For Evangelicals still supporting Failed President 45: West and Fuentes dinner is a bridge too far

[lees1975]

https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2022/12/for-evangelical-christian-supporters-of.html

Personally, I believe Evangelicals who support Trump crossed that "bridge too far" by ever supporting him in the first place. A little patience, support for a candidate who shared the same political perspective and lived by the same values would have been the correct approach for those in conservative American churches who think that this is a "Christian nation." It's difficult for me to reconcile most Republican political perspectives with Christian doctrine and theology because they are much more influenced by, and oriented toward a single racial and economic demographic, but there are Evangelical politicians in the GOP whose lifestyles are consistent with the Christian gospel.

But the all or nothing approach most Evangelicals take toward the Roe v. Wade decision and the abortion issue creates some awkward difficulties for them when it comes to almost any other political or social issue. They wind up having to carry the baggage of having to overlook Trump's personal immorality, which he flaunts as part of his image, the denial of government support and help for its citizens in order to cut tax breaks for wealthy constituents, and his openly hostile, abrasive, name-calling immaturity, which runs counter to Christ's insistence that the sincerity of one's faith was visible in the manner in which they treat others, especially their enemies.

And then there's the new baggage from this past week, as Kanye West, an obnoxiously loud anti-Semite, and Nick Fuentes, a holocaust denier, were invited to dinner at Mar-A-Lago. The weak and not very emphatic denials from Trump were not credible. The lack of an uproar among Republicans was predictable, and the silence from the party's Evangelical constituency was despicable. To claim that one of Trump's great achievements was moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, not a tremendous political achievement by any standard, but to say absolutely nothing about his support and endorsement of the single most notorious anti-Semite among the American population is, without question, a bridge too far.

[yankee87]

1. All about power

The Evangelical Church that supports the Orange Buffoon has nothing about the Gospel and all about political power. They gave up on the Bible a long time ago.

[lees1975]

2. "long time ago" is the key.

Last edited Mon Dec 5, 2022, 02:06 PM - Edit history (1)

The base of Evangelical political power has been in the southern states, and I'm watching a documentary on Rosa Parks right now on MSNBC that reminds me of who was behind segregation. White Christian Nationalism was behind it.

It's not fair to brand all conservative Evangelicals that way. There are some who actually get involved in activism against the intrusion of politics into the churches and draw the line, and some who actually work the other direction.

[yankee87]

3. You're right

True, for the SBC it’s always been about Christian Nationalism. I grew up episcopal , went to a southern Baptist church when I lived in Georgia for a while. We left when they started having politicians speak at service. Now back in the Episcopal Church.

[Wonder Why]

4. They are not Christians.

They always seem to quote the Old Testament rather than Christ's teachings in the New Testament. He talked about loving one's neighbor and loving God above all else.

They support a False Idol (The Orange Beast) and put that idol ahead of God, Christ and their neighbor. Therefore they are not Christians, except in name only.

[lees1975]

5. That pretty much nails it.

The type of belief that is exhibited by the blending of conservative Evangelicalism with Trumpism is a pseudo-Christianity, using the terms but not the Christian definitions.