I am not going to quote anyone directly, as I am will be responding to the general idea of what people have said on this thread, rather than any direct quotes.
Firstly, CTB I apologize for my attitude towards you in the past couple of days. I have been very snarky, blunt and rude. Hopefully you've seen me post enough to know that this is not my normal way of dealing with people. Without going into detail, suffice it to say that it's been a rough week and I wrongfully allowed my frustration to seep into my postings.
With that being said, I do still believe you are wrong. The post you posted earlier in the thread is the most coherent explanation of your stance that I've seen you give (and also the most straightforward). It allowed a better glimpse into your reasoning, however flawed I believe it to be.
One of the glaring flaws I see is your blanket statement about the GOP not caring about people once they are born. Personally, I've never met a GOP who wanted to kick anyone while they are down. Being against free handouts to those who could help themselves is not wrong; in fact it is Biblical. I am all for welfare. Thankfully, I've never had to be a recipient of food stamps, but I have been a recipient of WIC. It was there when I needed it. What I am against is people milking the system (of which I have ample anecdotal evidence, even people close to me). While I am not against welfare (and neither is anyone that I've ever met whether conservative or liberal, literally), I do believe there needs to be a massive overhaul in how our welfare system works.
Zaac, to address your constant statement that a vote for Trump destroys our witness, you may have a point. But on the other hand, you don't. The thing is, non-Christians have as diverse an opinion on the subject as those here on the board. One guy that I am trying to get to attend church that I go to school with I was discussing that view point. I didn't name names, but I brought you up and how you made that statement. And he, being a lost man, made the statement, "If someone told me they voted for Hillary and then told me they were a Christian, I'd laugh in their face." After a few minutes of conversation, he then further qualified, "I don't see how anyone that calls themselves a Christian could vote for anyone but Trump in this election."
So, a vote for Trump would cause you to lose your witness, but only to those lost who see things like you already do. A vote for anyone but Trump would cause me to lose my witness to this person. It also would cause me to lose my witness with many guys I served with in the past. So, you're not wrong in what you're saying. But you're not right, either.
It's a lot like drinking alcohol. I've had guys tell me before, "You go to church. You can't drink." For me to have drank with them would have wrecked my testimony in their eyes. But we had a (baptacostal) chaplain who drank. And he's won a few guys to Christ, and it all began with them being comfortable approaching him because they saw him drinking, and they knew he was a regular guy.
As I was telling someone before (can't remember exactly who on the board), we as Christians don't get to choose how the world perceives us. We can only do what we believe honors God. And then we trust Him to protect our witness.
For me, Trump is the clear choice. For me, I can understand someone voting third party; I thought about doing that myself. But for me, a vote for Hillary is a vote against God.
With that being said, if someone on here believes that God wants them to vote for Hillary, then even though I vehemently disagree, they should do so. On my part, I can only pray that God will use what I perceive to be a mistake to accomplish His will. Similar to Daniel's brothers, and how God used it for good.
