Did God Save Trump?
Was Trump’s assassination attempt divinely prevented?
Not in the way American Protestant heretics are claiming. Nero and Cyrus could have both made such claims while Jesus was killed by a government that wasn’t of his Kingdom. According to our scriptures, other scriptures, philosophy, and reality, sure, we could say God providentially saved Trump, but only conclusively as far as God didn’t change the outcome or make his death a fact. The boy could have just missed. We don’t know God’s ways and plans, and we have erred countless times when we have assumed we did. We turn small things into mountains with faith and can miss the mountains that lay before us. All we can say is, whether by fate, chance, or the hand of God, Trump’s life is still his to live for a bit longer.
The Fallacy of Group Hype
Trump’s life being spared does not mean God has appointed him or favors him above Biden or anyone other human. It does not mean one party is right and the other wrong. There is no logical and honest way of making such a claim—all it is, and I am empathetic, is group hype and biased thinking. It’s self-confirming bias and echoed reassurances. The same God most people are referring to is the same who talked about corrupt leaders, examining people’s fruit and actions, being careful about people who take on His name in vain, and who violate the Ten Commandments but get votes because they promise to hang them in schools. We kill the leaders like Jesus and prop up the Sauls, Augustus, Stalins, and Trumps. We scream, “Give us a king, like the other nations!”
All Trump is is an idol, a false god. He’s a tool for Republicans and conservatives for power. They’ve hitched their wagons and cast their lots, not much differently than Democrats, if everyone is honest. I think I’m lost with most in-between and no good options when it comes to an either/or anxiety vote – I will regret if I do and if I don’t. The illusion that it has to be one or the other has faded. What I hate is that the good of the conservative is washed in all this filth. I think there are conversations we should be having nationwide, across the aisles, because there are good things. We also, humans, have proven that bad theology is not all it takes to screw things up. We are all it takes.
National Angst: A Personal Issue
I’m more of the opinion that our national angst isn’t political. It’s personal. Nihilism is real and misunderstood by Christians who actually make it worse. The problems in our daily, family, and work lives are still on the outside of the problems—the real problems are on the inside. We have now, with America’s freedom, wealth, and technological growth, become self-centered, disconnected from people we view as threats, and then have had decades of practicing with the internet, social media, and mobile technology to become a selfie culture.
Warnings from Prophets & Philosophers
We have become what those before us warned of, from Prophets, Plato, Jesus, Kierkegaard, René Girard, and Nietzsche. We are a nation of egos that form a cacophony of tribes. Our problems exist between the tribes and with our egos, but no one is willing to go into No Man’s Land. Who would? You’d be without community, with no side, offending every tribe by not having their flag flown, stripped of your ego, and living in a kingdom not of this world. It’s easier than ever to brand the people we hate and disconnect from them. We were already doing it before we had the world in our hands.
Logical Fallacies Surrounding Trump
Back to Trump, there are some other logical fallacies with what’s being said. Even if God supernaturally interceded, so what? The why behind it, the motive for it, is not for us to decide—we are not God. God may have just not wanted the dude to die that way—that boy has so many unresolved issues he’s avoiding, ya know? If God did turn Trump’s head, we cannot, are not allowed to say it was. We can’t say from a missed shot that God wants Trump to be the leader, that God approves of this man’s character and competencies. From The Apprentice and his court battles to his speech and cognitive frailties, he clearly is not.
Cain, King Saul, and King Ahab also had their lives spared.
Political Games and Accountability
It’s not like Democrats didn’t play their game, have their infighting, and somehow lose against this man. It’s not all Biden’s fault, Democrats. You chose him, and he is only one man in this. Look at what Republicans have been able to do with Trump—now, what is your excuse? If you’re pointing a finger somewhere, you’ve missed my point.
The Complexity of Divine Intervention
So, did God save Trump? Yes and no. It could have been a fluke—God hasn’t claimed credit for it yet. It could have been giving Trump another chance to get his shit together and work on himself and his family—you know there are issues there. It could be that God is divinely orchestrating Evangelicals’ own destruction by giving them exactly what they want, just as He has done so many times in scripture and history. It could have been that there would have been more people killed. Maybe there would have been such a violent reaction from the people who are claiming God is on their side that God was like, “Nope, I don’t want that on my Name.”
Actually, I rather like that last answer. I think I’ll go with that.
When we create a political system and national division in which there is no community, no conversation, no love, just egos, we take God’s name in vain so our names can sound better. We’re all guilty of it, in some way claiming the authority and role of God in our own lives above others. Trump is the natural fruit of a culture like this, but truth cuts across demographics and psychographics. It casts its light on all sides of politics and social causes. It calls to our own lives, our own relationships, and circumstances. We are Trump and Biden and everyone in between.
