Why I Still Can't Vote for Donald Trump

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine asked me why I was determined not to vote for Donald Trump even if he won the Republican nomination.  My friend wanted to know if I would take the same approach to something like choosing a checkout line at Walmart.  Here is what I wrote in response:

I would have no problem going through the checkout line of a pro-choice feminist cashier. I actually happen to know a few pro-choice feminists, and if I were to see them working at Walmart, I would purposefully use their checkout line in order to build a greater friendship and reinforce my past efforts at witnessing to them. I would even hire them if I were the manager of the local Walmart.

On the other hand, I would not go through the checkout line of a pro-life conservative whom I knew to be a foul mouthed thief. Nor would I hire a cashier to work in my store if they were foul mouthed and had a history of stealing from the cash drawer. In fact, I doubt that you would hire such a person either. The cashier is the face of the store, and to hire someone whose language is offensive to the customers will cause the store to lose business. The cashier also has the greatest temptation to steal from the store, and placing someone in that position who has a history of theft would be completely irresponsible.

I have the same approach toward voting for a President that I have for hiring a cashier. Character traits that have no effect on the position being applied for are given very little consideration, but if an applicant has character flaws which are directly related to the job that he is applying for, then I will suggest that he find employment elsewhere.

In Donald Trump's case, there are several major character flaws which prevent me from voting for him. For example, Benjamin Franklin argued during the Constitutional Convention that:

"We should remember the character which the Scripture requires in rulers, that they should be men hating covetousness."

Franklin was referring to Exodus 18:21 which says:

"Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens:"

This stands in stark contrast with Donald Trump who openly admits that:

"My whole life I’ve been greedy, greedy, greedy. I’ve grabbed all the money I could get. I’m so greedy. But now I want to be greedy for the United States. I want to grab all that money. I’m going to be greedy for the United States."

Covetousness is a character flaw that is directly related to the office of the President, and finding that Trump not only displays this flaw but proudly embraces it as if it is advantageous is more than enough to justify not voting for him. In fact, this character flaw is so damaging in a national leader that, in Deut. 17:14-20, God listed it twice as a disqualifier for anyone seeking to be the king of Israel.

There is much, much more about Trump's character that should prevent Christians from voting for him, but the most important quality for a leader in any position -- a quality so important that it is listed in just about every list of qualifications for leadership found in Scripture -- is the possession of a fear of the Lord. One of the last things that King David said before he died was:

"The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God." (II Samuel 23:3)

Donald trump has absolutely no fear of God, and he proudly admits this fact. He admitted this when he unequivocally claimed that he has never seen any reason to ask God to forgive him for anything. The only way to go through a life as wicked as Trump's life has been without ever seeing the need to seek God's forgiveness is either to deny that God even exists or to deny that He punishes sin. In either case, to claim that one does not need the forgiveness of God is to admit that one has no fear of God, and that is such a significant disqualifier that I would not even hire Donald Trump as a cashier much less vote for him to be President.

For more on my voting philosophy, check out my series on The Lesser of Two Evils.