{"id":97343,"date":"2016-09-23T09:39:22","date_gmt":"2016-09-23T16:39:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?p=97343"},"modified":"2016-09-23T09:58:17","modified_gmt":"2016-09-23T16:58:17","slug":"reckless-voting-arguments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/09\/reckless-voting-arguments.html","title":{"rendered":"Reckless Voting Arguments"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

A reader writes:<\/p>\n

I was wondering whether you could address the issue of \u201cDonald Trump is imperfect but God uses imperfect people to work out His plans, therefore I won\u2019t hesitate to vote for him\u201d line of thinking. I\u2019ve been hearing this more and more from Catholics and Christians, both online and in person, and it drives me batty! Such a dangerous and foolish way to choose a candidate! Thanks for considering!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s an equally good argument for voting for Hillary or, for that matter, anybody else on planet earth. It really comes down to saying, \u201cNothing I do matters, since God will make it alright.\u201d This is also known as \u201cLet us do evil that good may come of it.\u201d We are called to make prudent judgments, not do whatever the hell we like and expect God to clean up our messes.<\/p>\n

Totally agree, but I\u2019m only hearing that argument (and I hear it more and more) when Christians are justifying their decision to vote for Trump\u2026 Thanks!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Right. Because they are rationalizing a choice to do evil that good may come of it. You can simply point out that it\u2019s an equally good reason to vote for Hillary\u2013or Stalin. Charles Manson is an \u201cimperfect person\u201d. It does not therefore follow that voting for Charles Manson is a morally good act.<\/p>\n

It is worth nothing, as well, that everybody understands that, which is precisely why the person arguing to support Trump on this basis does *not* argue to vote for Hillary on this basis. It is also worth noting that there is typically coupled with this a debased soteriology in which Christians frequently say something to the effect that Trump is a diamond in rough, a Constantine for whom we must pray since who knows what David God will sculpt from this rude marble. Sure he denies seeing any need to so much as ask God for forgiveness, but we are a people who believes in redemption! The heart of the King is in the hand of the Lord! Etc. blah blah.<\/p>\n

But no such calls for prayer are issued for Clinton, a baptized and practicing Christian. She is irredeemable. A servant of Satan. An agent of Gog and Magog for whom prayer is a waste of time. She\u2019s not an \u201cimperfect person\u201d. She is, as I have been told times without number, \u201cpure evil\u201d. The people who tell me such things are the same people who wept loud sobs of woundedness last week over \u201cbasket of deplorables\u201d because (*sob*) actions are deplorable, (*sob*) not people<\/em>! O the humanity!<\/p>\n

Now it\u2019s perfectly true that, whoever wins, God\u2019s salvific will shall not be thwarted and he will use our choice, as he uses all things including the betrayal of Judas Iscariot, for our good. But that didn\u2019t help Judas Iscariot. So arguments like \u201cGod uses imperfect people, so it doesn\u2019t matter if I vote for the most dangerous human being ever placed within reach of the White House\u201d are morally reckless.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A reader writes: I was wondering whether you could address the issue of \u201cDonald Trump is imperfect but God uses imperfect people to work out His plans, therefore I won\u2019t hesitate to vote for him\u201d line of thinking. I\u2019ve been hearing this more and more from Catholics and Christians, both online and in person, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[8,775],"class_list":["post-97343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-mailbag","tag-never-trump"],"yoast_head":"\nReckless Voting Arguments<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A reader writes: I was wondering whether you could address the issue of "Donald Trump is imperfect but God uses imperfect people to work out His plans,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/09\/reckless-voting-arguments.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" 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