Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Empathy Mining

Home
Progressive Christian
Christian Trump Supporter, Can You See the Emperor Has No Fruits?

Christian Trump Supporter, Can You See the Emperor Has No Fruits?

Last updated on: July 5, 2017 at 3:34 pm by Shane Phipps

Christian Trump Supporter, Can You See the Emperor Has No Fruits? 2017-07-05T15:34:48-04:00 Shane Phipps

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Donald-trump-tweeting-conservativedailynews

Photo Credit: Conservative Daily News

Conservative Christian who still supports President Trump, I am going to begin this piece with an invitation and it is a sincere one. Since you still support President Trump and claim that God has a plan for him to “make America great again,” I request that you reply in the comment section at the end of this article to defend your reasons. I do ask one thing, don’t reference Hillary Clinton in your defense of Donald Trump. That ship has sailed–she lost–kindly get over it. After more than half a year of the Trump administration, if you still think the our president is serving as an instrument of God, please explain to me how. I promise, I am not asking in a flippant or facetious tone, I just really want to understand–after all, the name of my blog is Empathy Mining–trying to understand is what I do. But, before you lay out your case, let me, as a more progressive Christian, lay out mine.

In the interest of full disclosure, I wasn’t a fan of either candidate in the election, but I saw enough of Donald Trump’s act to know that I could never vote for him to be a dog catcher, let alone the leader of the free world. So, I was taken by surprise when I saw election returns coming in. It became clear that a big portion of Trump’s support was coming from conservative Christians. I guess I expected some of that from those on the far-right, but as it became clear that a lot of Christians I knew personally had pulled the lever for The Donald, I became quite disheartened–perhaps even depressed–as I wrote about here.

In the aftermath of the election, I tried to be patient and not jump to the conclusion that we had a hopeless situation on our hands. I held out for a slight chance that, after he won, Trump might drop his strange act and settle into the dignity of his office with more charm, grace, kindness and basic dignity.

I’m still waiting.

I guess I was mostly disappointed because so many people I love and respect–even if we disagreed about some things–had, in my opinion, been suckered into buying a bill of goods hawked by blustery shyster. His well known dubious history as a misogynist and his ongoing, mean-spirited and seemingly constant Twitter rants bothered me deeply. I saw no evidence that Trump was reflecting anything at all that would make him attractive to my Christian friends–I was bewildered. But Christian friends, here is a verse with which you all are familiar. I ask you to search your hearts and your memory banks to find examples of Donald Trump displaying any of the Fruits of the Spirit.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Galatians 5: 22-23

Love–I suppose Mr. Trump loves his children, I have no doubt about it. I believe he probably loves his wife (his third), though he sometimes fails to show it publicly. I know he loves money–does the Bible have anything to say about the love of money? (Hint: see 1 Timothy–Trump would say “One Timothy”–6:10)

Joy–President Trump seems to take the most joy in his victories over other people. This is most apparent because he talks about his wins on a daily basis. Does the Bible have anything to say about being boastful? (Hint: YES–a whole lot)

Peace–President Trump hasn’t started any wars yet, but is anyone not worried about that prospect becoming a disastrous reality–North Korea…Russia…. But beyond international diplomacy, could you describe President Trump as a peace-loving man? He seems happiest when he is attacking or striking back at people on Twitter. He does that on a nearly daily basis. This link contains a partial list of some of our president’s meanest tweets–boy, oh boy, it does go on and on. Does the Bible say anything about how to react to someone when you feel they’ve wronged you? (Hint: see Luke 6:29)

**Forbearance–**That’s a fancy word that means patience, self-control, restraint and tolerance. Need I even go on with this one, Christian friends? Have you seen any example of forbearance from President Trump?

**Kindness–**Again–come on now–who could, with a straight face, label Donald Trump as a kind man? I could obviously point you back to his Twitter history, but let’s look at his platform. Look no further than his proposed health care plan. This plan appears to be a not very well veiled tax shelter for the wealthiest Americans while it could end up taking coverage away from millions of the poorest. Does the Bible say anything about taking care of the poor? (Hint: YES–a whole lot!)

Goodness–According to Dictionary.com, goodness means the following; integrity, honesty, uprightness, probity (strong moral principles), and virtue. I’ll just leave that list right there and let you search it a bit. Get back to me when you are ready to list examples you find in our president.

**Faithfulness–**Donald Trump has a long history of marital infidelity, and he has a history of bragging about it. Does the Bible say any thing about infidelity? (Hint: yep!)

**Gentleness–**Would you call a person who would shove a prime minister out of the way so as to get a spot front and center for a photo op gentle? I wouldn’t.

Self-Control–This is number 9 of 9 Fruits of the Spirit but, in a way, it is a composite of all of them. Look back over the first 8 and tell me, does our President demonstrate self-control?

So Christian friends, I have made my case that Donald Trump is not someone who, in my opinion, Christians should hold up as a shining example of the kind of leader God would want for us. In a moment, I’d like for you, dear Christian friends who still support Trump, to make your case for him in the comments.

First, let me leave you with a couple quotes I found particularly powerful and useful for this discussion.

“Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. America does not have to be cruel to be tough.”

-Franklin Delano Roosevelt

“If we serve Jesus, then every act and thought has meaning. Acts of kindness are not just niceties, they become acts of worship.”

-John Wimber

Now, Christian Trump supporters, fire away–be kind.

Previous Post

June 27, 2017

The Liberating Power in the Potential of Wrongness--Making Room for Empathy

Next Post

July 2, 2017 How I Finally Came to Understand My White Privilege

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 150 word story 2nd Amendment AARP abortion addiction aging alcoholism Anderson Wigwam Andrew Jackson Appalachia Basketball bias bigotry Black Lives Matter Christianity Christmas, Constitution, Bill of Rights Civil War Clinton cloning confirmation bias Conservation Constitution Controversial Creationism Creepy tales David Bowie depression Dogs Education Election Electoral College Empathy Environmental Evolution exvangelical faith Family Family History Fantasy Genealogy Genesis George Washington Ghetto Global Warming Gun Control health care High School Basketball Hillary History Hockey homosexuality Hoosier Hysteria Hoosiers Hunting immigration income inequality Interview ISTEP Jurassic Park Kaepernick Ken Hamm Kids say the Darndest things LGBTQ Love MAGA Manifest Destiny Merit Pay Mike Pence Muhammad Ali Multiple Perspectives Music Music Review Nashville News media NHL No Child Left Behind NRA Paradox Parenting Pence Perspective Politics POTUS Poverty Predators Race Religion religious freedom Sci Fi Science Secret of Life sexual harrassment Short Stories Slavery Small Town Indiana Smashville Social Commentary social media sports Stress technology Terrorism Thomas Jefferson Trauma Trump Turning 50 Uncategorized war Washington DC White Privilege wooly mammoths words in red Writing Writing Process Writing, Writing Process Young Earth

Select a Month June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 August 2021 May 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

True or False: The first plague in Egypt turned the Nile River into blood.

Select your answer to see how you score.

TRUE FALSE

Support this
Column