![\"cruz\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/941\/2016\/01\/cruz-1024x683.jpg\")
(Credit: Wikipedia<\/a>)<\/p>\nI have no idea who I\u2019m going to vote for in November.<\/p>\n
I mean, should he win his party\u2019s nomination, I obviously won\u2019t be voting for Donald Trump because I have a soul and I believe in things like human decency and the crazy notion that racism and bigotry aren\u2019t virtues to be embraced.<\/p>\n
I also definitely won\u2019t be voting for Trump-lite either.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m talking about Ted Cruz, the man who just can\u2019t bring himself to say a bad word about The Donald\u2122\u2026.probably because he seems to believe almost all of the same things Trump does.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, like most of America, I have a hard-time turning away when either of these guys speak because the words that come out of their mouths are so incredibly mind-bottling<\/a>. True, Trump is the undisputed high king of\u00a0absurdity, but more and more, Ted Cruz (and, let\u2019s be honest, most of the Republican presidential field) is giving The Donald\u2122\u00a0a run for his money.<\/p>\n Case in point: recent comments Cruz made<\/a> about the Bible.<\/p>\n A book, I\u2019m increasingly less convinced he\u2019s actually read.<\/p>\n Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. His dad was\/is a pastor and he\u2019s a Christian. Surely, Ted has read a least some of it at some point in his life, right?<\/p>\n Maybe\u2026and maybe not.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what Cruz said to the American Family Association that causes my doubt\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cIf you fear God, you obey God\u2019s precepts,\u201d he said. \u201cFor example, you defend the sanctity of life. But beyond the moral code, that means you live a life of integrity, honesty, hard work, individual responsibility, the rule of law, and yes, free enterprise and limited government. The Bible has a lot to say about all those.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Where to begin?<\/p>\n There\u2019s so much irony and nonsense in there, it\u2019s hard to know where to start. Ugh. Decisions, decisions. Ok, let\u2019s start with his first claim.<\/p>\n On its own, it\u2019s a fairly innocuous statement. But coming from a politician like Cruz, it\u2019s laughable and the height of hypocrisy.<\/p>\n For example, one of God\u2019s precepts \u2013 actually \u201cone\u201d is an understatement as it\u2019s repeated over and over and over again in one way or another throughout the Old Testament \u2013 is found in Exodus 22:21<\/a>, \u201cYou must not mistreat or oppress foreigners in any way. Remember, you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt.\u201d Another one of God\u2019s precepts can be found in Matthew 5:43-44<\/a>. You\u2019ve probably heard it before, \u201cYou have heard that it was said, \u2018You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.\u2019<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n There are far too many examples of the irony at play here, so I\u2019ll just list a few. In November, Sen. Cruz announced he would be introducing legislation banning Syrian refugees<\/a> from finding shelter in the United States. Also in November, Cruz declared it\u2019s cool if some Syrian refugees come here, but only if they\u2019re Christian<\/a>. This week, Cruz called for a national harassment of refugees already in the United States to determine whether or not<\/a> they have ties to radical Islamic terrorists. And let\u2019s not forget\u00a0the\u00a0experiment Cruz proposed last month in which he wanted to carpet bomb the Middle East in order to see if sand glows in the dark<\/a>.<\/p>\n Clearly treating foreigners well and loving your enemies are divine precepts Ted Cruz either isn\u2019t familiar with or simply doesn\u2019t care about.<\/p>\n Oh and I almost forgot. There\u2019s also\u00a0that precept in the Ten Commandments<\/a> about not bearing false witness. Apparently, Cruz missed that one too when lied to his constituents by telling them that President Obama\u2019s recent executive order\u00a0was an effort to take their guns away<\/a>. It\u2019s not<\/a>.<\/p>\n What about his claim that there is a divine\/biblical call to \u201cdefend the sanctify of life\u201d? Would you believe there\u2019s not actually a lot of biblical support for that? Well, if you\u2019ve actually read the Bible you would. Don\u2019t get me wrong. It\u2019s not that you can find the language in scripture to support arguing for the sanctity of human life. You certainly can. It\u2019s just that the Bible is filled with story after story after story in which\u00a0human life doesn\u2019t seem to be all that important. Like, the entire conquest of the Promised Land, for example. Untold thousands of people are wiped out in that endeavor \u2013 including and explicitly<\/a> counting countless women and children \u2013 who were just minding their own business when one day God\u2019s holy warriors showed\u00a0up and killed them all. Oh, and speaking of precepts, there\u2019s that precept in Deuteronomy 21<\/a> about stoning bratty children to death. Not really a law you would pass in support of the sanctity of human life.<\/p>\n Look, I\u2019m no fan of abortion, but if you\u2019re looking for a sanctified rallying cry for the sanctity of life, believe it or not\u00a0the Bible probably isn\u2019t the best place to turn. (Try the Didache<\/a> instead) Of course, this is something Cruz would be aware of if he had actually taken the time to read them Bible instead of simply appealing to it whenever he wanted to sanctify his political position.<\/p>\n Now, to be fair, Ted doesn\u2019t just harp on God\u2019s precepts. He also looks \u201cbeyond\u201d that. So, let\u2019s examine those claims too.<\/p>\n According to Cruz, we should \u201clive a life of integrity.\u201d I totally agree. And so does the Bible! Too bad, Ted\u2019s not a big proponent<\/a> of living what you preach.<\/p>\n Cruz also says hard work is part of following God. A bit Calvinist for me, to be honest, but I guess it depends on what exactly that work is. If it\u2019s in regards to something like caring for the poor, then yay hard work! But if it\u2019s let\u2019s work as hard as we can to get as rich as we can (i.e. Team Capitalism), I\u2019m not sure how biblical that actually is.\u00a0Since Cruz isn\u2019t particularly clear here, I\u2019ll let this one slide.