The Moral Spine

A Christian Framework for Objective Morality.

Is Donald Trump evil?

To provide an answer, we must first define evil. Doing so requires a moral framework. This is what gives orientation to good and evil, and without one the terms become meaningless.

There is a tendency to assume objective good and evil without considering how we justify our claims. Rushing past this critical first step prevents anything that follows from rising out of the swamp of subjectivity.

If a moral framework is based on an individual's preferences, every moral claim reduces to some version of "I approve or disapprove," "I like or dislike," or "I don't care." These statements may reveal passion or politics, but they say nothing of truth.

Some attempt to rely on a general "greater good" to ground their claims. This view trades on a vague consensus among a nebulously defined segment of a population. Certain actions are deemed more or less beneficial and others more or less harmful. But the need for justification remains unfulfilled. What makes one thing beneficial and another harmful? Beneficial to who? And how did beneficial and harmful, or any other standard, become the measure for good and evil in the first place?

An appeal is sometimes made to brute facts. This can take the form of insisting that murder is wrong simply because it obviously is. But this merely outsources justification to a majority or a select group of influential thinkers. It amounts to nothing more than "them" throwing a dart instead of us. Objectivity remains elusive. Calling something a brute fact, no matter who agrees or approves, does not make it objective or true.

A further problem is that borrowing morality in this way creates an environment where norms cannot be questioned. Conformity becomes the standard. Conformity becomes the moral law. And as Emerson wrote, conformity of this kind makes a man "not false in a few particulars, authors of a few lies, but false in all particulars. His every truth is not quite true. His two is not the real two, his four not the real four."

If, however, morality is grounded in something outside of opinions and personal experience, moral claims can be objectively true. We are after objective reality as a foundation.

There is an epistemological challenge here. The relevant question becomes, "How do we know what we claim to know?" Christianity offers the internally consistent solution of divine revelation from God the creator to His creation, and so provides precisely what is needed to understand objective reality, while also providing a foundation for objective morality.

I do not say all this to dismiss all other forms of morality with a wave of a hand, only to highlight a crucial, central quality of the Christian moral framework.

From a Christian perspective, morality is objective because it is grounded in the very nature of God and His purpose for creation. We can know it through divine revelation as revealed by Scripture and through the Holy Spirit. From this framework the question of whether Donald Trump is evil or not can be meaningfully answered.

The truth of the verdict depends on Christianity being true. One could argue that is an assumption and amounts to positing a brute fact of a different flavor. A host of counter arguments are available to support the truth of Christianity. The Moral Argument states that without the Christian God as the ultimate foundation, the very existence of objective morality and our ability to know it is not possible.

The Moral Argument is not our focus. A more extensive treatment of it is beyond the scope of this essay.

Here, we will outline a biblically rooted framework of objective morality and provide an answer to the proposed question.

Psalm 89:14 begins, ,"Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne." This gives us a first principle: a Christian perspective requires the view that evil is real and significant. Righteousness means being morally right and justice is righteousness expressed in action. If there were no evil, righteousness would lose its meaning and justice would become indifferent action. Instead, they are presented as foundations to the rule of God.

God’s purpose for his creation is the next crucial aspect of the framework. Isaiah 43:7 is one of the more explicit depictions of this purpose, "Everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made."

For my glory.

We must understand glory in order to get any further. Glory in Scripture is not about God wanting or needing fame or external validation. This is not an ego stroking command. In the original Hebrew the term used is kabod and refers to the weight or significance intrinsic to God. In Greek doxa is used, which refers to radiance or splendor. Neither of these definitions point to something God receives. Instead, they portray glory as the culmination of all that God is. Our purpose, the reason all of existence including man was created, is to reflect, embody and participate in God's glory, or His nature.

Now we have the Moral Spine: the nature of God grounds the purpose of man, the purpose of man grounds the moral framework, the framework grounds the meanings of good and evil. Only with those pieces in place can we answer the question of whether Donald Trump is evil.

Let's look at the nature of God. While we cannot fully articulate it, Scripture offers clear signposts.

God is holy, meaning morally pure and set apart. Scripture tells us to, "Be holy, for I am holy."

God is righteous. His commands are perfectly consistent with his character, not arbitrary whims.

God is truth, He is faithful. Truth here means more than accurate speech. It refers to holistic integrity. Every act is a reflection of His nature.

And God is love. This is incredibly significant. Love is presented as a selfless desire for the good of another.

