**P.S. I originally had titled this "the end of evangelical politics"..... that works too
No matter how hard I try to stay away from this election, I keep getting sucked back in..... and lately there has been a rash of insane posts from Trump apologists that has my head spinning. Someone has to speak up, and since I am blunt enough to do it, I shall.
I have never been more ashamed in my life to be a Republican.
And I have never been more ashamed in my life to be an evangelical Christian.
I know.....if you aren't for Trump, people want you to be quiet. I never had anyone get after me for saying things about Obama and the Clintons. No one ever said I was trying to de-Christianize people who voted for and supported Obama..... yet I am getting accused of that for daring to stand against the insane comments from evangelical Christians and for daring to say a Christian should not vote for and support the man.
If you read this next statement and aren't bothered by it, you should be worried: A friend of mine has some atheist friends who are extremely bothered by Christians supporting and defending Donald Trump. They know what he is like. They also know and have seen how we have stood against liberal politicians for the same things we are defending and supporting in Trump. One of these atheists said she never wants to hear a Christian say anything about morality again after so many are voting for, defending, and supporting Trump. And she can't be the only one.
Donald Trump has been compared to David, since David committed adultery........ but David repented and didn't brag about it, nor did he do it again.
Several people are sharing a piece by a conservative preacher on comparing God using Sampson to Trump.....God must have held His nose to use Sampson, so we should hold ours and vote for Trump......which is also ludicrous. Sampson suffered greatly for not obeying God, and sacrificed his life to take out the Philistines.... I can't imagine Trump sacrificing anything, especially his life.
Trump has also been compared to Esther. That one doesn't even deserve a rebuttal.
And others keep saying God has chosen Trump, and He is God's man for this time.
Last night, a faculty member of a conservative Bible college posted on Facebook asking how we can face our kids when they ask us years from now why we didn't stop Hillary by voting for Trump. He asked what kind of witness it is to our unsaved friends if we don't attempt to stop Hillary by voting for Trump.
And he isn't the only one. Any Christian daring to take a stand and not fall in line with the Republican party and vote for their very horrible candidate is being vilified. We are being told we are wrong, and hint that we are sinning for not voting for Trump. We are told we are too holy to get our hands dirty and vote for him.
Quote from a friend:
"It's one thing to vote for Trump. A lot of people are and I'm like "Whatever" about that. People have their reasons. What I have a huge problem with is that they are putting those of us who have thought and prayed through this and have come to another decision down. I've even seen people say that those of us who won't vote for him are being legalistic."
The same friend also referenced a couple posts by some very conservative preachers, and said this:
"How is it that we are taught by pastors to live carefully and not tarnish our consciences, but then are are vilified for doing so? I feel like there is a double standard."
I don't care who votes for Trump at this point. Some of my family most likely will....... but don't try to justify it and try to shame others to do it also. So you feel you can vote for him as a Christian.... fine..... many others do not feel that way.... and please don't defend him and his lifestyle and actions.
Another friend of mine posted this recently:
"An apologist I know recently cast his vote for Trump. What is different from his vote and many others is that he hated it and wept over the decision. He saw this decision as horrible no matter how you cut it and saw the decision as being harmful to America no matter what.
I won't vote for Trump, but those who are trying to convince me to vote for him would get a better hearing if they truly wept and hated this decision rather than accuse those of us who can't vote for him as helping Hillary."
To say and infer that our Christian witness is going to be hurt if we don't vote for Trump in an attempt to stop Hillary is a complete loss of reason, and is a lie. If anything is going to hurt our Christian witness, the church, and the name of Jesus Christ, it is going to be the Christians defending Trump and loudly telling other Christians they must do the same.
The world watches us.
They know we believed Bill Clinton's accusers and called him out loudly for his misogyny and immorality. (and other liberal politicians)
They know we oppose homosexuality and gay marriage.
They know we completely oppose abortion.
They know we are against vulgarity and bullying.
