With great joy I’ve engaged NeverTrumpers lately, people who claim they are Christians, and the only true Conservatives.
Such people tell us Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh are not Conservatives.
As a Conservative Christian, originally a Ted Cruz supporter, I came to the believe President Trump deserved our prayers and support if only by virtue of the fact he won. The voters voted, the system produced a result, law-abiding citizens put service before self.
To the extent possible, many of us supported President Obama, in the same spirit, focusing criticism on policy and political philosophy. We attempted to avoid blanket condemnation.
NeverTrumpers are having none of it. The accusations against President Trump run the gamut, hourly, with increasing ferocity, attacking every fiber of his being.
NeverTrumpers claim people like me are total sellouts. We are traitors to the cause of Christ and country for supporting an immoral man. NeverTrumpers tell us his sin is our own, and our sin makes us hypocrites, the Devil’s dunces.
One lady recently launched a tirade insisting the Bible supports her insistence we select public servants based on biblical standards, and that by any reading of the Bible, Donald Trump is thoroughly disqualified. She accuses him of being a complete reprobate, stem to stern, a monster, unfit for office. She claims our only salvation is found in his demise. And since I’ve urged people to support the President, she accuses me of monstrous offenses, telling me to repent.
Here is my reply:
Biblical instructions concerning preferred qualifications reference leaders in Israel or in the Church, a different proposition, but let’s extend grace and go along with the argument all elected officials must meet strict biblical standards to hold office.
First, right or wrong, you run headlong into a separation of church and state issue.
But beyond that, very few people could ever meet your hyper-purist standards. In this context, remember, we have a representative government. The voters in New York probably have different standards from yours. So if we are to maintain a Republic, voters in localities must have the freedom to select their own representatives, people who share the voters’ values and principles. Your proposal tends to infringe on that freedom, leaning toward the creation of a theocracy. Not acceptable.
Finally, you intervene on Trump, holding him to account to you for all his sins, past and present.
You are not God.
You do not know his spiritual condition.
You do not know if he has repented.
You do not know what he has been forgiven.
To accuse someone of sin God has forgiven is itself sin.
Perhaps you should repent?
Furthermore, we should all study and apply Romans 13 as it pertains to instructions on how to be a good citizen.
