All one has to do is google Trump Evangelicals to find the myriad justifications why conservative evangelical Christians are not only OK with Trump but enthusiastically endorse him for POTUS. Probably the most noted is that of James Dobson. Another display of the twisted logic/theology for supporting Trump comes from Wayne Grudem who goes so far as to explain "Why Voting for Donald Trump is a Morally Good Choice." Warren Throckmorton, among others, has outlined why Grudem is deviant.
Since I have some relatives who I consider to be conservative evangelical Christians, and since I have no clue as to how any serious Christian can support Trump, I asked the question - "Why is it that so many conservative evangelicals support Trump?" I was not too surprised to hear that no "true" evangelical would support Trump. Here is the response:
To answer your question in five words, Good Doctor, there is no Biblical justification: The majority of people who consider themselves fundamentalist, Bible-believing evangelicals are simply not that religious. A person may believe in the Bible as the unerring word of God, six day creation, Adam and Eve, forbidden fruit and fall of man, virgin birth, atoning death on the cross, resurrection, salvation, the rapture, and Tribulation, but still vote for liberals, believe in abortion, fornicate, get divorced, and hate with a passion. In other words, there is not much that distinguishes them from nonbelievers. So, despite Trump’s track record of liberal beliefs and non-Christian lifestyle, they can ignore that and get behind him as a leader who will “make American great again.”
I guess you could chalk it up to hypocrisy, but I think it goes beyond that. There is some kind of disconnect or self-delusion, and definite ignorance of the Bible going on. For example, Matthew 7:14 states “Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” That tells me that if your path is not difficult, you are not much of a Christian. I know of a woman who goes to church every Sunday and sings in the choir. On the surface she is a model Christian. However, that same Christian, before she married her second husband, was promiscuous. Her logic was, “We are all sinners, God forgives our sins, therefore God forgives my fornication.” Rinse and repeat. Her mind blocked out the part of genuine repentance and forsaking the sin, i.e. the difficult part. Those kinds of Christians have their cake and eat it, too. They are church attenders and not serious Christians.
A fundamentalist, Bible-believing evangelical who knows the Bible and takes it seriously would have grave reservations about voting for Trump. Trump stated during the campaign that he believes in Planned Parenthood, which receives taxpayer subsidy. If he is elected President, will he sign a bill that funds Planned Parenthood? Or will he wait for a bill that defunds it? I would not vote for him on the basis of his support for Planned Parenthood without evidence that as President he would defund it.
I know the alternative sounds much worse than Trump, but so be it. The country is in steep decline and no President is going to reverse that. However, we cannot forget that no matter what, in good times and bad, God is in control. We may have a financial collapse that, at long last, forces the states to step up and regain their sovereignty. How I would love to hear Texas (or Indiana) tell the Supreme Court to go to hell. “We Hoosiers will decide whether or not we want abortion or same-sex marriage. You Supreme Court justices can stick your opinions where the sun don’t shine!”
If the money runs out, certain states will be in great position for self-sufficiency while others will flounder. Maybe Hillary would be the better choice to propel us in that direction and rid us of the Federal Leviathan. She would bring about the collapse of the Federal government that would at long last restore the principles upon which this country was founded, as promulgated by the conservative states.
On the other hand, that may not be in the cards at all. We may simply be continuing our descent into the chaos preceding the Great Tribulation. That is the outcome I’m more inclined to believe. And for now, the decision for President from this “fundamentalist, Bible-believing evangelical” is “none of the above.”
17 comments:
Wow, Doc! You've got some very smart relatives!
Yes I do Bizzy - but this may not be one of them!! :-)
Lol! Are you saying there may be some unbelievably stupid ones also?