And then they watch as Christian after Christian defend those same things in Trump. They watch as his accusers are mocked and doubted. They watch as we defend and support a man they know a Christian should not be supporting, and are only doing so because he is wearing the team jersey. They know what the religious right has stood against and for all of these years, and they know we are tossing it all aside to support and vote for Donald Trump.
They know we hold everything in a Democrat's past against them, but chirp "judge not!" and "all have sinned!" when it comes to Trump.
And yet, there are people claiming that we will hurt our Christian witness if we DON'T vote for Trump? It is like we are living in an alternate reality where bad is good and good is bad, where people taking the same stand they always have are berated and condemned by others who previously took that stand.
In our desperation to stop Hillary Clinton from being president, we have lowered our principles so low that I don't know if we could go any lower. We have made a mockery out of everything Christians stand for, and of serving Jesus Christ.
We have shown the world that Christians are no different after all from them when it comes to voting and politics.
They know if Donald Trump was running as a Democrat, the same people defending him would be shocked and disgusted by him and his life.
We have shown that morality is relative, and not set in stone after all.
We have shown we are fine with evil, as long as we can look at another evil as worse.
We have proven that Christians and conservatives can have a double standard and not care.
We have proven that character doesn't really matter to us after all.
We have proven that fear of a candidate will cause us to act in ways and do things we never would have done otherwise.
How can we oppose gay marriage/homosexuality, and then support the things in Trump that we have. (And I say "we" as Christians in general).
How can we be outraged about the immorality all around us if we have defended it in Donald Trump?
How can we say prostitution and sex trafficking are evil, if we have no problem with DT owning a strip club?
How can we be opposed to pornography if we have no issue with DT and his wife being in porn?
How can we claim to be any better than liberals and Democrats after this election?
How can we dare find fault in anything a liberal does after chirping "judge not!" and "we all have sinned" about Donald Trump?
Oh I know, we all have sinned....... but yet why do these same Trump apologists never say that about Hillary or other Democrats? Why is it OK and expected to fault Democrats, but not Republicans? If we only see the bad and call it out in Democrats, and excuse it in Republicans.....then we definitely have a double standard and are hypocrites. Too blunt? Too honest?
If Donald Trump should somehow win - and I don't believe that he will - we may keep our freedoms intact, our gun laws may not be affected, and he may actually carry through on putting conservative judges on the Supreme Court (I doubt it).... but what will we truly have gained, and what will we have lost? Will it truly be worth tossing out values, morals, and principles to defeat Hillary?
And what will we accept in the next candidate? Can we go any lower than Donald Trump? Do the people supporting him have a threshold that they will hit and have to back off from voting for and supporting the Republican candidate, or will they just keep lowering the bar until they some day vote for someone just like Hillary just to stop the Democrat?
Any time you post things like this, you run the risk of people pointing a finger at you and saying you're not perfect... and I'm not. When I posted something about Trump's wife being in porn, someone from my church messaged me and read me the riot act. "it is in the past", "I'd think you'd understand with your past", etc....not sure what she thinks she knows about me, but I was definitely never in porn........ :)
And again, these same people are OK with the sins of Democrats being pointed out and focused on, just not the man who got the GOP nomination. His wearing the team jersey makes everything about him OK.
In closing, I am not a better person or Christian for taking a stand against Trump. Any Christian reading this believes there are certain things Christians should not do...... and if they don't, they need serious help........ :) - well, this is something I and many others believe a Christian shouldn't do.... and yes, we #nevertrumpers haven't always shown the best attitudes, but I have apologized for that and am trying to do better...... but anything against Trump is taken as un-Christian by some.
Yes, Hillary will most likely win and make our lives miserable. God will still be God, and the church will survive. It is dangerous to say God would do this or that, but I do believe the Bible would back me up on this: God is more concerned with our hearts, how we are serving Him and advancing His kingdom than He is with our American rights and freedoms....... and maybe we should be also.
No comments:
Post a Comment