The Gospel According To Trump
Donald Trump’s most theological statement to date has been hiding in plain sight all along.
The FederalistBy Rebecca Cusey
August 10, 2016
EXCERPTED
As Republican nominee Donald Trump continues to court the evangelical vote, those of use who care deeply about faith have been trying to read the tea leaves of his posture toward Christianity.
We’ve discussed his disquieting relationship with the more bombastic side of evangelicalism, analyzed those he has invited to pray on his behalf, and discussed why it matters. All that talk about Two Corinthians and not asking forgiveness matters, too.
Turns out, Trump’s most theological statement to date has been hiding in plain sight all along. A passage in his 2004 book “Think Like a Billionaire” was unearthed by Buzzfeed’s Andrew Kaczynski. The relevant passage, a section from the introduction to the book, reads: Consider this new book the second part of an ongoing conversation between you and The Donald – the billionaire’s equivalent of those bestselling works of inspiration Conversations with God and Conversations with God, Book 2.
I’m sure some wise guy in the media is going to accuse me of comparing myself to God, so for the record, I do not think I am God. I believe in God. If God ever wanted an apartment in Trump Tower, I would immediately offer my best luxury suite at a very special price. I believe God is everywhere and in all of us, and I want every decision I make to reflect well on me when it’s time for me to go to that big boardroom in the sky. When I get permanently fired by the ultimate boss, I want the elevator to heaven to go up, not down.
Some of you may think it’s wrong to talk about God and business in the same breath, but God has always been central to our way of thinking about capitalism. The Protestant work ethic has thrived for centuries. The pursuit of prosperity is ingrained in our religious culture. The more you have, the more you can give. ...
Here are six takeaways from this deeply theological passage.
1. Trump Does Not Think He’s God
This is good news. Many people, especially wealthy, powerful Americans, suffer from the illusion that they are God. It’s not fashionable to say it, of course, but it’s quite common to act like it. People blessed to sit atop wealth, success, and power tend to think they alone brought wealth, success, and power into being through their own might. God responds to such foolishness out of burning bushes, lightning-cloaked mountains, and the quiet sigh of a final breath.
2. Trump Believes God Is Everywhere and In All of Us
While hinting at New Agey pantheism, this statement could also reinforce the Christian notion that mankind is made in the image of God and that each human being, whether in the womb, aged, hale and hearty, or disabled, carries the spark of God in them. This, and the Christian notion that Jesus died for all mankind, is the basis for Christian values of equality and human dignity.
Out of it flows all sorts of mercies: Care for sick, dying, hurting; concern for people in prison; valuing the disabled; valuing the life of unborn babies; the Christian-led movement to abolish slavery; support for civil rights; the belief that all stand equal before the law; not to mention missionaries in many lands feeding the hungry, healing the sick, providing homes for refugees, bringing solace to hurting hearts.
Some of Trump’s stated polices do not support the ideal that he claims here, and some of his statements directly rebut it, but in this, he is like most of us. ...
6. Trump Believes the Most Common Heresy
The most important, and most common, error in Trump’s stated theology is seeing Christianity as a ledger sheet. Trump says, “I want every decision I make to reflect well on me when it’s time for me to go to that big boardroom in the sky. When I get permanently fired by the ultimate boss, I want the elevator to heaven to go up, not down.”
This is a common, and vitally important, misunderstanding about what it means to believe in Christianity. Trump, like many people sitting in church each Sunday, seems to believe that we do some good things and we do some bad things and they’re all kept track of. When we die, the good and the bad are added up and those who are more good than bad go to heaven while those who are more bad than good do not.
This is not only incorrect, it is heresy. At its core, the notion is that we control our salvation and by good deeds can save ourselves. Christianity teaches that everything has gone so terribly off the rails that we can never save ourselves and that God is required to do it, through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.
Trump’s ledger sheet concept is an attractive ideology because human nature tends to emphasize our own wonderfulness and minimize our disgustingness. ...
A balanced analysis showing the good, bad, true and false.
