This is a comment I made after reading John StoneStreet’s opinion about the election. John is a man whose opinion I highly respect, although we may differ on this particular issue. See “http://www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/entry/13/%2029981#comments”

This thread has answered a question that I have been pondering for a long time. Throughout my Christian life, I have experienced several Church splits. They all are similar in one fashion, people not liking a decision that was made, and stomping out of the Church angry. When you talk to these people later, they justify their walk out by saying, “I cannot be a part of something I think is going in the wrong direction”. Like these walk outs, people are reacting the same way to the Trump candidacy the same way. Trump did something disgusting, and they don’t want their names associated with his candidacy. What is not known is what they will do on Election Day. I suspect most will not vote, and the rest will vote for a third party.

The problem is this notion of not supporting something sinful because it would be supported “in my name”. There are 2 sides of this, the example I brought up about not supporting a gay marriage, and the example of supporting a misogynist like Donald Trump. These 2 cases, while seeming to be the same, are absolutely different. In the first case, the Christian is being asked to support something that is blatantly sinful by people in the world. If the Christian declines, there will be very real ramifications to the person declining. In the second case, the Christian is declining to be involved in something where a sin was involved, and the ramifications are being felt by people other than themselves. What I am saying is that like people stomping out of a church during a split, not voting for Trump is the same, in both cases the ramifications will be felt by others. In every case when I witnessed people stomping out of our church, I felt like I was being left in the lurch, and being insulted for supporting sin because I stayed. I feel the same way about Christians abandoning Trump, because I feel insulted as a person supporting sin, and left in the lurch. If Christians don’t vote, or vote for someone other than Trump, Hillary Clinton will win the election. In the same fashion, when I was left in the lurch in a church after a split, I was also left in a church with financial problems, members leaving, and general malaise. In this election, it will be similar; the country will be left with a government that is opposed to everything we are doing, being labeled as bigots, and being marginalized.

I would ask anyone who feels that they cannot vote for Trump to examine their hearts and ask themselves, am I doing this for selfish reasons? Am I just following the crowd? Am I afraid of what some people would think of me? If you are worried about your name being associated with sin, remember Romans 3:23 that “All have fallen short of the glory of God” and that your name is already associated with sins you have committed yourself. So it is not necessary to protect your name from sin, because you are already a sinner. I would encourage all who read this to vote to support the church, and what is good for it going forward. We may not want to be associated with the disgusting things Donald Trump has done, but in my case, my name isn’t worth protecting. What is worth protecting is the church’s ability to spread the Gospel, help the poor, and teach people the truth.