In his conversations on university campuses, Charlie Kirk would sometimes compare Donald Trump to the biblical character of Samson. Kirk’s basic argument seemed to be that although Samson was a very flawed individual, he is still mentioned as someone who was commended for his faith in Hebrews 11, and God used him in powerful ways for the good of the nation of Israel.

Kirk seemed to be suggesting that similarly then, even though Trump is a very morally flawed individual, we shouldn’t let that keep us from casting our vote for him in light of how God may use him for good, just as in the case of Samson.

I’m happy to concede that God can use whoever he wants for His good purposes, whether it’s Donald Trump, Samson, or the nation of Babylon. But the question of who to vote for seems to be a separate issue to me. If you’re convinced that the Democratic party is simply incongruent with Christian principles, and if you’re also convinced that you have to vote for one of two options, then I can certainly see Kirk’s reasoning. But clearly Christians did not have broad agreement. I suspect that someone like John Piper, who Kirk criticized, and who took some flak from the Christian right wing for his thoughts on Trump, refused to limit himself to just the two-party system.

If we’re going to use the Samson argument for Trump, the next logical question for me is not whether we might consider voting for a very morally flawed man for president, but whether there is any amount of moral failure or character flaws that ought to dissuade Christians from voting for a certain presidential candidate. Sadly, we can no longer pose that question to Kirk.