Posted on 07/10/2020 8:12:15 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
After reading Leonardo Blair’s article in The Christian Post, “82% of white evangelicals would vote for Trump despite concerns about job performance: study,” I was disturbed by the fact that a majority of white evangelicals would still vote for Trump even though his job performance has been among the poorest in presidential history.
As an evangelical who is both a conservative and a Republican, I’m writing to suggest that voting for Trump should be tied to his character, not his job performance. It is out of one’s character that presidents generate the policies they come up with and how well or poorly they execute them. A president’s policies and performance don’t take place in a vacuum, and, when both are bad, you can be reasonably sure their character is as well.
At the risk of inflaming pro-Trump evangelicals, Trump is a deeply flawed human being when it comes to his characterological make-up. Allow me to use two passages of Scripture to make this point, both of which speak to the why Christians who support Trump should seriously reconsider whether or not to vote for him in 2020.
In Proverbs 6:16-19, the Bible says, “There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies, and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.”
Trump frequently manifests many of these troubling traits in how he conducts himself in the White House. I would think it hard for any Christian to truly believe a holy and righteous God would want His followers to support someone who regularly and remorselessly practices the things He hates.
In 2 Timothy 3:1-4, the Bible says, “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God — having a form of godliness but denying its power.”
Once again, Trump exhibits most of these character defects. If this is true about the president, he can’t possibly be God’s choice to lead our country. God is clear about how we are to deal with someone as deeply disturbed as Trump: “Have nothing to do with such people” (2 Timothy 3:5). Nothing means nothing.
Trump is a racist, misogynist, xenophobe, narcissist, and sociopath. He is someone who has a “seared conscience” (1 Timothy 4:2) in that he never admits to doing anything wrong and is utterly unrepentant about his sins. Remember, this is the man who said he has never asked God to forgive him because he hadn’t done anything bad enough to warrant doing so. Most followers of Christ are more aware of their fallenness than that.
I’m under no illusion that my words are going to persuade any of the 82% of white evangelicals who support Trump to start opposing him. It’s probably the case that those who back the president strongly disagree with what I have written and are greatly bothered that I would say such negative things about his character.
Nevertheless, character in a president matters, and it matters a great deal. When character issues in a president are this problematic, his policies and performance inevitably follow suit. Do we need to look any further than Trump’s malevolent border policy mishandling of the coronavirus, or the mean-spirited way he stokes racial unrest in this country to know this is true?
My hope is that evangelicals who support Trump will be willing to think through the passages of Scripture mentioned and be honest about whether or not they fit the president. If these passages describe Trump, I would further hope pro-Trump evangelicals would be willing to admit as much and have nothing to do with this president.
Trump has had three-and-a-half years to prove he is up to the task of being a competent and moral leader, and he has fallen short in the ways that truly matter. Trump’s immorality, ignorance, and incompetence clearly demonstrate he is not fit to be president and should not be given another four years to further prove it.
When the dust settles from this presidency, we are going to see that Trump was the king who had no clothes, an unrepentant “lover of self,” and someone who conned the majority of white evangelicals into believing he truly cares about them, our nation, and, most importantly, God.
Ours is a great nation. Our country deserves a leader who doesn’t spend his day devising wicked schemes, pouring out lies, rushing into evil, and stirring up conflict in the community. It deserves a leader who is loving, forgiving, honest, self-controlled, genuine, humble, compassionate, and kind. Trump is the former, not the latter.
When it comes time to cast your vote in 2020, vote for the person who best personifies the character of Christ, not someone who personifies the opposite.
Chris Thurman, Ph.D., is a psychologist and author of The Lies We Believe.
Leni
In response to being told that a candidate just didn’t have the moral compass required for office, Phyllis Schlafly used to say, “Jesus isn’t on the ballot this time. Who is your second choice?”
This is the kind of person who voted for Jimmy Carter.
So, if you must vote for character vs job performance, you can NEVER vote for a democrat again, right?
If you can’t vote for Trump, you can’t vote for anyone.
If its character, the dems are all pro-abort, anti-white racist, man hating, Christian hating and country-hating socialists.
Just read his last paragraph.
He’s a charlatan.
If Trump can’t be voted for then no candidate can be voted for. And if you vote for the one closest to exemplifying Christ, it’s not going to be any of the democrats based on their beliefs.
This guy thinks politicians have character?
Because Christians like him, who stand in judgement of others, are the best kind of Christians.
Phooey.
It’s crap like this that makes me so dismissive of anything from the Christian Post.
[From a letter from Whittaker Chambers to Willi Schlamm, Tuesday, September 7, 1954]
“. . . and history tells me that the rock-core of the Conservative Position, or any fragment of it, can be held realistically only if conservatism will accommodate itself to the needs and hopes of the masses – needs and hopes, which, like the masses themselves, are the product of machines. For, of course, our fight, as I think we said, is only incidentally with socialists or other heroes of that kidney. Wesentlichen [essentially], it is with machines. A conservatism that cannot face the facts of the machine and mass production, and its consequences in government and politics, is foredoomed to futility and petulance.”
He’d rather vote for a political party that favors the abolition of Christianity in this nation, amazing.
Sounds about RIGHT to me.
Yours, TMN78247
The author is a loser if he is not supporting Trump.
So God hate you Chris.
Sorry about that.
Perhaps you should stop lying, get over your exalted opinion of yourself, stop supporting murderers, quite rushing into schemes to destroy the nation and stop stiring up conflict.
But you won't.
Because you are lukewarm. And you make God want to vomit.
I understand. Biden’s character and policies and competence so outshine those of the sinner Trump that we should praise God and send 10% to the Democratic Party immediately. Then vote for Biden in November.
Got it. I’ve got to go write my check RIGHT NOW!
Sanctimonious bastard. Makes me vomit.
Voting Should Be Tied to His Character, Not His Job Performance
Now why don't I quite believe that?
even though his job performance has been among the poorest in presidential history.
It’s not like he set about constantly abusing his authority and doing things he had no such authority to do, funneling money from lawsuit settlements into his political allies accounts, consistently incited actual racism - and attacking the basis of rule of law.
even though his job performance has been among the poorest in presidential history.
It’s not like he set about constantly abusing his authority and doing things he had no such authority to do, funneling money from lawsuit settlements into his political allies accounts, consistently inciting actual racism - and attacking the basis of rule of law.
18 percent of white evangelical Christian support BLM. Same 18 percent
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