We've all been puzzled and confused at times, have we not?  This morning, however, I was especially so.  I read the results of a highly respected Pew Research poll which indicates that nearly eighty percent of white evangelicals intend to vote for Donald Trump in the November U.S. presidential election.  Forty-five percent of these add that they "mainly" intend to vote for Trump as a vote against Hillary Clinton.
     As one who considers himself a white evangelical, I'm stunned.  Donald Trump has waged one of the most racist, xenophobic, and mysogynist campaigns in American history. He has derided disabled people, bragged about his private parts, ostracized reporters, encouraged attacks on those opposing him, and in words that should trouble every evangelical heart, professed that he never needs to ask God for forgiveness.
     Huh?  It seems that the evangelicals who intend to vote for Trump are being far more pragmatic and utilitarian than they ought.  They are elevating what they deem to be practical over what is really real and true.  If they hope for America to be "great again"--whatever this means--evangelicals should focus not so much on the alleged abilities, promises, or the relative good (as they see it) of a candidate, but rather on his or her methods, lifestyle, and character.  As Jesus put it so well in Luke 12, "What if you gain the world but lose your soul?"
     One day, one day many years away, the world will end.  The soul, however, will not.  It will last for eternity.
     What's more important?