Saturday, November 14, 2015

Donald Trump and Christian conversion


I’m not usually political but tonight it is a matter of my Christianity. Tonight in the Washington Post I read a very well done article on Donald Trump and his 95 minute tirade in Iowa “With torrent of attacks, Donald Trump moves back into center of race.” (I watched some of the tirade.) At the end of the article there were over a hundred comments including some by, supposedly, Donald Trump. And there was a comment by someone else, kzic, who said “Donald Trump may have been elected President of the USA tonight,” referring to the attacks in Paris. And then on Twitter I saw this:

  1. Ann Coulter @AnnCoulter 3h3 hours ago

“They can wait if they like until next November for the actual balloting, but Donald Trump was elected president tonight.”

In case no one noticed, besides mocking Ben Carson, Trump insisted that there could be no transforming conversion such as Carson claims. One of the commentators on PBS’s news did note that tonight.

In this context one of my favorite blogs, The Anxious Bench, with some of my favorite writers, on the 20th of October, published an article about Trump. It was by Thomas Kidd, a historian, who concluded his article, “Donald Trump and the Coming Christian Political Realignment,” with this:

“I will not vote for someone so boorish, who has no clue about most basic political issues, much less those most important to Christian conservatives (including religious liberty and abortion). I will not vote for a misogynist reality tv star whose campaign is based on starting stupid fights. I won’t do it, and I hope that millions within the supposed GOP “base” would join me.”

I agree.
 But now I have more to say.

In history we know of another man who gave long rants, pretended to be a Christian and wanted to rid his country of all “foreign” peoples. Hitler was just a painter who gave long speeches and could coldly insult people without a care but somehow some Germans thought he was capable of elevating their nation to greatness. Christians, faithful to the Lord, cannot think like that, must not think like that. If a candidate doesn’t believe in Jesus, that is one thing, but a candidate who makes fun of the redeeming, transforming power of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection should be rejected by Christians.  
The video below is the speech. It is long and boring. To hear what I am writing about go to 1:26:29- but note that in another part Trump says he loves war if it is winnable.
  

9 comments:

Jodie said...

Wow Viola, something we can really agree about!

I think if Trump gets nominated for the GOP, Hillary won't have to spend a dime on her campaign.

The fact that he is so popular is what is most concerning. It's a reflection of something seriously wrong in our society, but I am not sure what. Not that I can't think of a number of things seriously wrong, but I can't figure out which number of them account for Trump. One thing for sure though, it requires that you not have any serious regard for our Democracy at all, and the fact that so many people demonstrate such disregard is quite worrisome. It's like considering, I don't know, a bullet in the head as a cure for a headache. Sure, it will cure the headache, but really? A bullet?

That must be some serious headache.

Jodie Gallo
Los Angeles, CA

Viola Larson said...

I'm glad we agree Jodie. I saw a progressive writing that although he would not vote for a republican if he had to pick he would vote for Trump. I found that unbelievable.

Jodie said...

Oh, no way would progressives ever vote for Trump.

Although at the end of the day he is not really a politician, so labels like "conservative" or "progressive" don't really apply to him.

He's just being disruptive. He's a rule breaker.

But at the end of the day he's really just the noisy clown in the back of the class that demands everyone's attention until the teacher finally kicks him out. He's only getting attention because there is something broken with the system that he can exploit (possibly the problem is that so many people are so fed up with the rules they applaud him for being breaking them).

I honestly believe he's just testing the system to see how much he can get away with, and the more he does, the more contempt he will show for everyone. He will keep pushing the envelope until the voters shut him down or he gets struck by lightning.

If the GOP doesn't do it, Hillary will.

Anonymous said...
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Viola Larson said...

Anonymous, I do not allow anonymous comments on the blog. You must leave your whole name, city and state.

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Viola Larson said...

I also don't allow that kind of comment.

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