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I understand your intent, SJ. You're thinking that we can't do everything, that we're sinners, that Christ died for our sins, and that we must rely on God's grace.

I agree with that., and I agree with it even for the Christian life.

However, the instructions of Jesus and the Apostles are still their instructions. Here is the Apostle Paul in Philippians 3 on the subject.

Philippians 3:7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in[a] Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

15 All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

17 Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. 18 For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

How 'bout this Preacher?

I'll vote against 0bama by pulling the lever for Romney & Ryan, and if I've made the wrong decision, I'll account to Almighty God for it, and so too will lots of other folks who didn't measure up to your morally superior positions.

It's an imperfect world, with imperfect situations, and you can preach 'til the cows come home, and if 0bama wins that second term, maybe you'll get invited to be Chaplain of the Senate or something, because you will damn sure have earned it.

I'm done with this crap, you do what you want, I'm going to do everything I can to get that filthy Communist sonuvabitch out of the White House whether anybody likes it or not.

In all deference to Philippians 3:7, my point was that if we are to defer “100%” to absolute truth(which I maintain we are incapable of), we cannot vote for any politician. As SoCon stated ..

” Nowhere in the Bible did God, His Prophets, Christ, or his Apostles declare that his commands were situational. In fact, quite the opposite is true. He demands 100% of our will, not 90%, not 95%, not even 99%. We can’t pick and choose the situations that we are going to apply God’s laws and commands to”

Hmmmm..If the year was 1942, and you were hiding 12 Jewish children in your basement, and an SS guy comes to the door, and asks if you are hiding any Jews, do you lie?

Look, I am not well versed in biblical exegesis/ hermeneutics. I get my understanding of God from the Bible, and scholars like N.T. Wright, Jim McGuiggan, and my minister. To blithely state that some things in this world are not “situational” is to stare reality in the face, and deny it. I can’t do that.