Character or Policies: Which is more Important?
With the presidential debate tonight and the election soon approaching, I wanted to give you some food for thought. Last week at the Lake Superior Freethinkers meeting, someone asked me about Trump's appeal to evangelicals. I didn't answer it as well as I would have liked so I've been thinking about a better answer ever since.
According to exit polls, 75% of evangelicals voted for Trump in 2020, which was down from 81% in 2016. While it went down, that's still a massive number for a candidate. Additionally, according to recent Pew Research polling data, Trump currently has 82% support from evangelicals. Why the massive support?
We probably don't need to look far to understand. At GLC, we first consider ourselves disciples of Jesus Christ, but more narrowly than that you could identify us as evangelical. Evangelicalism has a specific set of beliefs that sets itself apart from mainstream Protestantism. Evangelicals see the Bible as God's word and thus our highest authority. Evangelicals also believe that Jesus' death on the cross is the only sacrifice that could remove our penalty of sin. They also emphasize the need to become "born again" or made new by putting their trust in Christ. They also care about sharing their faith with others. You could say that's just believing the Bible, but other protestant denominations and churches sometimes deviate from these things, which is a serious problem. In any case, GLC is an evangelical church and most of us vote conservatively.
So, as an evangelical who voted for Trump, I guess I can speak for myself and many others when I say that our Election Day options are less than ideal… but we still feel it's important to vote anyway. The question is which characteristic is more important in a political candidate: character or policies?
My answer is both are important, but again if I had to pick one, I think I speak again for most evangelicals when I say that character matters a lot but policies matter at least slightly more. And the reason why I say that is because it's hard to measure the effect that character has on a nation (although it does have an effect). It is not, however, hard to measure a person's policies, because a person's policies may become law which will effect everyone downstream.
And there's your answer. Most evangelicals support Trump and the Republican Party because they believe their policies (on things like abortion, traditional family values, radical gender theory, critical race theory, medical freedom, religious freedom, and much more) line up with biblical righteousness more than the Democrat Party does.
At the same time, many evangelical Christians would emphasize Trump’s positive character qualities, like his resiliency and backbone, while criticizing the media for their unfair portrayal of him, as well as pointing out the lack of good character on the other side of the aisle.
So, what am I saying, vote for Trump? Here's a few closing remarks:
Who you vote for is a disputable matter. During his time on earth, Jesus did not declare allegiance to a political party. He was not partisan like we often paint him to be today. Both the Republican and Democrat systems are flawed human inventions.
Voting, however, I believe is a civic duty and an action that matters a lot. Not interested in politics? I encourage you to be. Politics affect people and people matter to God. It's that simple.
Read your Bible, pray, and fellowship with other believers to establish a biblical worldview. Don't look ultimately to a political party or news outlet to know how to think. Instead, look to the Lord and learn how life works in his world. And no matter what, always be willing to stand for biblical righteousness.
Study your ballot. Look into the candidates, their story, positions, strength and weaknesses, and then pray and ask God how he wants you to vote. Could it be that God might lead you to "sit this one out?" I've known believers who decided not to vote for Trump because of biblical convictions. Some voted third party, and others decided to skip it and vote down ticket. I think it's fair to say the Holy Spirit may give that conviction to somebody—that neither option is good so just skip it. As long as we are biblically minded, humbly praying, asking God, and obeying his voice... what else could we ask for??
Honor those in the church who voted differently than you. In the end, it's a disputable matter, therefore we need to leave it in the Lord's hands. Honor them, bless them, pray for them, and focus on what really matters, which is obeying Christ and building each other up in the faith.
Pray for those who are in office, even the ones you didn't vote for. Paul in 1 Timothy 2:1-4 exhorts us to do that exact thing and concludes that clause by writing that God wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. It's easy to complain about who's in office, but how about praying for them? What about honoring them like Daniel did to his wicked King Nebuchadnezzar? I wonder what would be different in the lives of our politicians if we were praying for them more than complaining about them. By all means, stand firm on righteousness and calls people out when they should be called out… but pray for them all the more, and let God do what he wants.
May the Lord have his way in our lives and this nation. The best is yet to come.