Should Christians Choose Between the Lesser of Two Evil's in the 2016 Election ?

[Monk Brendan]

I am greatly disturbed and at odds as to how to resolve this issue. This election in November has been characterized by American voter's as a choice between "two evils". Should Christians be voting in such an election ? Wouldn't we be voting for "Evil" in either circumstance ?...

So for the first time in my adult life, I have decided I WILL NOT CAST ANY VOTE.

What do you think ?!

Let me make myself absolutely clear. I do not like Donald Trump. I did like him up until the time that he talked about Sen. John McCain, saying that he was not a hero, simply because he got shot down and was taken captive by the Viet Cong. I was in the Navy for some of the time that Viet Nam was going on. I never went there, but I lost some friends there.

However, as much as I don't like Trump, I am absolutely petrified when I think about what Hillary could do if she won, and and how she would continue to run the nation further into the ground!

I am very pro-life, but I would have voted for Bernie Sanders over Trump, because he is an honest politician. However, he is not running, so I am going to vote, and vote for Trump. One thing that I can find good about Trump, and that is that he chose a good running mate, Mike Pence. He seems to have done a good as a Representative, and a good job as a Governor.

 

[Winken]

To frame an issue correctly is the first step in coming to a correct diagnosis, conclusion & resolution. This thread is framed under the heading - Should Christians Choose Between the Lesser of Two Evil's in the 2016 Election?

The proposition that this heading makes is that this election is about two people who are either evil in & of themselves or would bring evil upon the peoples of America. As for are the two candidates evil in & of themselves - yes, absolutely, all of mankind is. Would they bring evil upon the peoples of America & what types of evil would they support is really SOLELY the question that should be debated.

A less obvious insinuation of this heading is that some are of such a sterling spiritual character & sanctified so thoroughly as to be able to rightly judge these candidates & thereby outrightly reject both of them. Such people must be so far advanced spiritually then I am for I still shudder to make such an assertion. I am both but feeble & hopeless as I still count myself as simply a sinner saved by the grace of God.

To my chagrin, I confess the depths of my ignorance. It is a new-found freedom to not have the bondage of attempting to make an informed choice as to the suitably of these sinful, evil candidates. I feel as Pilgrim relieved of the weight strapped to my back! How wonderful is this - to walk unencumbered by the fetters of having to shift through the available evidence to choose the better of the two candidates, the one who will make for greater religious freedom.

What a relief to no longer have to analyze, ponder & weigh between the two. Thanks to you refusing to vote posters my conscience now can & will exonerate me from the trials of using my mind. I need not be strapped by accountability to deciding. Happy days that the eyes of my conscience have been finally opened. Begone the mental myopia that had afflicted me. What a breath of fresh air to be freed from voting. Yes, I can now live at peace with my belly-button.

No, I am no longer dogmatic & seeking for answers. Yes, I do repent from any pretense to intelligence. The immaturity of my ways is patently obvious. How arrogant for me to feel & believe that a reasoned choice was called for. I lived the mistake of neglecting the sensitivity & spirituality of my conscience as I was relying exclusively on my powers of understanding. The solution to my quandary is now crystal clear. How ignorant I was to hold jer 17:9 close to my mind & deliberations - “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” Surely my conscience is trustworthy! Isn’t it?

Yes, I do now get it. Truly, it was simplistic of me to presume I was voting for the candidate who would allow for the greater good. Foolish me. The flatulence of my reasoning has finally been purified by the colo-cleanse of heeding your not-to-vote wisdom. Now I understand how vital it is to avoid every semblance of participating in evil. There will be no more blood on my hands. I will sit at home smugly prideful of being more astute & discerning than the tortured voters.

I was so very old-fashioned. Can you believe it - I actually would get on my knees & pray for God’s guidance! How dated am I? Close to being obsolete I imagine. My goodness - how much more comfortable & pleasing is the lotus-position. So smoothly does chanting om flow off my unpursed lips. Tension begone! How welcome it is not to be encumbered & involved with complicity to evil. I feel as haven been washed & purified. Free at last to sink into the netherworld of neglect.

