HT: To Roger Berry for the picture. I am writing a book with Professor Michael Haykin on Ralph Waldo Emerson. It seems the president likes Emerson. I don’t think it is quite accurate to say, “I love Emerson,” but he has been a very productive conversation partner.
And now to the matter of this post…
Some of you know about my critical piece on Trump which was cited favorably on the Gospel Coalition and elsewhere. I still stand by everything I wrote. Here it is:
IS VOTING FOR TRUMP A “MORALLY GOOD CHOICE”? RESPONDING TO WAYNE GRUDEM
I did not vote during the 2016 election when it comes to president. For everyone else, I cast a vote. And I still stand by that decision. And yes, I think it was my patriotic duty to not vote.
But things can change…
I regularly preach (really I teach it) that true education is many things, but one thing for sure: painful. The ancient Greeks had a name for it: mathein pathein. “To learn is to suffer.” If you are truly learning, you have to face deficient views/ideas you previously believed.
Do I think my previous thoughts on Trump deficient? Largely, I do not, especially because I was addressing some specific areas of concern and those have not changed.
And yet, I want to remain open to new dynamics.
I’m still not sure what I will do in the upcoming election, but this is the best piece that is causing me to consider Trump:
https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/02/2020-election-religious-conservatives-trump-voters/
I found this line in Walker’s article interesting: “Donald Trump is not the savior of American Christianity. At best, he’s a bed of nails on the road, temporarily halting secularism’s advance.”
I would disagree that Trump is halting secularism advance, he is instead accelerating it. I have heard so many times non-Christians say how hypocritical Christians are for supporting Trump and his policies – and I can’t disagree. Evangelicals supporting Trump are driving non-believing people away from the church and our real message.
Hey Mitch,
I agree with you. On a very related matter, I have mentioned on various occasions that Trump is doing more damage to the gospel than Hillary Clinton ever could. Hillary makes it clear that she wants nothing to do with Christians. Trump, on the other hand, uses all kinds of religious folks (from heretical health/wealth folks to Dobson) for his own purposes. And now we have Dallas Seminary graduate promoting the book of a prosperity preacher!