To be or not to be Christian

“Christian” in the Trump era

Photographer unknown

There’s an acronym I use when I hear someone who claims to be Christian say something like this: “… if you executed the homos like God recommends, you wouldn’t have all this AIDS running rampant.” (Steven Anderson, pastor of the Faithful Word Baptist Church, Tempe AZ)

Or this (slightly paraphrased, from the same article): “Put all the lesbians and homosexuals in separate areas behind electric fences. Fly over and drop in some food. In a few years they will die out. You know why? They can’t reproduce.” (Baptist preacher Charles Worley, North Carolina) [Never mind that if you sepearated male and female heterosexuals from each other, they couldn’t reproduce, either.]

That term is CINO. Christians In Name Only.

It also applies to those who claim to be Christian and then endorse and/or publicize things they know to be lies, as when Marjorie Taylor Greene endorsed a deranged conspiracy theory about Democrats and satanic child murder.

“The metamorphosis of Jesus Christ from a humble servant of the abject poor to a symbol that stands for gun rights, prosperity theology, anti-science, limited government (that neglects the destitute), and fierce nationalism is truly the strangest transformation in human history.” (Rainn Wilson)

It can seem confounding that so many CINOs support someone like Donald Trump, when he has trampled on countless principles at the heart of Christian doctrine. His offenses are too numerous to list here. That he calls himself a Christian beggars belief. Even so, he has countless “Christian” devotees.

Image creator unknown

So how can these CINOs reconcile their support of a moral despot? Equally puzzling to me is how many “Christians” are swingers who trade their married partners with someone else’s partner for sex. It’s so common that there are websites (here’s one example) devoted to helping rationalize the apparent conflict with their own scripture.

What they believe and how they behave are kept separate, disconnected from each other. For far too many self-professed Christians, their beliefs and their behavior do not need to coincide. Here’s how a conversation with one of them might go.

Me: Why is it important to be Christian?

CINO: So you can be saved. So you can go to heaven when you die, and not to hell.

Me: What does it take to be saved? What would I have to do?

CINO: Romans 10:9 says you must believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, and that he died for our sins.

Me: That’s it? I don’t have to do anything else?

CINO: Accept Jesus into your heart. Believe that he is your personal savior.

Me: But... what about in Matthew, where Jesus said that to have eternal life you must keep the commandments?

CINO (confused only briefly): John says, “I am the way, the truth, and the light. No one comes to the Father but through me.”

Me: Doesn’t that mean you must do what he says to do? You know, like love others as you love yourself? That commandment was second only to loving God, according to Christ. All other laws come after those two.

CINO: Paul says if you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Me: Okay, but that’s Paul. What about what Jesus said?

CINO: Are you accusing me of being unchristian?

Me: How do you justify what Jesus said with sending people to African prisons, people whose only crime was crossing into the U.S. without documentation? Or taking existing health care away from people who can’t afford it on their own?

CINO: I don’t have to worry about that.

Me: Why not?

CINO: I believe in my heart that God raised Jesus from the dead. This means I am saved.

Me: So it doesn’t matter what you do, only what you believe?

CINO: I am saved by grace alone. Through faith, not by works, so that there is nothing to boast about.

Me: Isn’t that Ephesians?

CINO: I don’t — probably.

Me: Isn’t that supposed to be Paul, again, though? Wasn’t it Jesus who was called Christ? You know, as in Christianity? Shouldn’t Christians do what Jesus said to do?

CINO: Are you trying to confuse me?

Me: No. There’s no sport in it.

So that, as they say, is that. All someone has to do to be saved is believe that God sent Jesus to die for their sins, that he died, that he was raised from the dead, and that now he is in their heart of hearts as their personal savior. In other words, it’s all about them.

Maybe I’m misreading the four gospels, but it seems to me Jesus was making the point that it’s not all about you. To believe that faith in the resurrection is all that matters guts the message of Jesus. This takes the “Christ” out of anyone who holds that belief. Hence: CINO.

As I see it, this is the hallmark of Trumpism. Donald Trump is clearly all about himself. Loyalty to him is everything. Disloyalty brings death, at least politically, often financially, and sometimes in the form of actual threats. His “message” (if one can call it that) gets through loud and clear to anyone who has little or no concern for anyone other than themselves and their own tribe.

This is not to say that all Christians—not even all Christians who support Trump—are exclusively self-interested. But an awful lot of them are. And gutting the message of Jesus in this way explains how a Christian might follow Trump. Um, I mean, to pretend to follow Jesus.

Image: jerycho1960, Pixabay; Translaction: In Jesus I trust

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I’m an inveterate observer of human nature, writing stories about understanding and connecting with each other. My primary goal is furthering acceptance of people who appear to be different from “us,” whoever that “us” might be. Check out my books on my website.