I suggest that the Bible provides little guidance for voting. The most popular verse used to support one's candidate (used particularly often by evangelicals to support Trump) comes from Paul's letter to the Romans:
"For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God."
Yet there are other verses that appear to contradict this view, including Isaiah 1:23:
"Your rulers are rebels, partners with thieves; they all love bribes and chase after gifts. They do not defend the cause of the fatherless; the widow’s case does not come before them."
It is likely that rather than come from God, these verses were written by men keenly aware of the political realities of their times. In the first example Paul, a citizen of Rome, was acutely sensitive to Roman authority and did not want his fledgling community to suffer because of its members political distractions.
In the second example, Isaiah was responding to a corrupt leadership who had lost their mission to protect the poor and powerless due to bribery and lobbying. Our time is more comparable to Isaiah's.
The Bible is a Poor Electoral Guide
Moderator: Moderators
