{"id":1108,"date":"2019-01-31T20:24:04","date_gmt":"2019-02-01T04:24:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/?p=1108"},"modified":"2019-02-04T10:17:24","modified_gmt":"2019-02-04T18:17:24","slug":"that-god-chose-trump-and-other-dumb-ideas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2019\/01\/31\/that-god-chose-trump-and-other-dumb-ideas\/","title":{"rendered":"That God Chose Trump and Other Dumb Ideas"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p>We\u2019ve heard of people, or read of people, who have asserted that God chose Trump to be president, but most of these were likely people who believed all sorts of other nonsense.\u00a0 It is something though to hear it from a person, who in all other respects, seems to have normal cognitive functioning.<\/p>\n<p>When I read Sarah Huckabee Sanders\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/story\/2019\/01\/30\/sarah-huckabee-sanders-trump-god-1137547\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">statement<\/a>, my first thought was, well that explains the constant spinning and lying.\u00a0 After all, if you are doing it for God\u2019s chosen vessel, it must be serving a higher purpose.\u00a0 And to do otherwise might incur the wrath of God.\u00a0 I suppose it also eases the conscience somewhat\u2014you know, helps one sleep at night.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s unpack this a bit.\u00a0 She thinks God wanted Trump to be president.\u00a0 And thus, <em>he is<\/em>.\u00a0 Does that mean God wanted Obama to be president for eight years?\u00a0 Did God want Bill Clinton to be president?\u00a0 Did God want Nixon to be president?\u00a0 Did God want Nancy Pelosi to be Speaker of the House?\u00a0 Did God want the Democrats to take over the majority in the House?\u00a0 Did God put Robert Mueller in place?\u00a0 I mean, how does this work?\u00a0 Is whomever wins, the person God <em>wanted<\/em> to win, whether president, or speaker, senator, congressperson, etc.?\u00a0 And, even if they represent completely different philosophies and goals?\u00a0 Is God confused?\u00a0 Is democracy a joke?<\/p>\n<p>Was she making an extreme Calvinist-like assertion that God is in control of every single event, from the movement of an atom to the expansion rate of the universe, and absolutely nothing happens without God\u2019s direction?\u00a0 Thus, God wanted or allowed Hitler to come to power too?\u00a0 Is God ultimately the cause of evil then?<\/p>\n<p>And she uses the word \u201cwanted.\u201d\u00a0 It was God\u2019s intention.\u00a0 Not that God allowed it, but that God actually \u201cwanted\u201d Trump to be president.\u00a0 Does she know the mind and intention of God in that regard?\u00a0 That alone should send shivers.<\/p>\n<p>Is she saying that, out of all the candidates, God wanted the thrice divorced, sexist, racist, bullying, and dishonest person with the least amount of decency, integrity, and character to be president?\u00a0 God wanted the person who cheated on his wife with porn stars and playboy bunnies to be president?\u00a0 God wanted the person whose many business\/charity practices have been shown to be either illegal or cons, to be president?\u00a0 God wanted the person who made fun of a handicapped man, and urged his followers at campaign rallies to commit violence to be president?<\/p>\n<p>In other words, all of a sudden, contrary to everything we\u2019ve been told by evangelicals we should want, and what God wants, in a candidate for political office, with Trump God has now made it clear he wants the exact opposite.\u00a0 Is that what we are to take away?<\/p>\n<p>Let me suggest what we might take away from such assertions like Sander\u2019s: They are unmitigated nonsense.\u00a0 They reveal an astounding theological immaturity and ignorance.\u00a0 They suggest an amazing lack of philosophical and intellectual curiosity or grasp of basic logic.\u00a0 They demonstrate a closed mind, a shallow sensibility, and notion of a god made in one\u2019s own political-ideological image.\u00a0 Further, they show an alarming capacity for presumption as to knowing the mind of God.<\/p>\n<p>The idea God wanted Trump to win, or if it was reversed and the notion was that God wanted Hillary to win, is no more sensible than when we hear a coach or athlete say God wanted their team to win.\u00a0 These are statements made by people who, while meaning well, or just trying to give thanks, are speaking out of turn.\u00a0 But a coach or athlete we can overlook, as their statements, usually made in the glorious aftermath of a win, are not considered in those moment to be serious theological or philosophical reflections to begin with.\u00a0 We consider the moment and the source.<\/p>\n<p>It is different though with Sanders.\u00a0 My guess is her statement was a calculated attempt to shore up support for a president who is tanking with almost every voter demographic.\u00a0 They have to hold on to white evangelicals.\u00a0 But if she was serious, she should be embarrassed.\u00a0 Unfortunately, one has to have, at least, a tiny bit of self-awareness, a sense of how one\u2019s missed the enormity of the conversation surrounding their topic, for that to happen.\u00a0 This White House and the people who work there seem incapable of such.<\/p>\n<p><strong>I have a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/DarrellL\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Patreon<\/a> Page\u2014please consider supporting my writing.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We\u2019ve heard of people, or read of people, who have asserted that God chose Trump to be president, but most of these were likely people who believed all sorts of other nonsense.\u00a0 It is something though to hear it from a person, who in all other respects, seems to have normal cognitive functioning. When I [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3524,"featured_media":1114,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[679,143,344,676,485],"class_list":["post-1108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-calvinism","tag-evangelicalism","tag-political","tag-sara-huckabee-sanders","tag-trump"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>That God Chose Trump and Other Dumb Ideas<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We\u2019ve heard of people, or read of people, who have asserted that God chose Trump to be president, but most of these were likely people who believed all\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2019\/01\/31\/that-god-chose-trump-and-other-dumb-ideas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"That God Chose Trump and Other Dumb Ideas\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We\u2019ve heard of people, or read of people, who have asserted that God chose Trump to be president, but most of these were likely people who believed all\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2019\/01\/31\/that-god-chose-trump-and-other-dumb-ideas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Divergence\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-02-01T04:24:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-02-04T18:17:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1004\/2019\/01\/hand-784077_640.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"482\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Darrell Lackey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@darrelllackey1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Darrell Lackey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2019\/01\/31\/that-god-chose-trump-and-other-dumb-ideas\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2019\/01\/31\/that-god-chose-trump-and-other-dumb-ideas\/\",\"name\":\"That God Chose Trump and Other Dumb Ideas\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-02-01T04:24:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-02-04T18:17:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#\/schema\/person\/d88a32b8d4b5f40fbd6ccbfce4e0f813\"},\"description\":\"We\u2019ve heard of people, or read of people, who have asserted that God chose Trump to be president, but most of these were likely people who believed all\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2019\/01\/31\/that-god-chose-trump-and-other-dumb-ideas\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2019\/01\/31\/that-god-chose-trump-and-other-dumb-ideas\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2019\/01\/31\/that-god-chose-trump-and-other-dumb-ideas\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"That God Chose Trump and Other Dumb Ideas\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/\",\"name\":\"Divergence\",\"description\":\"Commentary Regarding Fundamentalism - 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