After the election, Donald Trump supporters said we needed to get to know the reasons why people supported him — that we shouldn’t just assume that racism was the reason. For several weeks now, I have been trying to do
After the election, Donald Trump supporters said we needed to get to know the reasons why people supported him — that we shouldn’t just assume that racism was the reason. For several weeks now, I have been trying to do that with a particular slice of the group. I’m asking Trump-supporting Christians on social media to show biblical proof that Trump’s actions and behavior are in accordance with the teachings of Christ — teachings which they claim to hold dear.
I’ve gotten nothing but static and silence. I firmly believe that people need to be held accountable for their choices. At the very least, they need to be made to reflect upon their choices and any dissonance with their deeply held beliefs. Voting is an important duty which carries a huge responsibility with it, and I am tired of people treating it irresponsibly, like it is some kind of trivial game.
If Christian Trump supporters want to continue making the argument that their religious beliefs guided their choice, that Trump is doing the will of God in accordance with the teachings of Christ, and that the country should generally share their beliefs and promote their Christian viewpoints, then should they not be able to explain what teaching(s) of Christ lend support to any of that?
This should be a trivial exercise. It should just roll right off the tongue and mind effortlessly, as these people have the scriptures memorized in nice weaponized chunks already, and they’ve already claimed Christian guidance here.
Christians are specifically called upon to spread the word. Wholly uncharacteristic of me, I have been asking them to do so to provide the biblical proof to support their convictions in regards to Trump. It seems that when it suits them, and you aren’t interested in listening to it, they will quote scripture ad nauseum. When you ask them to do it to back up their choices and behavior, you may as well be a carrier of the plague. I know this offends them to no end, but if they aren’t going to be honest about such an important issue, their views are completely without merit, and I am far more offended that such views would be used to select the leader of the free world.
The golden rule, the good Samaritan parable, and the admonition about it being easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God all seem to be in crystal clear diametric opposition to the policies and behavior of Donald Trump.
I don’t believe for one second that Christ is looking at what is going on right now with favor — habitual lying is not what I recall Christ ever teaching. Trump-supporting Christians should all be concerned about this because of the well-known end result in their own belief system. Is there a sin that will not be forgiven? Is there not a widely spoken of danger of falling for the lies of a master deceiver?
Have people just fallen for the ultimate deceit? If this discussion is not happening in houses of Christian worship, then these houses of worship are abject failures. Trump-supporting Christians should be doing some serious soul searching right now. Supposedly, many of the “elect” will be deceived.
So I am posing the challenge here in the hopes I will get an answer, and maybe a discussion and some introspection can begin: Give me at least one scriptural example of Christ’s teachings which support what has happened over the last four weeks, and the direction that this country will be taken if Trump continues along this path.
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Michael Mann is a resident of Lihue.
