Saturday, September 17, 2016

Strange Bedfellows

This article from a pastor that I respect a great deal came across my feed yesterday.

OMG, how did Trump become the evangelical heart throb? 

So what he's saying is, the guy may be conceited and insulting, vindictive, unwilling to stand up to obvious wickedness, adulterous, deceitful, the kind of guy who thinks bombing women and children is a good idea, but he's not evil. Somehow patriotic makes up for all of that.

And I don't buy that he's not racist, either. I base that opinion on the records of racist housing practices committed by his and his father's companies, along with JUST ABOUT EVERY WORD THAT COMES OUT OF HIS MOUTH.  

So, when it comes down to it, the only thing he has going for him is a successful career, which he doesn't even have. Just about every venture he's tried has failed and folded, including the Trump University scandal that left thousands of students out in the cold, trying to sue to recoup the money they invested in him. 

Sure, he's pro-life, except when he's not. The writer likes to think Trump is changing his mind on all of these matters because he's learning and evolving into some brilliant conservative, like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon of hedonism. He never even considers the possibility that the Trump evolution seems to perfectly match his climb in the polls, that the only reason he's saying the opposite of what he said even a year ago is because it gets him votes. 

So, just like every other pastor with Republican colored glasses on, Grudem poses only two options. Either vote for Trump and expect the repeal of Roe v. Wade, a booming economy, and Merry Christmas in every store window, whether they like it or not, from December through April. Sandi Patti will be on top of the charts and dungarees will be back in style. Vote for Hillary, and you usher in the age of compulsory abortions, sharia law, and orgy Thursdays. A welfare chicken in every pot, pot in every chick, and two grooms on every cake. Fire will rain from the heavens in daily terrorist attacks and Christians will be herded into gulags and forced to watch Will and Grace and Ellen Degeneres for hours each day. American flags will burn and the U. S. will be renamed North Mexico.

And I want to be clear that I don't think that Hillary is any better, and I don't intend to vote for her either. She seems to be as dirty as they come, politically, and while I don't disagree with every single thing she says, I don't agree with most of it, and, really, it doesn't matter, because I'm not convinced you can believe anything she says anyway. So, this rant is not me trying to throw support Clinton's way. I just don't understand how Christians, and especially pastors, can be so allegiant to this Republican party that they are willing to overlook any wrongdoing, rationalize any wickedness, in order to vote for the GOP. I don't understand why Christians are so eager to look at someone like Trump as "evil" but rather "a good candidate with flaws," and Clinton, or any Democrat, really, as the spawn of Satan himself. I don't understand how, as a nation we've so bought into the idea of a two party system, so institutionalized it in our laws and media that viable presidential candidates like Gary Johnson and Jill Stein are excluded from a presidential debate. Just to put that in perspective, these candidates are not even allowed to be in a room with either Trump or Clinton and engage in a conversation about issues.

But the truth is that there are other choices, not just third party, but fourth and fifth, even. There are other candidates that my conscience would let me vote for. And even though some would say that I'd be wasting my vote on a candidate who has no chance, I'd say that maybe if everyone with a conscience, or at least everyone claiming to be a Christian, would stop voting for lesser evil and actually get behind someone that doesn't force them to do mental contortions and look foolish for supporting someone who is obviously not worth their support.

Failing that, maybe pastors just need to get out of bed with politicians, and get back behind their pulpits where they can speak to the spiritual and moral problems of this country, or back in the streets and communities where they can help to heal their communities.

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