Tag: following Jesus

Christians and Donald Trump

I get the impression that many Christians (particularly evangelicals), who voted for Donald Trump, believed that the goal they sought for Christian renewal in America could be achieved, at least in part, by Trump in the office of the presidency. They believed this despite Trump’s demonstrated narcissism, manipulative ways, dishonesty, arrogance, greed, racism, misogyny, intolerance, bullying, authoritarianism, and lack of empathy.

Many seemed to think that Trump, regardless of these detractions, would be good for Christianity and for what they regard as Christian values (which, for many, often include nationalist and hidden white supremacist values). He would carve out a special place for their Christianity. He would give them power and would support their effort to define the United States as a Christian nation, as many have argued falsely that it was in its origins.

Trump’s election, for many, was a matter of “the end justifies the means,” when the truth is that the end is inherent in the means. If the means are wrong so will be the end. If the motivations and means are right, the end and goal will be right.

As Jesus said, “The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil, for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:4-5 )

The desire for a fighter like Trump to pave a way for Christianity demonstrates the falseness of motive and purpose on the part of Christians who were taken in by him. It may also reveal their desire to have positions of power in order to force their particular kind of Christianity on others. It certainly demonstrates a way of thinking and acting that is distant from Christ who did not seek power over people or systems. He came as a servant. He said of himself: “For the Human One came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45) Jesus exercised power, but it was not over others, but rather power to heal and liberate others.

Jesus called his disciples to the same path of serving others. Furthermore, he called them to be light in the world, not join the darkness in seeking to get their way and carve out a special place for their religion. If they choose a bully to be president, what keeps them from being bullies.

Instead of power over others and dictating the lives of others, Jesus told would-be followers to deny themselves, take up their cross and follow him in serving, in the work of healing and liberating those who are hurt and bound.

Without such following of Jesus, we will choose other leaders to follow. We will choose one who promises to establish us over others, one who will fix things for us. We will choose a bully who breaks up families and destroys people’s lives and easily takes us to war and to other acts of destruction, killing and maiming.

I pray that, as a nation, we would wake up. Wake up to what we choose for ourselves and the world. I pray for those of us who go by the name of Christ, that we wake up to the truth of Christ and the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Filed under: Discernment, Leadership, Serving, Truth, WitnessTagged with: , , ,

A Christian View of Christian Nationalism

By “Christian,” I mean a follower of Jesus who has come to view the world from the experience of “being in Christ.”

By follower of Jesus, I mean one who is being led to:

  1. Bear suffering in order to serve others. 1
  2. Serve rather than seek dominion over others.2
  3. Love rather than judge or condemn others.3
  4. Love enemies and pray for them.4
  5. Love our neighbor as ourselves, no matter who our neighbor is.5
  6. Do justice, love mercy and live faithfully.6

By the experience of “being in Christ” I mean that we:

  1. Participate in the reality of the crucified and risen Christ so that we die to the old in-turned self and rise to “walk in newness of life.”7
  2. Participate in Christ’s love.8
  3. Be led by the Spirit, rather than by religious rules, principles and beliefs which the “flesh” (the ego-centric self) loves.9
  4. Operate by God’s grace through faith, rather than legalistic moralism.10
  5. Trust ourselves, others, and all creation to God, rather than act like we are the ones who have the answer.

When Christian nationalism is viewed from the vantage point of following Jesus and participating in the reality of Christ, it is seen merely as nationalism with a Christian facade. It is an idolatry of the nation undergirded by Christian rhetoric, particularly in the form of “Christian” laws and principles.

Those who seek to bring back the “Christian foundations” of our nation hearken back to an earlier Christian nationalism, one, at least in part, inherited from Europe. They hearken to a kind of Christian morals and mores that existed as a dimension of our nation alongside its constitution, a Christian morality that for many included the institution of slavery and the dispossession of the peoples indigenous to the land. In other words, a Christianity far removed from the message and life of Christ—a Christianity quite capable of horrendous evil.

The present Christian nationalism carries forward the elements of this earlier nationalism, above all in its White (and male) supremacy. It downplays our history of racism, oppression, and injustice and discounts the primary roots of the American revolution and constitution in Enlightenment values.

Of course, there has been another much smaller stream of Christianity (which included European American Christians) that engaged in movements for the abolition of slavery, pressed for peace among nations, and sought social justice.

Above all, it has been African American Christians who, from their lived experience, brought radical clarity to the unchristian reality of our nation. Frederick Douglass called the Christianity of the slave-holding South and those Northern churches that continued to support their Southern counterparts as “sham religion.“

Black Christians continue to offer a critique and an alternative to White Christian nationalism. White Christians must listen to their voices—which means we must repent of our arrogance. By listening with open hearts, we will receive from those who experience the oppressive nature of White Christian nationalism.

The call to follow Jesus and participate in the Christ reality is a call to repent from all Christian nationalism, from all idolatry of nation and of whiteness and of ourselves, and all attempts to have dominion over others. Freed from idolatry, we are freed from feeling like we must secure “our Christianity.” We are freed from safeguarding what we have built (our false Christianity) and therefore freed to serve others.

Jesus calls his followers, not to dominate and bully others, but to be salt and light in the world, to be witnesses to God’s love and mercy in word and in action. At the heart of our witness is a welcoming love toward others that does justice, loves mercy and walks humbly with God.

  1. “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9:23 ↩︎
  2. “But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you, but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave, just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:25-28 ↩︎
  3. “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged.” Matthew 7:1 ↩︎
  4. “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Matthew 5:44 ↩︎
  5. “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 19:19 ↩︎
  6. “The weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith.” Matthew 23:23 ↩︎
  7. “We were buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.” Romans 6:4 ↩︎
  8. “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” Romans 5:5 ↩︎
  9. “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.” Romans 8:14 ↩︎
  10. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:8 ↩︎
Filed under: Discipleship, Grace, Justice, Racism, Society, WitnessTagged with: , ,