I inadvertently stirred up quite a theological controversy. I happened to, in a sense, agree with Donald Trump when he advised the Liberty University student body to “not let people take advantage of them.”
Instead, he said, “get even”
Or, in its greater oratorical context, “Be tough. In the end – win.”
At least, that’s how I, and lots of other people, took it. I didn’t assume that “getting even” had to imply mal intent; I interpreted the phrase through my own evangelical worldview, and I understood that within the dog-eat-dog world of corporate America you have to be fiercely determined, and competitive, to be successful. I do not believe that success is a sin.
Of course, as a Bible-believing evangelical, I do not believe that Christians should treat people maliciously, take revenge or fight with others arbitrarily. I believe we should show extraordinary restraint. But, when someone asked me if I thought God would “get even” with people, I decided to make a nuanced, theological point: “God would, and he did, get even.”
In the end, God won.
They must have expected me to react the way some liberal reporters responded in the aftermath of Mr. Trump’s speech.
It’s high time that Christians toughen up a bit. Christians shouldn’t be malicious, but they also shouldn’t let people run all over them.
The liberal press, which obviously couldn’t bear the thought of Jerry Falwell, Jr., and Donald Trump working together to halt the current assault on the American free enterprise system, immediately took to the Bible to try to drive a wedge between these patriotic allies. They wanted us evangelicals to go ahead and stay put (and quiet) in our nice little box.
After all, it’s much easier to take advantage of us that way.
Yet, I believe, it’s high time that Christians toughen up a bit. Christians shouldn’t be malicious, but they also shouldn’t let people run all over them.
