[WideRight05]

Well I'll tell ya. The only thing that scares me about Trump is whether or not he is pro abortion and gay rights, or anti abortion and gay rights. I will never knowingly vote for any candidate who is of the 'pro' stance.

If he has in fact changed his mind about the moral arguments, and has adopted an actual conservative view, then I'm ok with that. Trump says he has changed his mind and I don't think we should necessarily dismiss that out of hand. That exact thing happened to Reagan, though not to the extent some imagine. At the same time Reagan matured and moderated his positions, the Dems were moving notably to the left. That's when Reagan changed his party affiliation, something he gets slammed for even today. The exact same thing has happened to anybody who tries to make amends for something done wrong, or anybody who has gone down on his knees before the Living God. It's called repentance and it is something of which I'm all about. If there were not something on the order of 12 candidates still standing, maybe we would have heard more debating on such issues. Surely that situation will rectify itself soon, because I for one would like to hear the matter put forth clearly. And then I would like to hear a clear answer.

Do I think Trump is a Christian? Mine is not to judge. I would however, take a guy still in the throes of working his way to Christian enlightenment any day and twice on Sunday, over a Clinton or a Sanders. Frankly, the candidate who seems to 'get it' would have to be Cruz, and he is ahead or tied with Trump in the Iowa polls. As Hoot has pointed out, this election is likely in the bag for Republicans and I just don't see how any of the also-rans have a shot at the front running Trump and Cruz. Just ask yourself this though, if one were in the booth with the curtain drawn and he had to make a choice between Cruz and Trump, who would likely get the vote?

I am convinced that the right man is one of those two and yet, I hear people on every side saying neither one of them could be elected. At some point a man just has to go with the dictates of his own heart, because you're going to hear the opposing sides of every issue proclaimed boldly, as if the truth were obviously on their side. Ironically, that brings us back to answering your question. Usually the wrong candidate speaks clearly enough that he is easily identified, but even if a candidate seems to have every possible answer, and yet advocates for abortion & gay rights, he's a goner in my book. So, sooner or later Trump will have to convince all evangelicals where he stands, or Ted Cruz is going to trump him. :biggrin:

I agree with you that even though Trump has a questionable past when it comes to the issues we should still keep an open mind (not in the liberal sense but in the actual sense haha!) to his ideas and be receptive if we see that he really has switched his position on moral issues. If everything shows Trump actually has made a big change, if we aren't receptive to that then we shouldn't be receptive to Paul who killed people prior to changing and writing several books in The Bible.

Any new Christian eager to learn more about God and is not afraid to speak out for His Son would be a better presidential candidate than Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. If Donald Trump really is a Christian or not, that's tough to determine and as you mentioned, it shouldn't be our determination. Based on everything I have seen with Trump, there are times that I feel good about him but other times I don't trust him. I've gone back and forth with it. Cruz has been my favorite for close to a couple of years now, I can't see that changing because of his consistency. However, if Trump were to win the nomination he would have my vote. Definitely don't want to see Clinton or Sanders become the POTUS.

Take note that I didn't listen to his full speech at Liberty University Monday but I caught some early parts, my concern wasn't the Bible verse that he supposedly misquoted (2 Corinthians...2nd Corinthians...the media criticizing his wording of that was silly). It was that he (1) did a good job bringing up Christian persecution overseas, but (2) didn't focus a whole lot on what is going on here with the bakers, florists, and most recently a business owner in NY was fined for refusing to host a same-sex "wedding."

TRT, I'll tell you what I'll do - you know more about what to look for than I do, I will post below all the positives and negatives relating to what I have heard from him and you can let me know your thoughts.

Positive

1. Said that he would be the best representative Christians have had in a long time.
2. Even when he was pro-choice, he stated that he hated the concept of abortion.
3. A lot more attentive than the current administration as to the Christian persecution overseas.
4. Is not afraid of being labeled a bigot, hater, etc. (although I wish he would take on some of the LGBT groups).
5. Has spoken highly of leaders such as Tony Perkins or Jerry Falwell, Jr.
6. Did speak at the Values Voter Summit, although I'm pretty sure I saw the speech, he focused mainly on economy and immigration.
7. Has consistently addressed the problem of our political correctness and the decline of our society.
8. He's not bought and paid for. Thus, it's unlikely we will see him cave as Mike Pence and other Indiana lawmakers did with the Indiana RFRA.

Negative

1. When watching one of his interviews on the topic, he did state that he was a believer in traditional marriage. When asked if he supported civil unions, he said that nobody in his administration would be discriminated against, hinting that he did.
2. While illegal immigration and the economy are big priorities, he has rarely mentioned the slaughter of over 55 million innocent unborn babies.
3. Considered by some to be the most LGBT "friendly" Republican.
4. LGBT activist George Takei tried to convince him to change his views on marriage over lunch. Trump attended a "wedding" prior to meeting with Takei and told Takei it was a "beautiful marriage." Takei said that Trump agreed to disagree on it, but seemed to think that Trump didn't believe in it himself and was using it to cater to the Republicans - he's a good businessman and needs to pander to his base. Takei didn't think Trump would have any problem holding "weddings" in his hotels, restaurants, etc.
5. When defending issues such as abortion or marriage redefinition, Trump repeatedly states his position but struggles to formulate an argument to defend himself. He quickly tries to dodge the topic. If he approaches these two issues with the mentality he approaches illegal immigration in building a wall (another issue we supposedly didn't have a lot of support for) he would likely change some minds.
6. Given that he has been divorced three times, defending traditional marriage will be difficult for him.
7. When speaking about Christians he brings up topics such as persecution overseas or the war on Christmas. Topics that a majority of people can agree on. He avoids a lot of the controversial topics.
8. If he will turn on Ted Cruz, he will likely turn on anybody.
9. He mentions growing up listening to Norman Vincent Van Peele. He wrote The Power of Positive Thinking. I don't know a great deal about him. I never was big on denominations until recently, but I am heavily questioning of the Episcopal (who was just suspended by the Anglican Church for 3 years), Presbyterian (Where Trump comes from), and especailly the United Church of Christ, all three of which have fallen into liberal worldviews.

That's what I've gathered so far and I'm sure I'm leaving out a point or two.