I ask your indulgence & patience. The truth is that I am of such weak character that I find old habits, pet peeves & chosen sins hard to forsake. It will take some time for me to find my way in this freedom of adjudication by conscience. As a newbie to this superior reality I sorely need guidance. I still find it impossible to validate & embrace the semantics of abortion being health care rather than outright murder. Such obfuscation & mental gymnastics stubbornly eludes me. But, I am focused on moving beyond the narrow stricture of there actually being right & wrong. Equivocation here I come.

Brilliant!

 

[stephen583]

A less obvious insinuation of this heading is that some are of such a sterling spiritual character & sanctified so thoroughly as to be able to rightly judge these candidates & thereby outrightly reject both of them.

In reality the line "Americans are being forced to choose between the lesser of two evils" was popularized by Bernie Sanders during his campaign bid. The national media, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Time Magazine, U.S. News and World Report, CNN, NBC, CBS, PBS and NPR have all quoted Sander's statement and characterized this election in this manner at one time or another ever since Bernie uttered those iconic words.

So as much as I would like to take credit for the title of this thread, I would be as guilty of plagiarism as Melania Trump was if I did so.

 

[Far Side Of the Moon]

Oh my gosh, you really summed up my feelings..i feel like this election I the lesser of 2 evils..so much so i dont feel pressed to really vote.

It seems like a lose lose situation.

 

[Original Happy Camper]

So then you think that God should not have employed evil to establish His own justice, allowing people to vote for who they follow, whether God or Satan?

He can take your vote away, you know.

WOW you hit nail on the head, the theme of the Great Controversy of the ages. Who are you going to worship GOD or Satan.

You are voting ether for GOD or Satan by your worship.
Mark 7:7
Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
John 4:23
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
Revelation 13:4
And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?
Matthew 6:24
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

 

[Winken]

In reality the line "Americans are being forced to choose between the lesser of two evils" was popularized by Bernie Sanders during his campaign bid. The national media, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Time Magazine, U.S. News and World Report, CNN, NBC, CBS, PBS and NPR have all quoted Sander's statement and characterized this election in this manner at one time or another ever since Bernie uttered those iconic words.

So as much as I would like to take credit for the title of this thread, I would be as guilty of plagiarism as Melania Trump was if I did so.

........or you can blame her speech writer, who submitted her resignation thereafter.

 

[98cwitr]

I will not be voting either. This has become an entertainment circus...not an election for President of the United States.

 

[SepiaAndDust]

I will not be voting either. This has become an entertainment circus...not an election for President of the United States.

But it is an election. Somebody will be elected president.

It's pretty important, despite the makeup and glitter and cheerleaders.

 

[stephen583]

You think you've seen too many police funerals with flag draped coffins on gun carriages and bagpipes being played ?! Wait till Donald Trump is elected President and the United States of America declares War on Latinos. Laws like Arizona's SB 1070 (which makes it a criminal offence to offer material support or harbor to illegal aliens (Mexicans) is going to be enforced nationwide.

You don't think Latino citizens aren't going to retaliate violently when they are being dragged from their cars and subjected to racial profiling (not just in Arizona), but in all 50 states ? Seriously ?!

It's the "Perfect Storm" ! You ain't seen nuth'in yet.

 

[SepiaAndDust]

You think you've seen too many police funerals with flag draped coffins on gun carriages and bagpipes being played ?! Wait till Donald Trump is elected President and the United States of America declares War on Latinos. Laws like Arizona's SB 1070 (which makes it a criminal offence to offer material support or harbor to illegal aliens (Mexicans) is going to be enforced nationwide.

As onerous as it was, the bill was gutted by the courts. The states can't enforce similar bills, and federal laws would be made by Congress, not by the president.

 

[ScottA]

I will not be voting either. This has become an entertainment circus...not an election for President of the United States.

Your emotions are understandable, but such as it is, God has placed before us life and death...and we need to choose. Not choosing is to refuse what God has placed on the path before us.

 

[stephen583]

As onerous as it was, the bill was gutted by the courts. The states can't enforce similar bills, and federal laws would be made by Congress, not by the president.

