Power or Justice

 In the wake of the election of Donald Trump, many disgruntled Christians have accused Trump voters of seeking power at a cost and have said that Christians should have "laid down their arms." I think those who characterize Trump voters as power seekers are misframing the issue, at least, misframing the way many Trump voters, particularly reluctant Trump voters, saw their decision. 

First, people characterize a vote for Trump as a desire for power. That wasn't my perception. Since when is wanting to be allowed to follow your conscience "seeking power"? Since when is voting for your alma mater not to be defunded for requiring Biblical sexual conduct "seeking power"? 

Now, I agree that there are times to allow yourself to be persecuted and mistreated for the sake of the Gospel, but that is a different business to merely giving up power. When it is a necessity, it is a solemn one. If we are to undertake such a thing, we must understand what we are doing in the right terms. In a few words, we are permitting people to sin against us. More than that, we are promoting government injustice. Persecution of Christians is injustice. In temporal terms, it generally violates the Constitution, an agreement the government has sworn to uphold. Whatever the faults in the Constitution, it is still a promise our government has made. The Bible commands people to be true to their words. In eternal terms, it is unjust because it inverts the purpose of government. According to Scripture, the government ought to punish wrongdoing and praise righteousness. Persecution of Christians punishes righteousness and rewards wrongdoing. When governments persecute Christians, they have gone mad and are substituting our good for theirs. That is, they are doing us eternal good while harming themselves. Is it not selfish, then, for us to court persecution without giving our potential persecutors every  possible warning of what the result of their actions is likely to be? Do we do an abuser good by allowing him to pummel us if, by legal and legitimate (if unpleasant) means we can restrain the abuser and prevent him from committing further sin? So what if the abuser complains that we should have born our persecution patiently? We know where such statements come from and what their real motive is. 

Now, all this presupposes that the means at hand are legal and legitimate. If a vote for Trump was not a legitimate means, by all means tell me why, but don't imagine that "giving up power" is a light matter merely to be undertaken because the alternative "looks bad" in the world's eyes.  

A word of conciliation: It is true that many Christians who supported Donald Trump have an idolatrous vision of him. Some see him as a kind of messiah. Such thinking is disturbing and wrong. Brothers and sisters in conservative denominations: This should not be! Pastors, preach against it! Let us have no illusions about this man.