<\/p>\n But I can\u2019t turn a blind eye to Ted adding \u201cindividual responsibility\u201d to his list of Christian virtues. It\u2019s hard to know where to begin with this one. I know evangelicals love the idea of individual responsibility because without it, the whole asking Jesus into your heart or you go to hell thing kind of falls apart. And politically conservative evangelicals love individual responsibility even more because it sanctifies the idea that we have no collective responsibility towards our neighbors in need.<\/p>\n But, as\u00a0The Donald\u2122 might say, the Bible, well the Bible isn\u2019t huge<\/em> on individual responsibility. Or at least not as huge as Cruz seems to believe.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not to say individuals are never held accountable for their actions in the Bible. Of course they are. But throughout the Old Testament we see Israel as a whole<\/em><\/a> being blessed and punished \u2013 even when it\u2019s due to the actions (or inaction) of a few<\/a>. And even in the New Testament, not only is Israel still being treated collectively, we see entire households<\/a> \u201ccome to Jesus\u201d together and the Church being held responsible collectively<\/em><\/a> for her actions\/inaction, just like Israel.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a bit of nuance to be sure, but still. It\u2019s important nuance as it\u2019s an important\u00a0missing important biblical virtue Cruz would recognize as missing\u2026if he had actually read the Bible.<\/p>\n Next up: \u201cthe rule of law.\u201d<\/p>\n Our first hint that Ted may have actually read the Bible! Or at least some of it. The Old Testament is definitely all about the people of God following the Law. But then there\u2019s the\u00a0New Testament and that pesky Paul fellow who said<\/a> something about no longer being under the Law, but under grace. Obviously, that doesn\u2019t mean Christians are free to break the law of the land whenever we please. But such a radical shift if the Bible\u2019s position on the rule of law (to say nothing of what the law(s) the Bible considers to be of greatest importance<\/a>) should give Cruz some pause in his compassionless crusade to uphold the law<\/a>.<\/p>\n Finally, we come to it.<\/p>\n The\u00a0moment when Ted Cruz just says \u201cscrew it\u201d to any pretense that he\u2019s actually citing biblical virtue and not simply sanctifying Republican ideology.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026and yes, free enterprise and limited government. The Bible has a lot to say about all those.\u201d<\/p>\n Ahh, yes. Free enterprise and limited government. The Bible is such big, big fans of both. I mean, it just can\u2019t stop talking about free enterprise and limited government it loves them so much.<\/p>\n You know, like how the Old Testament devotes so much time listing off law after law after law dictating how the people of God can conduct their business<\/a>, when they can conduct their business<\/a> (spoiler alert: not on the sabbath), and the limits placed on\u00a0that business to ensure the poor and, gasp, foreigners are cared for<\/a>. Then you get to the early Church in the New Testament. Their selling everything they have<\/a> and sharing it in common\u00a0porto-communism just screams \u201cGod loves free enterprise!\u201d And that\u2019s not to mention Jesus calling on his followers<\/a> to sell everything they have and give it to the poor. Nothing says God loves free enterprise more clearly than the Son of God telling people what to do with their money.<\/p>\n And limited government? You won\u2019t find a bigger fan of limited government than the Old Testament, what with its long line of divinely appointed absolute monarchs<\/a>. And once again, there\u2019s the Law. I can\u2019t think of a more limited government than a theocracy with 613 laws dictating everything from what you can eat<\/a> to what you can wear<\/a> to what religion you must follow<\/a> (and how you must follow it<\/a>). Sure, the New Testament replaces those absolute monarchs with King Jesus, but Paul is clear that all government is ordained by God<\/a> and the government he knew best was the empire he was a citizen of.<\/p>\n And what is an empire if not the quintessential example of limited government, right?<\/p>\n Right??<\/p>\n Ok sure,\u00a0one quote doesn\u2019t prove Ted Cruz has\u00a0never read the Bible. It\u2019s more that this quote so succinctly captures his religio-political ideology that, coupled with a long history of biblically dubious actions and statements, I have a hard time believing\u00a0Ted Cruz is particularly\u00a0familiar with the Bible.<\/p>\n But fine.<\/p>\n You\u2019re right.<\/p>\n When I take my tongue out of my cheek, I can admit he probably has read the Bible at least once in his life. Probably more than that.<\/p>\n The issue at hand is really more about\u00a0the way he talks about the Bible and the fact that so many of the actions he calls for are so utterly-antithetical to the Bible \u2013 and the way of Jesus, in particular \u2013 that it almost makes me think he\u2019s just trying to manipulate a base of voters \u2013 conservative evangelicals \u2013 into voting for him because he\u2019s one of them.<\/p>\n Because he\u2019s the<\/em> biblically faithful candidate.<\/p>\n But a politician would never mislead and pander to a particular demographic just for votes, right?<\/p>\n Right??<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n UPDATE<\/b>: So, apparently I owe apologies to Ted. While I stil have deep doubts about his biblical competency based on everything else I linked to in this article (among other things), the article I linked to at the top in which Cruz positions himself as the biblical candidate transitions towards the end to reference his father Raphel who gave the quote I dissected, not Ted. So my apologies to Ted. The article should be titled \u201cHave Ted And Raphel Cruz Ever Actually Read The Bible?\u201d\u00a0 (Credit: Wikipedia) I have no idea who I\u2019m going to vote for in November. I mean, should he win his party\u2019s nomination, I obviously won\u2019t be voting for Donald Trump because I have a soul and I believe in things like human decency and the crazy notion that racism and bigotry aren\u2019t virtues to be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3437,"featured_media":14865,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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