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{"id":4848,"date":"2016-07-19T07:17:37","date_gmt":"2016-07-19T11:17:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/?p=4848"},"modified":"2016-07-19T07:17:37","modified_gmt":"2016-07-19T11:17:37","slug":"the-rnc-commits-blasphemy-first-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/preventingrace\/2016\/07\/19\/the-rnc-commits-blasphemy-first-thing\/","title":{"rendered":"The RNC Commits Blasphemy First Thing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

It was when I was in the thrall of my improving book that my calm was shattered and I remembered that it doesn\u2019t matter if you can\u2019t watch stuff on tv, because you can always see bits of it online later\u2013sometimes later being about 30 seconds after it occurs. Matt kept playing this<\/a> over and over (can\u2019t figure out how to embed it, sorry) until I was forced to close my book and glare at him.<\/p>\n

Remember the last Convention go around, how the Democrat Gathering voted to remove any mention of God from their party platform? I thought, at the time, that however blasphemous it might be, it was nevertheless sensible because there\u2019s no way that God would be willing to endorse any of their plans. Good idea to ask him to leave and not pretend that there is any joining together of their lives with his.<\/p>\n

I mean, it is mightily foolish to chuck God out the window. But, it\u2019s not nearly so foolish as the blasphemous words that the pastor uttered in the above clip. Should I link it again? In case you didn\u2019t actually click it? Here<\/a> it is.<\/p>\n

I hope you can pick out the offending line. I\u2019ll quote it, just in case you\u2019re tired, as I am, and wishing the teapot weren\u2019t so empty. Here\u2019s the pastor thundering, \u201cI\u2019m going to give the benediction, you know why, because we are electing in Donald Trump a man who believes in the name of Jesus Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n

Um, I\u2019m hoping, Pastor Burns, that by \u2018believes in the name of Jesus Christ\u2019 you misspoke and meant to say, \u2018believes that Jesus existed just like Buddha and Mohammed, go \u2018Merica!\u2019 Because it\u2019s quite a bold thing to claim that Mr. Trump is truly a Christian, when he hasn\u2019t given any indication whatsoever of this being the case, including denying, as he\u2019s claiming to be a \u2018Great Christian\u2019, \u2018The Best Christian\u2019, basic tenets of Christian belief such as the need to repent of sin and be forgiven. If Mr. Trump is a Christian I will eat my beautiful velvet red hat so carefully tucked into my mother\u2019s lavender hatbox, gently borne across the entire United States\u2013gosh that\u2019s a beautiful\u00a0hat.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the thing, we\u2019ve tried conflating the gospel with the political process. We\u2019ve tried the Moral Majority\u00a0and the Christian Right. We\u2019ve hoped and prayed that if we concentrated on making people behave properly we wouldn\u2019t ever have to whisper the name of Jesus. We\u2019ve trusted and believed, even in the face of all the evidence, that \u2018Merica was a Christian nation. And what has it wrought? What has been the fruit of all that work? Other than churches beset by heresy if they are full, and cultural disapprobation if they stick rather closely to historical doctrine and belief. Oh, and the greatest, the Yugest Fruit of all\u2013Mr. Trump believing himself to be a Christian, or being willing to make this claim for political expediency.<\/p>\n

Its too bad, and it\u2019s unkind. If this pastor really cared about anybody, he would take his candidate into a back room and preach the gospel straight up. \u2018Mr. Trump,\u2019 he would say, \u2018you are a vile sinner. No no, not a winner, a ssssinner. What is a sinner? Oh well, that\u2019s a person who does things wrong. Wrong? Well, let me think. To do something wrong is like when, oh never mind, just come to my house later and I\u2019ll try to explain because it\u2019s going to take longer than five minuts.\u2019<\/p>\n

Why would be it be good to preach the gospel to Mr. Trump? And to Mrs. Clinton for that matter? And to all people everywhere, going into the world and making disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, other than its being the one thing Jesus commanded us to do? Because it\u2019s kind. It\u2019s loving. To invite someone to recognize their sin, their separation from God, and to lay down the burden of guilt at the cross and be welcomed into the divine embrace, well, it\u2019s the kind and loving thing to do. It isn\u2019t nice to let people drift ever farther from God, convinced of their own goodness. Being Good is not enough. It hasn\u2019t worked. We need the gospel.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"