You can't get a moral result from an immoral vote.

So I have seen all of the articles that are going around arguing that Christians can vote for Trump and still feel morally justified:

See, here's the problem: Good people all over the United States find themselves in a pickle.  They don't necessarily 'like' Donald Trump as a presidential candidate but they definitely don't like Hillary Clinton.  So they are forced to embrace someone who is really difficult to embrace at times.

(this would have been a good thing to think through during the primary season, but that's none of my business)

So anyway, we find ourselves here - in the uncomfortable spot of having to either vote for Hillary, vote for Trump or vote Gary Johnson (the third party choice right now).  And yes . . . I know a vote for Johnson is a vote for Hillary . . .  keep reading.  The big question is how can a person who claims to follow Jesus vote for a guy who seems to be the antithesis of everything that is associated with Jesus?

And no, I won't argue details about that last statement.  It is just an accepted fact.  No matter how much you like Trump and how much you love Jesus - they are very different people.

But anyhow, in the meantime there are a slew of articles running around that tell me, as a Christian, that voting for Trump is actually a moral choice.

That may or may not be true . . .

A moral choice is something I choose regardless of the outcome.  That is what makes it moral.  I am not swayed by the outcome - the ends do not justify the means.  I am evaluating by decision by ethical, theological and philosophical standards that don't have anything to do with whether it achieves anything in the long run.  It is right because it is right.

Otherwise we are dealing with pragmatism.  Here is what I mean:

Take everything off the table: No Hillary.  No Supreme Court.  No bathroom-gender issues.  No E-mails.

Now I ask you - look at a candidate and ask yourself: "Would I vote for citizen 'x?'"  Are they an informed person who doesn't misspeak often in public?  Do they refrain from lying?  Cheating?  Do they make wise choices in their personal life?  Professional life?  Do people outside their family hold them in high regard?  Have they elevated humanity through their life's work?  Can you honestly say they care more about serving us Americans than they do their own interests?

If you answered no to more than three of those questions and still support this person, you are no longer making a moral decision.

You are making a decision based on pragmatics.  You don't really believe in the person, you just want to defeat the other person.  That is political expediency and it is robbing you of your own morals because you are no longer letting God lead.  Instead you are stacking the deck and working on your own behalf because there is no moral force of the universe that will have your back if you don't compromise on what you know to be true.

That is false.  And there are literally thousands of pages of scripture that tell you God is in control and your vote should be pinned to a moral compass that has nothing to do with whether or not your side wins.  The only thing immoral here is your belief that you can't vote on your morals.  You won't get a moral result from an immoral vote.

In the end you become a pawn in a very manipulative game of politics.

Don't do it.  Stay true to what you know is true.  And don't let slick arguments tell you anything else.