I have frequently commented on the embarrassing
display of support shown to Donald Trump by the self-proclaimed “Christian
Right”, or evangelical Christians. “Embarrassing”
isn’t even the right word to describe it.
Hypocritical is far better.
Nauseating, more accurate.
There have
been times when it felt to me like some in this camp have completely lost their
minds. The praise and admiration they openly
pour out upon their leader is appalling.
It borders on demagoguery. I
seriously have to question if Christians who not only support Trump but even
exalt him with the highest expressions of praise have, in fact, become
enraptured with one of the greatest false prophets of our day. I do not say this lightly. In fact, I say it with great
trepidation. There is something
disturbingly unholy about the support Trump manages to garner for himself. It is a support that is blind, unwavering,
and completely contradictory with what the Christian community has represented
for the past 2,000 years.
I want to
make it clear that I am not merely taking a political stance when I evaluate
this topic. I have no problem at all
admitting that I am not a Donald Trump supporter. I do not support his political agenda. But that is not what I am talking about
here. For the purposes of this article,
and the PeaceAbility project, I am
seeking to view this from a Christian perspective. My Christian perspective, to be blunt. In doing so I find it completely baffling to
see so many well-intentioned believers throw their most basic convictions aside
in order to praise Donald Trump. Good
grief, some of them actually seem to worship
the man! Yet in all that has taken place
over the last two and a half years since Trump was officially crowned the
Republican Presidential candidate at the convention in Cleveland, Ohio, the one
that really blew me away was when I recently read that former U.S.
Representative Michelle Bachmann openly praised Trump in the highest terms and
said, among other things, “He is highly biblical, and I would say
to your listeners, we will in all likelihood never see a more godly, biblical
president again in our lifetime.”*
Excuse me? Did I read that correctly? Donald Trump is the most godly, biblical
President we will likely see in our lifetime?
In what realm of reality? Or
should I say, according to which translation of the Bible? It would appear as if the former
Representative has written her own version of the Bible. I’ll call it the Bachmann Bogus Bible translation,
or BBB. Personally, I have many
different translations of the Bible in my library but I am very hard-pressed to
find any traits, values, morals or ethics in any of them that can be attributed
to Donald J. Trump.
For example, lets take a look at the Ten Commandments, which
are to be found in two locations (Exodus 20:1-17; Deuteronomy 5:1-20). The Ten Commandments are by no means the sum
total of righteous living or godly character, but they are a pretty good place
to start. Each Commandment I will
attempt to rate in Trump’s life using the following scale.
1.
Strong evidence supporting the “godly” claim
2.
Some evidence supporting the “godly” claim
3.
Its hard to say (or in other words, not much
evidence to support or deny)
4.
Some evidence to contradict the “godly” claim
5.
Strong evidence to contradict the “godly” claim
Admittedly I do not have any personal relationship with this
man. All I can use to make my deductions
are his very public statements. Its not
a scientific study! But then, Michelle
Bachmann is basically using the same evidence to make her claim. So here goes!
I.
You
shall have no other gods before me.
I certainly do not know what is in the heart of any man, least of all Donald Trump. But the man certainly does seem to be obsessed with money and with himself. These two topics dominate his discourse. I hear virtually nothing from him about God. Once when asked about his relationship with God as it pertains to forgiveness, Trump said he was "not sure" whether he ever asked God for forgiveness, stating "If I do something wrong, I just try and make it right. I don't bring God into that picture." 1
I certainly do not know what is in the heart of any man, least of all Donald Trump. But the man certainly does seem to be obsessed with money and with himself. These two topics dominate his discourse. I hear virtually nothing from him about God. Once when asked about his relationship with God as it pertains to forgiveness, Trump said he was "not sure" whether he ever asked God for forgiveness, stating "If I do something wrong, I just try and make it right. I don't bring God into that picture." 1
RATING:
4 Some evidence to deny the
claim. (He is at least a proclaimed
member of the Presbyterian Church, though the congregation he claims to be a
member of denies that he is an active member.)
II.
You shall not
make for yourself any idol….you shall not bow down and worship them.
This is a bit difficult to evaluate for most people, I suppose. Trump seems obsessed with owning the tallest buildings, the gaudiest decorations, and largest crowds. Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Idols need not be a physical object. 1 Samuel 15:23 equates arrogance with idolatry. Well, Trump is most certainly arrogant! He once said, “I have one of the great minds in history!” And again, in Colossians 3:5 “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.” The very things condemned as idolatry are strongly evident in Trump.
RATING: 5 Strong denial of claim
This is a bit difficult to evaluate for most people, I suppose. Trump seems obsessed with owning the tallest buildings, the gaudiest decorations, and largest crowds. Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Idols need not be a physical object. 1 Samuel 15:23 equates arrogance with idolatry. Well, Trump is most certainly arrogant! He once said, “I have one of the great minds in history!” And again, in Colossians 3:5 “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.” The very things condemned as idolatry are strongly evident in Trump.
