“Trump is a fascist threat to liberty.” “Trump is an easy target for the politically correct.” Perhaps the biggest danger he is to me is as a temptation to contempt.
This Vox piece by someone who describes himself as a “socialist” points out the moral dangers of knowing. (Trigger warning, he talks about Kim Davis without the requisite condescension).
http://www.vox.com/2016/4/21/11451378/smug-american-liberalism
If you grew up in the CRC you knew this. Why were were better than the eeeevangelicals. The RCA was OK but a bit wobbly when it counted, like embracing Robert Schuller and Norman Vincent Peale. Donald Trump of course grew up in Peale’s church, to the degree he grew up in any church.
I watched a bit of Trump on Today today https://youtu.be/MAJVjQEmOEs . We’ll of course now hear the Republican dust-up because he said Caitlyn can use the girl’s potty at Trump Tower. I don’t know that this means Ivanka and Melania will share a bathroom with her because I doubt they use public restrooms anyway. You know how the Donald feels about germs and I’m sure he doesn’t want them on his special ladies. (He makes it SOOOO easy to laugh at him.)
The more I listen to the Donald the more I feel superior and the more I’m tempted to contempt, not just for the Donald but his supporters. I am animated by contempt.
If I diagnose myself by the book of Proverbs my temptation is to be a mocker. I love to mock. Mockery is the manifestation of contempt.
Paul’s Letter to The Church at Corinth
It brings me to reflect on Paul’s complicated conversation with the Corinthian church regarding what for them was a very complex subject, whether or not these new Christians leaving paganism are allowed to attend even private festivals a pagan temples.
1 Corinthians 8:1–3 (NIV)
1 Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “We all possess knowledge.” But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. 2 Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know. 3 But whoever loves God is known by God.
The third verse is of course problematic for many in a secular context. What does it matter about loving God and who of us can tell who might be known by such a God if one even exists.
Paul in this passages refuses to give the Corinthian church a straight forward answer to their question about attending an event in a pagan temple and in many ways says “it is besides the point. Love is the point. You must prioritize your love for your brothers and sisters who are struggling.”
How does my belief or awareness of “being known by God” change my capacity for contempt for those I find to be “without knowledge”?
Maybe because in God’s opinion I too am “without knowledge” and yet he still “knows” me, not the “saber” in Spanish like a name on a list, but the “conocer” in Spanish which is a personal knowledge, a relationship with complexity and implications and strings attached. God’s knowledge of the Corinthian church and its members is mediated by Jesus, by charismata, by the cross, by the resurrection.
Paul will tell those with knowledge that they must love those without “knowledge” as Christ loved us while we were yet sinners.
When it comes to the Donald this is of secondary importance. I doubt I will ever have a personal relationship with the Donald.
Donald Trump trades in contempt all the time and so part of me justifies my contempt for him by his obvious contempt for others. This is his favorite “eye for an eye” verse. Does his contempt for others justify my contempt for him? This is the same trap that people fall into when they want to withhold forgiveness because they imagine refusing to forgive punishes others instead of realizing they are just poisoning their own souls.
Jesus says I must love The Donald. Ugh. At least he doesn’t say I must vote for him.
Leadingchurch.com 