SB 1070 was primarily based on existing Federal Law, which is subject to maximum enforcement at the President's discretion. Trump doesn't need Congress to pass new legislation. Even if he decided to go that route, instead of issuing an executive order, he has a Republican majority in Congress, and he will appoint a like minded Supreme Court Justice as soon as he takes office. The rulings you say gutted SB 1070 will themselves be overturned by federal courts and the Supreme Court.

The courts aren't going to save anyone from the wave of terror that's coming, anymore than the courts were able to save us from 9-11 and 15 years of foreign terrorism in America.

I'm afraid you've drank the poison Kool-Aid.

 

[SepiaAndDust]

SB 1070 was primarily based on existing Federal Law, which is subject to maximum enforcement at the President's discretion. Trump doesn't need Congress to pass new legislation. Even if he decided to go that route, instead of issuing an executive order, he has a Republican majority in Congress, and he will appoint a like minded Supreme Court Justice as soon as he takes office. The rulings you say gutted SB 1070 will themselves be overturned by federal courts and the Supreme Court. The courts aren't going to save anyone from the wave of terror that's coming.

SB 1070 preempted federal law, which was why it was gutted.

 

[stephen583]

SB 1070 preempted federal law, which was why it was gutted.

Parts of SB 1070 were gutted, but not all of it. Ask any Latino citizen in Arizona who is subject to racial profiling and being dragged from their car by police in front their children. Police in Arizona are now confiscating the vehicles of Latino drivers without identification for minor traffic violations, and refusing to allow the other licensed passengers in the car to take possession of the vehicle, (which is the standard procedure when dealing with Caucasians violators).

Also, the provision in SB 1070 which forces Latinos and others to produce documentation of U.S. citizenship anywhere, anytime is Federal Law, not Arizona Law.

Claiming SB 1070 has been gutted, merely because provisions like prohibiting the establishment of sanctuary cities and police using "reasonable suspicion" as the basis for stops, is totally irrelevant, ask anyone with brown skin who lives in Arizona if they think 1070 has been gutted.

 

[SepiaAndDust]

Parts of SB 1070 were gutted, but not all of it.

The bill was gutted. Three-quarters of it was struck.

Also, the requirement which forces Latinos and others to produce documentation of U.S. citizenship anywhere, anytime is Federal Law, not Arizona Law.

Nobody is being forced to produce documentation of citizenship. That was a section of the bill that was struck down in Arizona v. United States.

Non-citizens may have to keep their visas with them, but that's always been the case.

 

[SepiaAndDust]

Then a quarter of the bill remains in force, doesn't it !

But only a quarter of it.

Like I said, it's a Federal Law, not a state law !

You said "the provision in SB 1070 which forces Latinos and others to produce documentation of U.S. citizenship anywhere, anytime is Federal Law". And I showed you how that wasn't true at all.

So no, it's not like you said.

 

[stephen583]

You said "the provision in SB 1070 which forces Latinos and others to produce documentation of U.S. citizenship anywhere, anytime is Federal Law". And I showed you how that wasn't true at all.

If you don't think an INS (immigration officer) can require a Hispanic to produce documentation anywhere, at anytime, for any reason, you're mistaken. It's Federal Law. You showed me nothing that refutes that. What you've posted proves the exact opposite.

 

[SepiaAndDust]

If you don't think an INS (immigration officer) can require a Hispanic to produce documentation anywhere, at anytime, for any reason, you're mistaken. It's Federal Law. You showed me nothing that refutes that. What you've posted proves the exact opposite.

Cite the law, then.

 

[Archivist]

Cite the law, then.

8 USC 1302 requires that aliens over 13 produce valid ID upon request by INS. It does not require that all Hispanics produce such ID "at anytime for any reason" as Stephen583 claimed. If an Hispanic is not an alien they are not required to produce such ID.

 

[SepiaAndDust]

8 USC 1302 requires that aliens over 13 produce valid ID upon request by INS. It does not require that all Hispanics produce such ID "at anytime for any reason" as Stephen583 claimed. If an Hispanic is not an alien they are not required to produce such ID.

Thanks! That's about what I figured.