RATING: 5 Strong denial of claim
III.
You shall not
take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
I will avoid this one since I have no real insight.
RATING: 3
I will avoid this one since I have no real insight.
RATING: 3
IV.
Remember the
Sabbath Day by keeping it holy.
There is no evidence that Trump attends church services regularly. But then, that is not what this means, in my opinion. Like the third commandment I feel this is too personal to rate.
RATING: 3
There is no evidence that Trump attends church services regularly. But then, that is not what this means, in my opinion. Like the third commandment I feel this is too personal to rate.
RATING: 3
V.
Honor your
father and your mother.
Again, this is too personal for me to rate.
RATING: 3
Again, this is too personal for me to rate.
RATING: 3
VI.
You shall not
murder.
Even though he bragged that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose any voters the fact remains he has never been accused of murder.
RATING: 1. Strongly supports claim
Even though he bragged that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose any voters the fact remains he has never been accused of murder.
RATING: 1. Strongly supports claim
VII.
You shall not
commit adultery.
While nothing has been proven in a court of law, the accusations of adultery abound. The payment of hush money could be interpreted as an admittance. Certainly his talk has indicated that he is guilty of adultery.
RATING: 5 Strongly denies claim
While nothing has been proven in a court of law, the accusations of adultery abound. The payment of hush money could be interpreted as an admittance. Certainly his talk has indicated that he is guilty of adultery.
RATING: 5 Strongly denies claim
VIII.
You shall not
steal.
There have been many claims of Trump stiffing contractors and not paying his bills. His businesses have declared bankruptcy six times. By his own admission he has used this tool to avoid paying his debtors. It may be legal according to civil law, but in my opinion this is nothing more than theft from a moral, spiritual perspective.
RATING: 5 Strongly denies claim
There have been many claims of Trump stiffing contractors and not paying his bills. His businesses have declared bankruptcy six times. By his own admission he has used this tool to avoid paying his debtors. It may be legal according to civil law, but in my opinion this is nothing more than theft from a moral, spiritual perspective.
RATING: 5 Strongly denies claim
IX.
You shall not
bear false witness against your neighbor.
We are talking about a man who routinely lies. Whether he simply makes up his own “alternative facts” (which are no facts at all) or tells false stories about his rivals and opponents, Donald Trump is a disgusting liar. Just a few examples: the Obama birther conspiracy theory; his claim of thousands of Muslims celebrating in Jersey City on 9/11; “Puerto Rico got $91 billion for the hurricane, more money than has ever been gotten for a hurricane before”; the attendance at his inauguration; and far too many others to list!
Add to this the findings of the Mueller Report and its abundance evidence of lying and deception, and this becomes an easy one to rate.
RATING: 5 Strongly denies claim
We are talking about a man who routinely lies. Whether he simply makes up his own “alternative facts” (which are no facts at all) or tells false stories about his rivals and opponents, Donald Trump is a disgusting liar. Just a few examples: the Obama birther conspiracy theory; his claim of thousands of Muslims celebrating in Jersey City on 9/11; “Puerto Rico got $91 billion for the hurricane, more money than has ever been gotten for a hurricane before”; the attendance at his inauguration; and far too many others to list!
Add to this the findings of the Mueller Report and its abundance evidence of lying and deception, and this becomes an easy one to rate.
RATING: 5 Strongly denies claim
X.
You shall not
covet…
Again, this is challenging to measure. Between his narcissism, his arrogance, his bullying and intimidation, and his general lust for outdoing everyone else in just about every way, I must conclude that this person is obsessed with coveting whatever his heart desires. After observing a large military parade in France Trump demanded that he wants a huge military parade as well.
RATING: 5 Strongly denies claim
Again, this is challenging to measure. Between his narcissism, his arrogance, his bullying and intimidation, and his general lust for outdoing everyone else in just about every way, I must conclude that this person is obsessed with coveting whatever his heart desires. After observing a large military parade in France Trump demanded that he wants a huge military parade as well.
RATING: 5 Strongly denies claim
By totaling these ratings I come up with 39. That represents an average of 3.9, or
basically a 4 (Some evidence to deny the “godly, biblical” claim). The only reason it is not a full pledge 5
(Strong evidence to deny) is the fact that some of these Commandments simply
cannot be measured under these conditions due to their personal nature. However, I can say with confidence that Michelle
Bachmann’s insane claim says more about her than it does about her President. And what is says is not flattering!
So there you have it. Just based
on the Ten Commandments there is no way one can conclude that Donald J. Trump “is highly biblical, and … we will in all
likelihood never see a more godly, biblical president again in our lifetime.”
Unless, perhaps, you are using the BACHMANN
BOGUS BIBLE.
G. D. Gehr
April 19, 2019
*as quoted in the Huffington Post, at https://www.huffpost.com/entry/michele-bachmann-godly-trump_n_5cb5697fe4b098b9a2d91706
1 Wikipedia
No comments:
Post a Comment