Today has been an interesting day, a devastating day.
I have often been shocked and appalled at the idea that brothers and sisters in Christ could rally behind someone like Donald Trump, someone who spouts hatred, who lies in every speech he has made during this political campaign, who has threatened his political opponents life and freedom and much much more.
Yet, according to exit polls, only 1 in 5 Evangelicals did not vote for Trump... That's 80% that did.
I have to wonder why someone would choose a man to be their President who is the complete opposite of Jesus Christ. Jesus said love your enemies, Trump said deport people who look like our enemies, Jesus said turn the other cheek, Trump said build a wall, shoot Clinton and others. Jesus said we would be known as His disciples by the love we have for one another, Trump has made more people more scared than they have been in my lifetime.
Many people voted for Donald Trump not because of the character of the person, but because of the issue of the Supreme Court. If you haven't come across this yet a Clinton win means a liberal Supreme Court, a conservative one if Donald wins and it turns out he is telling the truth about who he will appoint.
This all leads to the question: what makes a Christian nation?
To answer this question you need to take a step back.
What makes a Christian?
A Christian is a person who has a life-changing faith in Jesus Christ, a person who recognises that they are a sinner and need Jesus for their salvation.
A Christian is NOT:
- A person that follows Biblical laws.
- A person that follows Biblical laws because they are the laws of the State.
Those things do not make you a Christian! You are not a Christian because you live a good and moral life, you are a Christian if you trust in Jesus, throw yourself on the mercy and grace of God and rely on Him and Him alone (not your own works, goodness, morality etc) for your salvation.
So what makes a Christian nation?
A Christian nation would be a nation filled with Christians. If being a Christian means being saved by grace, not living by moralism, then a Christian nation can only be a nation of people who are Christians... nothing else.
Americans have fallen into the age-old trap this election. The same one every European Country did in centuries previously and are now finding themselves under major criticism for.
America has fallen into the trap that imposing Christian morals makes a Christian nation.
Let's go back to the Supreme Court.
With a Trump win, if he keeps his promises, he will appoint conservative judges to the Supreme Court. Many Christians have mentioned how a conservative Supreme Court would overthrow Roe v Wade, the piece of judicial history that allows for abortion in the USA. As well as this Christians are celebrating (not all, but 80% apparently) the idea that a conservative Supreme Court would overthrow the gay marriage ruling and annul the marriages that have taken place since.
To some this sounds like steps in a movement back towards the Christian nation America has been in the past. But remember, a nation is not Christian because it enforces Christian beliefs on a non-Christian population, it is Christian because it has a population of saved individuals, relying on the grace of God and expressing love for one another; not acting in ways that will come across as hateful and unloving to those who disagree.
Our God commanded us to turn the other cheek, yet time and time again Christians get drawn in by power and the ability to enforce Christianity in law. We are told not to be like Gentiles and lord it over others, but time and time again Christians take that option and that route.
This is not Christianity, it's moralism. Perhaps the Presidency of Donald Trump will enforce Christian morality on people, by force, but it will not make the nation a Christian one. Don't fool yourselves you 81% of Evangelical voters who voted Trump, you have not made the nation more Christian by voting Trump, just more moralistic.
What makes a Christian nation?
So, in reality what can you actually do to make a nation more Christian when it is made up of non-Christians?
1. Respect the dignity of all people:
As people made in the image of God. This means helping those who are not able to help themselves: the poor, disabled, those with addictions, the young and the elderly. It means respecting one another as people no matter our race, colour, gender or orientation. It means loving one another despite our differences and working together to see a better world for each person.
2. Recognise the reality of sin:
Man I wish we lived in a perfect world. I really do! I really wish we could see, expect and get the best out of ourselves and one another... However, this is not the case. A 'Christian' nation (one not made up of Christians but one hoping to build a more Christ-like approach to life) needs to recognise the reality of sin and legislate for it and protect each of our citizens from the dangers we pose to one another when we are at our worst.
3. Spread Love, not hate:
Jesus says that the world will know Christians because of the love they have for one another. I wonder how many Hispanic-Americans, Muslim-Americans, LGBT-Americans, black-Americans would say they feel loved when you tell them that Donald Trump had a greater percentage of Evangelicals voting for him than Mitt Romney, John McCain or the Bushes? Probably very few.
Christianity is a reality based on the overwhelming love of God who, while we were enemies of Him, loved us to the point of coming to this earth and dying in our place so we can experience His love for us ourselves. Resultant from that love is a calling to go and love others as we have been loved, even our enemies. For many Christians that means even Hillary Clinton, for others that means 59,606,000 people in the USA who voted for Clinton. For still others it means Donald Trump and the 59,399,000 who voted for him. I certainly hope and pray that Donald Trump will be able to move beyond the hatred he has incited and bring people together... but I have a feeling America will be a divided society where systemic racism becomes a reality again.
So what makes a Christian nation? Is it enforcing laws on gay marriage and abortion?
Or is it loving and helping those to experience their human rights to the fullest of their dignity deserved by the fact that each human being is made in God's image?
On top of that Christians need to think about that other nation they belong to, that nation they share with all Christians everywhere. This election is another failure for American Christians in this area.
While US Christians voted for the benefit they see (the Supreme Court in the United States enforcing Christian morals on a non-Christian population, as others would see it) they have not thought about their brothers and sisters in other nations.
They have not thought of South Korea.
That nation just south of the mental-case that rules North Korea.
Trump has, time and again, stated that he does not support Americas alliances, he wants to capitalise on them, make them a source of income for the USA. His election has left Christians in South Korea fearing that they will soon be left to fend for themselves against North Korea, and if they are because Trump doesn't hold to the alliances of the USA, they will surely fall. North Korea is always one of the top persecutors of Christians worldwide.
I strongly believe that, now Donald Trump is president that we need to pray for him and ask God to lead and rule in the decisions Trump makes, but I also believe in change. Things like this should never be allowed to happen again. Christians need to sit down and ask themselves what makes a Christian, and what makes a Christian nation.
I put it to you that Trump's America is the wrong Christian nation, one that, when the pendulum swings, will result in Liberals making sure something like Trump is never allowed to happen again, legislation against Christianity. We have seen it before, but the answer is not to fight their hell fire with our own, it is to preach the life changing Gospel of Jesus Christ, to pray for our cities for in their welfare we will find our welfare, for pray for our leaders, to live peaceably with everyone as much as we can, and to love our neighbours as ourselves. A Christian nation built on moralism cannot do these, it doesn't measure up and actually hurts the church, we need to leave this thinking behind and move forward, not backward.
It is a sad day indeed.
