In many ways, this has been the best year of my life. There are other aspects of this year, however, that I wish I could forget, or outright erase from existence.
The prostitution of many conservatives and, sad to say, far too many evangelicals (including some prominent evangelical voices) at the altar of Donald Trump, has been a discouraging one to witness.
It is nothing new, sadly, to see Scripture misused and ripped mercilessly from its context with neither second thoughts or even awareness of what has been done, whether by prominent evangelicals, or the average churchgoer. But to see such things done to prop up a man who is so immoral that most evangelicals wouldn’t want him as a next-door neighbor or an employee is simultaneously heartbreaking and maddening.
I genuinely can’t remember when I have last seen so much Scripture misapplied (in this case in defense of voting for Trump) so shamelessly. It is an embarrassment of epic proportions that the Church of Christ should not only watch idly as these things happen but take part in them.
We ought to be ashamed and nauseated by the filth which our Lord’s name has been dragged through. Instead, too often we look with approval or applause upon it, showing how little discernment or right-thinking on Biblical things there really is in the modern church.
In our ‘post-modern era’, we can take pride in our advances in technology and freedom, yet we in the church today are far more ignorant today of what is true than they were hundreds of years ago. The Reformers and Puritans may not have had 10 Bible versions and translations of every work they could possibly want to reference in their own language and at their fingertips, but at least they knew evil when they saw it, and they called it out.
In the 1970’s, as a candidate for president of the United States, Jimmy Carter was reviled by those who valued morality in a candidate simply for doing an interview with Playboy magazine. Today, we are debating whether or not Trump’s ‘locker-room’, ‘bad-boy talk’ was just idle bragging or an accurate record of his actions. We don’t consider his appearance in Playboy videos an issue. His own book openly admits (and glories in) his tawdry character. Never have we in the history of our nation had two more disqualified candidates for president. Less than fifty years and Satan already has lured us into the mire of defending loose morality.
Even NBC – dismissed by many evangelical conservatives as liberal headquarters – even they recognize that Trump’s comments were so vile that they fired their employee who was chuckling over this with Trump. If even unbelievers see this behavior as beyond common decency, how can we pretend that this is not disqualifying, to say nothing of Donald Trump’s boasts over his adulterous ‘conquests’?
‘But of course these things are bad!’ some protest; ‘we’re not voting for Trump – we’re voting against Hillary! We’re voting for saving babies and the Supreme Court!” On a biblical level, this argument is inappropriate, because it is only barely removed from Satan’s propositions to Christ in the wilderness: the adversary came offering good things in the wrong time and in the wrong way. If we are unwilling to make the hard choice and refuse, we accept his deal.
The argument for ‘voting against Hillary’ really doesn’t improve on historical grounds: In 1973, a case of some significance was decided by the Supreme Court. The judgment went 7-2. Those seven justices in question were nominated by presidents, Nixon (x3), Eisenhower (x2), Roosevelt and Johnson (one apiece). And, thus, Roe v. Wade became case law in America. The two dissenting justices? William Rehnquist, nominated by Richard Nixon, and Byron White, nominated by John F. Kennedy.
One of the most significant court cases in the minds of evangelicals (and rightly so!) was decided by 5 justices nominated by Republicans, and 2 nominated by Democrats. Of the two dissenters, one was nominated by a Democrat. But that was then, we might say, times are different now. Well, let’s see, as far as decisions go, John Roberts (nominated by Bush II) has been a real winner for conservatives, hasn’t he? Anthony Kennedy (nominated by Reagan) is even worse. So, are we really going to seriously suggest that Trump is going to do a better job picking justices than Reagan or Bush?
Understand: I don’t personally even consider the Supreme Court a relevant question – not that I don’t care about it, but because, let’s face it: the court goes as the country goes, and the country is becoming progressively more ungodly. Regardless of who wins this election, the Supreme Court will be gone in a generation without an act of God – I only bring this up because others seem to think this matters.
Even on the abortion question – one that is very near and dear to my heart; an issue that has always been a prime concern that drives how I vote – let’s remember how long Roe v. Wade has been the law of the land: 43 years. God had the power to prevent Roe v. Wade from ever taking effect, and he has had the power to remove it at any time since then, yet he has chosen not to. Are we going to prioritize the results of the election over doing what is right when the results of such that God has sovereignly allowed them to remain?
‘But we have to vote for one of them!” We say. Do we? Where in the Bible does it say that we are required to vote for a winning candidate? In fact, where does it even say that we must vote at all? Voting is a privilege, and one that I am grateful for – and I plan to exercise it in voting for other people and measures on the ballot on November 8th – but it is not a divine calling on believers.
There is no Scriptural mandate that requires us to vote. Ultimately, we are called by God to be good citizens and to do what is right, which can and should involve voting. If voting as a good citizen contradicts my call from God to do what is right, then happily will I give that up.
So what does matter then? What is relevant, and what should believers be looking at in regards to the question of whether we can vote at all for a mainline candidate?
Any evangelical from a Bible-believing church ought to be able to recite at least the first question and answer from the Westminster Catechism, even if they can’t remember a word of the rest:
“Q. 1. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” (Cf. 1 Corinthians 10:31).
This should be remembered because it is so foundational that nothing – even evangelism – can be prioritized over it. So how do we glorify God? One significant way can be found in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.
