Hi!
I want to apologize in advance. Today’s blog is longer than usual because I am citing two passages from the Bible.
One is from the Psalms the other from the Wisdom of Solomon. Yeah, I know, Wisdom isn’t ‘canonical.’ But, even that giant of the Reformation, Martin Luther said that the Apocrypha is useful. And, if you’re Roman Catholic, the Apocrypha IS part of the Canon.
The last time I wrote here I talked about politics. Not something that I really enjoy. But, a reality that affects everyone to one degree or another. I’ve tried to stay away from writing about the current political climate in the U.S. Especially, the administration of Pres. Donald Trump.
Truth be told, I don’t like Donald Trump. I especially don’t like the administration that he’s assembled to keep his ego stroked. And, I truly don’t like many of his ideas and policies. But, that’s not the real reason that I don’t like what’s happening in Washington.
First, let preface this with a bit of a qualifier. The present President and administration are no more unqualified or corrupt than any previous administration. Warren G. Harding’s Teapot Dome scandal comes to mind. But, let’s face it. Politics is dark game where stakes can be unimaginably high. Especially at the federal level.
So, why don’t I like Trump & Co.? If they’re no better nor worse than any administration, why single them out? Because they say and do the quiet stuff out loud? Because they are singularly evil or corrupt? I already stated that they’re no different than previous administrations.
Most of you know that I am a student of the Christian Bible. I have a Masters degree in Divinity. I truly love the Scriptures. A constant theme in the Bible is justice. The text demands righteousness of the leaders of ancient Israel. Those demands have not expired with the writing of the Christian New Testament. Maybe I’ll write more about that some other time. Right now I just want to share a couple passages from Scripture that speak to why Donald Trump is not on my list of favorite people. He is, however, on my prayer list.
Why do you boast, O mighty one,
of mischief done against the godly?
All day long you are plotting destruction.
Your tongue is like a sharp razor,
you worker of treachery.
You love evil more than good,
and lying more than speaking the truth. Selah
You love all words that devour,
O deceitful tongue.
But God will break you down forever;
he will snatch and tear you from your tent;
he will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah
The righteous will see, and fear,
and will laugh at the evildoer, saying,
“See the one who would not take
refuge in God,
but trusted in abundant riches,
and sought refuge in wealth.1
For they reasoned unsoundly, saying to themselves,
“Short and sorrowful is our life,
and there is no remedy when a life comes to its end,
and no one has been known to return from Hades.
For we were born by mere chance,
and hereafter we shall be as though we had never been,
for the breath in our nostrils is smoke,
and reason is a spark kindled by the beating of our hearts;
when it is extinguished, the body will turn to ashes,
and the spirit will dissolve like empty air.
Our name will be forgotten in time,
and no one will remember our works;
our life will pass away like the traces of a cloud,
and be scattered like mist
that is chased by the rays of the sun
and overcome by its heat.
For our allotted time is the passing of a shadow,
and there is no return from our death,
because it is sealed up and no one turns back.
“Come, therefore, let us enjoy the good things that exist,
and make use of the creation to the full as in youth. Let us take our fill of costly wine and perfumes,
and let no flower of spring pass us by.
Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds before they wither.
Let none of us fail to share in our revelry;
everywhere let us leave signs of enjoyment,
because this is our portion, and this our lot.
Let us oppress the righteous poor man;
let us not spare the widow
or regard the gray hairs of the aged.
But let our might be our law of right,
for what is weak proves itself to be useless.
“Let us lie in wait for the righteous man,
because he is inconvenient to us and opposes our actions;
he reproaches us for sins against the law,
and accuses us of sins against our training.
He professes to have knowledge of God,
and calls himself a child of the Lord.
He became to us a reproof of our thoughts;
the very sight of him is a burden to us,
because his manner of life is unlike that of others,
and his ways are strange.
We are considered by him as something base,
and he avoids our ways as unclean;
he calls the last end of the righteous happy,
and boasts that God is his father.
Let us see if his words are true,
and let us test what will happen at the end of his life;
for if the righteous man is God’s child, he will help him,
and will deliver him from the hand of his adversaries.
Let us test him with insult and torture,
so that we may find out how gentle he is,
and make trial of his forbearance.
Let us condemn him to a shameful death,
for, according to what he says, he will be protected.”
Thus they reasoned, but they were led astray,
for their wickedness blinded them,
and they did not know the secret purposes of God,
nor hoped for the wages of holiness,
nor discerned the prize for blameless souls;
for God created us for incorruption,
and made us in the image of his own eternity,
but through the devil’s envy death entered the world,
and those who belong to his company experience it.2
1The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989), Ps 52:1–7.
2The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989), Wis 2:1–24.
