Salty, when I made that statement, I was careful to say "as you feel God is leading". I personally don't think that God would lead anyone to vote other than the way I'm voting (and if anyone thinks that they are not voting the way God would lead EVERYONE to vote, then they need to take a look at why). However, there are many factors at play here, all which eventually have an input and add up to what we feel God is leading us to do.
I don't think that God says, "Vote for this person". I believe God says, "Vote within these guidelines". And those guidelines are the same for all of us. It's our interpretation of those guidelines where we get our differences. I am fully convinced (as should everyone else be) that I am voting for the candidate that Christ would vote for were he in my shoes. Others should feel the same way, regardless of whether they are voting for the same person as I am or not.
In the Bible, we don't have clear voting commands, as voting wasn't a thing back then. Rather, we have to look at the commands of God that we live by and choose our vote from there.
Added to the complexity is the idea (I was going to say fact, but I know that would de-rail the thread) that only one of two people will win, and not a third party. And so we get into the stewardship aspect of the vote. Is voting for the best person, regardless of the chances of winning, better than voting for the best person who has a chance of winning? Some say yes, and some say no. And both sides have a valid point. Personally, I believe in the stewardship principle of voting, where if I were to vote third party I would be burying my talent instead of investing it.
So, we have a myriad of guidelines to follow. And not only do we as Christians interpret these guidelines differently, we also weight them differently. many here on the board weight the abortion issue at the top, and give it an incredible amount of weight. Some weight the stewardship of the country as it pertains to immigration pretty high. Some weight welfare or healthcare pretty high.
No one is going to see exactly eye to eye with anyone else. And to try to get someone to vote against their conscience would be sin. So the best we can do is attempt to change the conscience by teaching others why we stand where we stand. Once we've done that, we've done our part.
