IN THE INTERESTS OF BALANCE
As you probably realise by now, I’m not a great fan of Donald Trump. Because as I hope I’ve made obvious enough to risk a U.S. travel ban, I think he’s dangerous, that what he’s doing is dangerous, and that the consequences of what he’s doing are likely to be dangerous too.
But leaving aside how he’s altering the geopolitical landscape, there are, I think, at least four other aspects of Donald Trump’s presidency that are, perhaps, even more dangerous.
Here’s what I think they are.
Firstly there is the rise of so-called Christian nationalism, and with it the danger that people will be fooled into thinking that making America so-called great again is the same as making the U.S. a Christian country.
Which it categorically isn’t.
Which isn’t to say that Christians shouldn’t be engaged in politics. On the contrary – it’s absolutely right for believers to try to make the world a better place. But as Jesus himself said, His Kingdom is not of this world. And so it follows that whatever it is that Trump is building, it’s got precious little to do with Christianity.
The Kingdom of God is sometimes described as being wherever God’s people are under God’s rule. Which means that, until Christ returns as King and his Kingdom is fully established worldwide, it is physically located in the church, and not in the mind of an individual – irrespective of how powerful that individual might be.
Secondly there is the danger that those of us who like to think that Trump’s public failures are many and varied, begin to think that our failures don’t matter as much as his do.
But that’s simply not true.
So let’s first make a distinction here – between what we do in our public lives and what we do in private.
As the President of the United States of America, Donald Trump holds a very high-profile public position. And in exactly the same way that when I had a public role as a doctor, I was subject to public scrutiny, so too should he. And just as when I failed in my public role, I could rightly expect to be exposed to public criticism, so too, when he fails in his role as President, must he. That’s what it means to hold someone accountable.
But when we criticise a person in the public square we ought, I think, limit our comments to that individual’s public role. Which is something that many, including myself, have failed to do. And I for one am sorry for that.
Because the truth is that being a bad president doesn’t necessarily make Trump a bad person, any more than me being a bad doctor made me a bad person. And whilst I think his failings in his public role do relate to some personal failings, so did some of my failings as a doctor too.
Sadly they weren’t always down to just my ignorance. Sometimes they were down to laziness on my part, or a lack of concern for others, a consequence of my own selfishness and my desiring to do only what was best for me
And whilst I like to think that, to some extent at least, I curtailed my own inherent weakness, I can’t pretend I was wholly successful. Because I never am. And neither must I, by imagining that Trump’s failures might conceivably be greater than my own, come to the conclusion that I am therefore okay.
Because the truth is that, irrespective how guilty Trump may or may not prove to have been in his private life, I have to acknowledge that, living with it as I do, I know far more about my own shortcomings than his – making me a far greater sinner than him.
And so you see the danger of demonising Trump. It can all too easily make us think that we are acceptable to God because there is at least somebody out there that we consider to be worse than we are. And we end up putting our confidence in that, rather than the one thing that we should put our hope in – that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, that we are saved by his life of perfect righteousness being credited to us, and that his death on the cross paid the penalty for all the wrong things we have ever done.
To forget this would be very dangerous indeed – and not just in these troubled times. For it would threaten our eternal safety too.
The third danger with our obsession with Donald Trump is that it leads us to spend more time thinking about Trump than we do about God. Constantly scrolling through social media platforms, or overdosing on the daily news, we end up worrying about what he will do next and forget who it is who is ultimately in control.
We need to remember that it is God who has the final authority – not world leaders.
And he will use them all, no matter which country they represent, as a means of grace, or a means of judgment, as He, and He alone, sees fit.
And what he sees fit to do is always the best.
Forget this and we risk constant anxiety. We end up fearfully watching as history unfolds having lost sight of who holds the whole of history in His hands.
And lastly, and perhaps most concerning of all, our constant calling out what we think Trump is doing wrong, risks making us judgemental rather than gracious, proud rather than humble, and driven by outrage rather than love.
And that would be very dangerous indeed.
Some musings 