhic victory at best.

[Tzfat]

I am not looking for a “nice guy” - I am looking for someone who is not a blowhard jerk from NYC, who just oozes sleazy.

[catnipman]

“Lucifer takes care of his key players!”

So now Trump is a minion of Lucifer?

[mkjessup]

Without doing a head count, it looked to me at the time you posted this, there were more Trump SUPPORTERS than "haters" who had posted. But I guess facts don't matter when there are pictures to post and names to call.

Head counts are meaningless, so take your case of premature exasperation back to your home state of Ohio and see if Governor Kay-Sick will buy into it.

If you don't think there are posters who hate Trump, you need to take another look around.

Say, I see you've been here for a little over a year now, congratulations!

[editor-surveyor]

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In my opinion that is rather clear.
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[FourPeas]

I'm not judging the man. I'm just saying he said he doesn't need the blood of Christ. That makes him, by definition, not a Christian.

This is the evangelical position. It's not understandable to those in mainline denominations. They speak of baptism or attendance or self-identification or some other form of cultural Christianity. It goes entirely to the topic of whether evangelicals can support Mr. Trump's bid for the presidency.

[roamer_1]

Then be afraid, be very afraid and then you'll know who to vote for.

So fear is to override guiding principles? How Conservative is that?

[catnipman]

“In my opinion that is rather clear.”

What is rather clear?

[Zionist Conspirator]

America’s conservative white chrstians are as identitarian as America’s leftist Black chrstians.

[American Faith Today]

Cart before the horse. I’m not going to say God hasn’t made a decision on who would be the next leader of the country. I’m saying we don’t have a clue who that person is yet ourselves. It would have been just as appropriate to be wary of Paul before his conversion as it is for someone to eliminate Trump from their personal consideration today.

[Blue Collar Christian]

I’m OK with God’s choices, and if He chooses through our nomination of Trump, I’ll vote for him. I just share some of the author’s concerns, in addition to Trump’s past support for some of those on the extreme left, including the Clintons and the current POTUS, and about policy he’s supported that I find not at all conservative. OK?

I see on these threads how Trump supporters do what they say the Trump haters do and that scares me as much as they say they are scared about what Trump haters do.

I don’t hate trump, I just don’t believe he’s conservative, but centrist, and I don’t believe he’s the only contender who can win. I share the frustration of the Trump supporters but find their admiration of the man a bit shocking when I consider that admiration coming from conservatives that in the past I have seen their posts stating beliefs that Trump has been in opposition to in his past.

Hillary will only get the extreme left’s vote this time around while we have a great opportunity during this time of the Dem party’s dilemma of not having a good alternative to her ready to go. We let the MSM tell us the “only ones that could win” in the past and we keep ending up with centrists like Gee Dubya, McCain and Romney. I end up voting for them in the general election, but I put my support behind whom I believe would make the best President during the primaries.

So I then state that I share the author’s concerns with no concern over Trump supporters being butt hurt over it, this being a free country and all.

[gogeo]

Excellent.

[American Faith Today]

Well thank you.

I never claimed people didn’t hate Trump. However, I saw virtually NO ONE hating him in this thread that you claim they pounced on.

I myself happen to largely agree with Mr. Brown’s reservations though. For everyone else, I believe he publically endorsed Cruz

[gogeo]

I think we maybe need some speech lessons...

Repeat after me...eee-legal. Eee-legal. Eee-legal.

Do you think they can learn, or is it too late?

[editor-surveyor]

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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3365993/posts?page=185#185

[DoughtyOne]

I’ll respond to this again, because you were wondering why I over-reacted to it. I didn’t.

Your first point compares Trump with a beautiful narcissistic pole dancer using meth. You want to marry her, but you know it won’t end well.

I read too much into your post? You essentially compare voting for Trump to marrying this poll dancer, because it won’t end well.

Next you reference Trump making an enemies list, sure to be acted upon with regard to folks here. I’m reading too much into your post?

Then you state folks really need to think this through, and my only conclusion is that you are thinking of the folks who wish to vote for him and are missing these two warning signs.

If that’s not what you meant, then I’d like to know what you did mean.

[catnipman]

ROTFLOL!

You just can’t bring yourself to putting that assertion in writing, can you?

[mkjessup]

Our Esteemed Founder said it best in my opinion, as expressed in my tagline.

FYI, the creator of this thread (Kaslin) can be depended upon to post articles critical of Trump. I do give Kaslin credit for at least not having the political-FR 'Kiss of Death' as does her fellow Trump-despising poster, aka 'Cincinatus Wife', she supported Rick Perry, Trump drove Perry out. She supported Scott Walker, Trump drove Walker out, which in my opinion is the motivation for her (CW's) consistent spew of 'hate-Trump threads'.

Be that as it may, my post #26 has been well received in other threads regardless of the 'timing', the true Trump-haters are mostly irrational, their reasons for opposing Trump are usually liberal in nature, i.e. they "FEEL" like Trump is this or that, or that he does not cause them to "FEEL" positive, and I attribute that to the infestation of political correctness throughout our society which has bred a subculture of whining liberal wimps who, as Jack Nicholson said in "A Few Good Men" 'just can't handle the truth'