Yes, it’s true. Donald Trump is the perfect example of what it means to be a “Christian” in America in modern times. It’s not the Robertson family, Billy Graham, Tim Tebow, or anyone else pop culture has, in their ignorance, held up as being synonymous with believing the Bible. Instead, if you look at what Trump has said about his own faith in interviews over the last month, you start to see a familiar picture.
First, during his campaign Trump claimed that the Bible is his favorite book. When asked by a reporter what his favorite verse is, he declined to answer, saying that he doesn’t want to get into it, “Because that’s very personal.” As a follow-up, the reporter then asked the presidential candidate if he would simply cite a verse that he liked, and he declined once again. Another reporter then further questioned Trump by asking if he prefers the Old Testament or the New. His response – “Probably equal. I think it’s just incredible, the whole Bible is incredible.”
Now I’m sure it’s possible that Mr. Trump has extensive knowledge of the Bible, but it sure doesn’t come across that way. Someone who claims to love the Bible and read it daily should at least be able to throw out a John 3:16 or Philippians 4:13, and would happily do so. Instead, Trump sounded exactly like someone who claims to be a fan of something to fit in with a social circle.
“Oh, you’re a Beatles fan? Me too! What’s your favorite song?”
“Oh I could never pick just one.”
“Well then what’s your favorite album?”
“You know, I’m not sure. I liked them all in their own way!”
I mean, you can’t say for sure that the person doesn’t know the first thing about the Beatles… but you know. Trump’s marital status alone (two divorces, married to a third wife) shows the fruit of someone who isn’t committed to truly understanding the Word. But the second half of his reflection of modern Christianity sheds even more light on his lack of Scriptural knowledge.
Second, Trump says he loves attending his church. Sounds great, right? Moments later he was asked if he had ever asked God for forgiveness. “I don’t think so,” he answered. “If I do something wrong, I just try and make it right. I don’t bring God into that picture.” He literally missed the entire point of the Christian religion with that one answer. Guilt-free Christianity isn’t Christianity at all. It was the man who cried out “Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner!” in Luke 18 who Jesus pointed to as the example we should follow. You can’t be a Christian without coming to grips with your own sins and confessing them to the Father (1 John 1:6-10). Attending worship and hearing sermons every single week isn’t doing you any good if your sins go unconfessed and unforgiven.
Both of those interview quotes perfectly illustrate why Donald Trump is the perfect model of what it means to claim to be a Christian in America right now: His Christianity costs him nothing. If you start reading the Bible at the beginning, you can’t go three full chapters before you see the weight of our sinfulness, and yet he has no grasp of the concept.
But it’s hard to take Trump to task for so loudly claiming Christianity as his own despite not living it when churches all over the country (regardless of how doctrinally right or wrong they are) are filled with people who live by this same perverted definition of Christianity. They know enough of the Bible to know that God is a loving God and that believing in Him can ease our minds, yet not enough to realize that we are all guilty of putting the perfect Son of God to death on the cross and have to receive atonement or be punished eternally.
Though it may seem like it, I truly didn’t set out to attack Donald Trump by writing this article.* It’s just that I see in his quotes the same attitude toward God and the Scriptures that is held by millions who think they are Christians. The image of American Christianity is not that of putting our lives in God’s hands (Galatians 2:20), transformation by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:1-2), or of loving God with all our being (Deuteronomy 6:5). Instead, it’s defined by a belief in Him, being “cool” or “okay” or “at peace” with Him, and wearing the title “Christian” because it comforts us about the afterlife or serves as a convenience in some situations. Today’s “Christians,” like Trump don’t know the Bible and therefore have no clue what sin really is.
Here’s what Trump and all of those millions of other “Christians” have missed: Christianity has to cost something. No; Christianity has to cost everything. Your sins cost Jesus His life. You don’t just get to decide when you’re okay with God or when you’ve done enough good to make up the bad (which, of course, is an impossibility). God gets to set the terms of what it means to be a Christian, and, to quote Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “When Jesus calls a man, He bids him come and die.” Luke 9:23 shows us that Jesus expects everybody who wants to follow Him that they must do exactly what He did – pick up a cross and walk that same path of self-sacrifice.
For over two centuries of ease and comfort it has cost nothing to claim Christ’s name in this country, and that’s left us where we are today, where “Christian” in most people’s eyes can be epitomized by people who don’t know the first thing about Jesus Christ. The only way we can reverse that is by showing those around us what we’re willing to do for Him. When we sacrifice everything for our God, we show them the true cost of discipleship and that we’re willing to count it all as worthless just for the privilege of knowing Him (Philippians 3:8). That’s how we restore people’s image of Christianity to what it should be – God Himself dying on a cross for us.
(*Note: This article is not meant to be a political discussion in any way.)
By Jack Wilkie
Photo credit: Gage Skidmore, via Wikipedia Commons (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump_presidential_campaign,_2016#/media/File:Donald_Trump_by_Gage_Skidmore_3.jpg)
