Do the ends justify the means with Donald Trump?

Do the ends justify the means with Donald Trump? That’s a pretty general question, so let’s tighten it up a bit. I was watching a BBC program called Hard Talk yesterday. The host (generally) has controversial figures from around the world and asks, obviously, hard questions.

Yesterday, the guest was Senator Lindsey Graham. The question to him was, do the ends justify the means when it comes to Donald Trump? The answer – yes. He said that Republicans may not like some of the things he does, but he gets good results. So yes – in Graham’s mind, and in many other minds – Trump’s means do justify the means.

So here’s my question. For a Christian, should the ends justify the means with Donald Trump? Notice, I wrote should, not do. Truth be told, for many Christians, Trump’s ends do justify the means. But should they?

The distinction is critical. It should matter to Christians, since we should be trying to live like Jesus taught us. Beyond that, the way we live also, for better or for worse, is an example to others that they use to judge Christianity. Like when we, as the image indicates, cover up sense with nonsense. The kind of nonsense that says Trump’s ends do justify his means.

Where in the Bible, especially in the New Testament, do we ever read that? Hint – we don’t. Maybe we convince ourselves it’s in there. But really, it’s not.