Earlier we saw only the first half of Psalm 89:14. The full verse reads: "Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne: love and faithfulness go before you." The two concepts of righteousness/justice and love/mercy are often seen together in Scripture. In Micah we are told to do justice and love mercy. In Hosea we are told He will betroth us forever in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. A chiastic reading of the beatitudes in the beginning of Matthew 5 places hunger and thirst for righteousness and showing mercy rooted in love at the center of His message on the kingdom of heaven.

But here in Psalm 89, we see a specific relationship between the two. Righteousness is foundational and love flows from that foundation. This adds important context to biblical love: it is not simply being nice or making another person feel good. Its foundation is righteousness. Love is not always pleasing, but it is always seeking what’s truly best for the other person.

Holy, Righteous, Truth, Love.

These qualities point to the nature of God. Our purpose is to embody that nature. With this as our foundation, the moral framework takes shape.

Greg Bahnsen, a presuppositional apologist and theologian, illustrated the framework as a triangle with its three vertices being standards, objectives, and motives.

The objective, or purpose, of human life is the glory of God. This is to be the ultimate goal of everything we do.

The standard is God’s law. There is substantial debate over how particular Old Testament laws apply today. One view emphasizes the underlying structure of these laws. This structure moves the unclean to cleanliness and the clean to holiness through sanctification in something of an ascending ladder or staircase. It also warns of profane acts that move an individual down from holy to unclean. The tension is between whether this structure is mapped to the specifics of the situation and environment in which one lives, or if the laws are to be applied literally. That even David ate the food reserved for priests and had his men gather grain on the Sabbath supports the former interpretation.

Finally, the motives point on the triangle examines why we pursue God's glory and why we obey God’s law. If we obey the law to gain recognition, or if our objective is the glory of God, but for our own benefit, even the "right" acts lead us to corruption rather than holiness.

This triangle represents the moral framework which allows us to clearly define evil. A life lived according to God's law, with the objective of God's glory, motivated by love rooted in righteousness for God and others is good.

So what is evil?

Augustine saw evil as privation. Evil is every turning away from that good. Wrong motives, wrong objectives, and wrong actions are evil. In Genesis, Eve turns from God’s command. Wrong action. She sees the fruit is pleasing to the eye, good for food and desirable for knowledge. Her motives and objectives shifted from love and God’s glory to her own, selfish interests. This is the pattern for all evil. Evil is not merely a matter of isolated actions we disapprove of, but a turning away from the nature of God.

Donald Trump can now be measured by this objective moral framework.

Many recoil at this point citing, "Judge not, lest ye be judged." But Jesus’ words are not a command against moral discernment. They are a warning against hypocritical judgments that measure others by man made, subjective standards. When we judge by the objective framework founded in God’s own character, the command is precisely the opposite. Matthew 7:16, "By their fruit you will recognize them."

Still, though we may discern a person by their fruit, only God sees the heart in full. Our perception is limited and clouded by sin, media, and our own biases.

So where does this leave us with Donald Trump?

Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Standing beneath that fear, and within the objective framework Scripture gives us, we may say without hesitation that Donald Trump has borne evil fruit persistently and publicly.

The vindictive spirit he displayed at Charlie Kirk’s memorial service with the declaration, "He [Kirk] did not hate his opponents. He wanted the best for them. That’s where I disagreed with Charlie. I hate my opponent and I don’t want the best for them," is not an isolated rhetorical jab. It exemplifies a tone that has been on display throughout decades of speeches, books, interviews, and now on social media. As a leader, his words do not merely reflect private sin. They lead millions to admire vengeance, pride, and to direct praise to man rather than to God.

That is evil fruit.

We need not wade into salacious rumors or contested accusations.

Yet this same framework that exposes objective evil condemns us all.

Psalm 14:2-3 tells us plainly, "The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one."

And as Athanasius wrote, our persistent turning from God left Him with the Divine Dilemma. To abandon His fallen creation would be to deny his loving nature. To overlook the corruption would be to contradict His righteousness. God resolved the dilemma Himself. He became man so that He might bear the cost in our place and raise us back to the glory for which we were made. That redemption is offered freely, even to the most public, persistent, and proud sinners.

The conclusion is not a sentimental "we’re all flawed." Christianity does not say, "everyone is evil, so it doesn't matter." It provides the framework for objective evil, acknowledges our failure, and states that through an act of God's loving nature, not our works, we may be justly redeemed.

This framework provides a clear, apolitical, objective answer: Donald Trump is evil, but not uniquely so.


Word count: 1991
Prompt: Is Donald Trump Evil?