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THREAD: Insights from Growing Up in Evangelicalism
TRUMPVANGELICAL: I don't understand how you could vote for a guy who supports abortion.
ME: That's because you judge politicians by your rigid list of externals rather than by their actual character, just like the Pharisees did.
TRUMPVANGELICAL: I don't understand how you could vote for a guy who supports abortion.
ME: That's because you judge politicians by your rigid list of externals rather than by their actual character, just like the Pharisees did.
2/ Pharisees judged people by their own arbitrary 'holiness' standards cherrypicked from God's law, omitting what Jesus called "the weightier matters of the law" (justice, mercy, faithfulness). For instance, breaking the Sabbath was inexcusable but not robbing a helpless widow.
3/ Just like Pharisees, Trumpvangelicals judge politicians by their own arbitrary, politically-convenient 'holiness' standards cherrypicked from the Bible, omitting many of the weightier matters (justice for oppressed blacks/immigrants, mercy for hurting ppl, telling the truth).
4/Trumpvangelicals set an arbitrary standard: politicians must SAY they are pro-life. Nevermind that, as with Trump, their whole lifestyle may make a mockery of the sanctity of life, while they enable genocide of the Kurds, mass murder of asylees/refugees, mass death by COVID.
5/Nevermind that the 'pro-life' profession is often just insincere manipulation of a voting bloc the GOP can't afford to lose & results in no material benefit for endangered infants or overturning of Roe v. Wade despite repeated SCOTUS majorities. The 'stance' is all that counts.
6/As with the Pharisees, for Trumpvangelicals this is no matter because it is all about externals - appearance, words, public stance - not about substance. So they look no deeper than a pro-life stance: character is irrelevant, substance unimportant. That's how you get Trump.
7/But Trumpvangelicals, again, like Pharisees, are oh-so-quick to judge anyone who votes Democrat for violating their arbitrary standard. Nevermind that their Republican candidate is actively working AGAINST justice & mercy & daily lying blatantly to the public.
8/Nevermind that the Democrat in question might actually be working for the causes of justice and mercy and be committed to integrity. Nevermind that the Democrat in question may demonstrate more regard for the sanctity of MORE lives than their Republican opponent.
9/NO, there can only be ONE standard for Trumpvangelical voting, and it ensures they retain a FORM of religion while denying the power thereof, and the PROFESSION of prolifeism while neglecting the actual protection of the unborn.
10/So you'll hear me express the same condemnation of the whitewashed tomb that is Trumpvangelicalism & their holiness standards, that Jesus expressed in Matthew 23. It is the HEART, the CHARACTER, the SUBSTANCE, the WEIGHTIER MATTERS OF THE LAW, that matter most to God.
11/ So if you're not evaluating politicians by their
- character
- actions, NOT stances
- love for their neighbor
- commitment to telling the truth, showing mercy & enacting real justice for the oppressed
...you are NOT judging them Scripturally - 'pro-lifeism' notwithstanding.
- character
- actions, NOT stances
- love for their neighbor
- commitment to telling the truth, showing mercy & enacting real justice for the oppressed
...you are NOT judging them Scripturally - 'pro-lifeism' notwithstanding.