As opposed to evangelicals, maybe you could post a blog on the New Religion. It could go like this: “The New Religion is based on egalitarianism, multiculturalism, and anti-racism. The last part is an outgrowth of the first two. The internal logic of the New Religion excludes narrowness of opinion of any sort, such as is exhibited by Bible-believing Christians. All humans are equal, to the point where sex is even counted as a social construct. Therefore, no one can be morally better than another. Since culture is personality writ large and all personalities are equal, all cultures are equal. Anything short of embracing all cultures equally is racism. That means all the people who oppose the one-world globalism of our elites can only be driven by racism. They are evil so they must be fought at any cost.”
In other words, those who embrace the New Religion believe that anyone who does not think like they do is a racist. My response to that is, “Don’t confuse me with someone who gives a shit.”
No no Bizzy! I am just saying that they are all smart! But smart does not equate with either wisdom or common sense :-)
JS - might have to consider your suggestion; I have a hard time with the idea that things like "science" or "evolution" or similar subjects are labeled by some as a religion. Looking at the standard definitions, I suppose you could make such claims using the most general definition of religion:
the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods.
"ideas about the relationship between science and religion"
synonyms: faith, belief, worship, creed; More
a particular system of faith and worship.
plural noun: religions
"the world's great religions"
a pursuit or interest to which someone ascribes supreme importance.
"consumerism is the new religion"
I kinda thought that's what you were saying, DES, but wasn't sure. Thanks for clearing that up!
Agree, Douglas E. New Religion is probably more an ideology than a religion. However, the article I plagiarized from called it a New Religion. Another article states, "Religions focus on answering the world-view including afterlife and other things that are not in the materialistic world, whereas most ideologies focus on providing a world-view about the materialistic world." Makes sense to me. Now if the author of New Religion had stated the ideology is "of the devil" and its practitioners will "spend eternity separated from God," then maybe it would pass the religion definition test. Lol!
Maybe the point is moot as to whether or not Bible believing Christians should vote for Trump, but they definitely should not vote for the Christian-hating Lizard Queen.
http://spectator.org/a-little-good-news-for-the-donald/
A madman or a criminal - take your pick!! I think that I will write in myself :-)
There were Peyton Manning fans who became Denver Broncos fans due to Peyton being the team quarterback. Now that he is gone, will those fans continue to root for Denver?
JW - a bit off topic, but a very good question! You should ask some of the cousins from Indiana - they switched with Peyton, but my guess is that they are back to being Colt fans.
Puke! I quit being a Colts fan when Jim Irsay inherited the team. Never was there a more undeserving owner. Though I did like the players. I think it was 2009 when the Colts had an excellent shot at a perfect season. And Bill Polian decided to lose the last two or three games to "rest" his starters for the playoffs. It was a home game against the Jets, Colts ahead, and at halftime, the starters were pulled and the Colts lost the game. That did not go over well with the fans. Jim Irsay, you are an ignorant slut! (As Dan Aykroyd would say.) It certainly demoralized the players. They didn't go anywhere in the playoffs and lost a chance to make true history. There are many more Super Bowl winners then there are perfect season winners. BTW, I will still root for the Broncos.
I heard at one time the Broncos were after "Oh say can you knee" Colon (sic) Kaepernick. Lol!
Indeed, Irsay is a certified idiot; and many Bronco folks are most happy the Kaepernick deal did not work out!
Oops! No longer a Denver Broncos fan. Player Brandon Marshall took a knee during the National Anthem and the cowardly coach let it slide by not benching him. If the Broncos think it is okay for team members to let the world know they think our country stinks, then screw them. What other country could that low-life go to have the kind of life he has here?
BB - just a couple of things:
Guess you were never really a Broncos fan - this if football, not politics! You know well that it is a business, a dirty one at that, and an organization would employ all felons if they thought it would bring them a championship. They employ enough thugs the way it is.
Not even sure what Marshall and the others think that they are going to accomplish - nothing positive as far as I can tell. Rather than protesting, they should be giving impassioned speeches about discrimination and bias in the USA. Hard for them to do since most are not particularly articulate, and it is predominantly white folk who are making them multimillionaires because they are gifted in a way that our idiotic society rewards.
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