Matthew 5:13-16: “13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.
14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
What does it mean to be salt and light? Well, for one thing, it might be helpful to remember the history of God’s people. Back in the Old Testament, Israel was going through their worst and most unfaithful period as a nation under God. The Lord spoke then to Ezekiel, his prophet, regarding what had been and what was to come.
Ezekiel 36:22-23: “22 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. 23 And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.”
Israel was set apart as a nation for God. They were given laws that reflected his character and were given to draw others from the nations to God, if Israel had been faithful. But Israel was not only unfaithful, they, in many ways, became worse than the nations around them.
Whether the church today is as bad as Israel was then is not the point; we are in danger of committing the same mistake that they did: This is what it means to be salt and light. We have a God-mandated responsibility to demonstrate the character of God in our lives and bring glory to him by doing what is right and godly.
Voting for a man who even unbelievers rightly see as a chronic liar, a serial adulterer, and a bigot with no control over his mouth or emotions, diminishes the glory of God and our witness for him, because even if you see your action as ‘only a vote’, that is not how many unbelievers will see it, and they will link the church to Donald Trump because of ‘our’ (believers’) support of him.
Is there any place for pragmatism in voting then? Of course; there must be to some degree. After all, no one is perfect – no pastor or elder, and no candidate for president or any other office or occupation. So should we vote for flawed candidates? Of course, and we must. But think about it: We use basic morality as a baseline for any occupation. Employees can be fired these days for what they post carelessly about on Facebook. How can we say it does not matter for the president?
Having said that, let me be clear: I subscribe wholeheartedly to the principle of Romans 14:23: “Whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.” We must act consistently with our conscience – but it is well to remember that our conscience is not always a perfect judge of what is right; it must be sharpened and informed by God’s Word. There is too little of that sharpening going around of late.
If you disagree with me on my arguments from Scripture and feel you can in good conscience vote Donald Trump, I cannot stop you. But let me at least try to suggest why I believe voting for Donald Trump is a choice that morally is not good.
So why not vote for Trump? Because, as should be obvious to all, he is morally disqualified. Unbelievers can see that, the church of the past generation would have seen that (in spite of everything they got wrong), and if you cannot see that, it is difficult to imagine what you might consider to be morally disqualified.
Think about that: Trump is one of the few people running for president with as loose a relationship to truth as Hillary Clinton. If even a small percentage of the stories that have been coming out about Trump are true, or if his own words are to be taken as fact, he makes Bill Clinton’s adultery look comparatively righteous.
If you feel the need to defend Trump’s moral character, then I must assume that you either don’t read any news outside of far-right conservative media (which is a problem on its own, frankly) or you are intentionally blind to anything that might disqualify him because you’re unwilling to let this election go. Even unbiased, irreligious conservatives admit that Trump’s morality is a problem.
But let’s make sure we understand what is really going on: This isn’t about whether Trump is qualified or not to be president – indeed, even if Trump was qualified outside of his morality (he’s not, but that’s a debate for another time), the responsibility of believers would not change. So what is this about? Fear.
We are afraid of what will happen if Hillary Clinton becomes president, and I can certainly understand that. But the direction that that fear is driving us is unbecoming of Christians. Not only are we failing to trust God – if you deny this, I genuinely believe you are self-deceived – but we are compounding the problem by enabling evil candidates and telling the world that doing what is right only matters so long as the circumstances are right.
Sadly, I recently heard Dr. Ben Carson say in an interview that morality matters, but we need to wait on that conversation until after the election – there is too much at stake in this election to trifle about such things right now, he suggested. Too many believers seem to agree with this perspective. How pitiful and pathetic that Christians should be among the most vocal proponents of situational ethics.
Truly, it seems that the visible church in America is simply mirroring the downgrade that took place in revivals and evangelism in recent decades: Churches and evangelists watered-down the gospel in order to get people in the pews. They were so desperate to be successful that they lost sight of what evangelistic success looks like: Glorifying God and discipling those whom he has called to himself through the call and grace of the Holy Spirit.
This tunnel vision is eerily similar to what we are seeing in political discussions now. We are so afraid to lose the election that we’re willing to sacrifice anything to win – even our witness for God.
If we are willing to degrade ourselves (and our Lord) so far by voting for someone so abysmally unqualified by grasping at straws to defend our support for him, then the church is in a truly frightening place.
What should we do? Live as good citizens – including voting – so far as we are able to consistent with God’s character and without destroying our testimony for God – in these circumstances, I strongly believe that that means we should reject both of the two major candidates for president – and trust God for the results. And remember the words of Paul:
Philippians 1:29: “29 For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake,”
Exegetically, these two things – belief and suffering – are linked in how we receive them from God. Just as our belief is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:9), so also is suffering. We have lived a life of ease too long as believers that now we are afraid to go through suffering. Suffering is in fact a gift from God because it is an assurance to us of salvation and it is a gracious means of spiritual growth. Do not waste this gift or reject it, calling it a rock or serpent (Matthew 7:9-10).
What should believers do then to glorify God and be lights for him in the world? Do what is right, regardless of the circumstances or what it will cost; fear no man; trust in the Lord; and, especially, pray for our nation and the church.
