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At the Family Leadership Summit in 2015, then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was asked by Frank Luntz, “Have you ever asked God for forgiveness?” At first Mr. Trump answered, “That’s a tough question. I don’t think in terms of that. I’m a religious person. Shockingly, most people, they’re so shocked when they find this out, I’m Protestant. I’m Presbyterian. And I go to church and I love God and I love my church.” He then spent some time singing the praises of “the great Norman Vincent Peale” and the power of positive thinking. Apparently unsatisfied by this answer, Mr. Luntz pressed further, “But have you ever asked God for forgiveness?”
Here is how Mr. Trump replied,
I’m not sure I have. I just go on and try to do a better job from there. I don’t think so. I think I, if I do something wrong I think I just try and make it right. I don’t bring God into that picture. I don’t. Now when I take and we go to church and when I drink my little wine, which is about the only wine I drink, and have my little cracker I guess that’s a form of asking for forgiveness and I do that as often as possible because I feel cleansed, OK? But to me that’s important. I do that. But in terms of officially, see, I could say, ‘Absolutely,’ and everybody, I don’t think in terms of that. I think in terms of let’s go on and let’s make it right.
By his own acknowledgement, Mr. Trump simply does not believe in repentance and has clearly stated, without any wiggle room for interpretation, that he has never asked God for forgiveness. This is not some sort of liberal propaganda. This is an irrefutable, indisputable fact. In light of this, Christians who wish to insist that President Trump is a follower of Jesus must make a difficult decision. Do they then a) acknowledge that, whatever the nature of President Trump’s personal beliefs, it simply cannot be labeled as Christian faith or b) alter the fundamental nature of the Christian faith to say it’s possible to be a Jesus follower without ever asking God for forgiveness? I fail to see how a third option might be possible.
It’s quite simply impossible to be a follower of Jesus and not believe in asking God for forgiveness. This is literally a foundational conviction of the entire Christian faith widely affirmed by Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and various stripes of Protestant Christians for nearly 2,000 years. It’s a bedrock tenant of what it means to follow Jesus. In the ancient words of the Nicene Creed, “We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.” This is not my own belief system pulled from thin air, but the historic teachings of the Church that have been faithfully passed down from generation to generation through the ages. And this is a belief President Trump rejects outright. Instead what I see President Trump espousing is belief in an insidious combination of Moral Therapeutic Deism crossed with the The Power of Positive Thinking. To put it succinctly and charitably, this ain’t the stuff of Christian faith.
But what of outward behavior? Surely following Jesus is not merely a matter of inward cognitive ascent to the right doctrines but also living a particular lifestyle. That whole James bit about faith without works is dead, right? Fair enough. However, I see little if any evidence of love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, or self-control in President Trump’s public or private life. Yet, strangely, some of his ardent Christian supporters have privately acknowledged to me that they support him not despite this but for this very reason. As one friend put it, “No, there’s no fruit of the Spirit. We didn’t elect a pastor-in-life. He’s a badass SOB who doesn’t put up with liberal pissants.” Forget turning the other cheek. These folks just want to own the libs. That ain’t the stuff of Christian faith, either.
It is perfectly clear that neither President Trump’s espoused inward beliefs nor his documented outward behaviors align with a biblical or historical understanding of the Christian faith. Still the question remains, is he a Christian? Here it’s crucial to think carefully by discerningly parsing between the hidden eternal status of a person’s soul, which is known to God alone, and the available temporal evidence for whether a person follows Jesus. That is, and if I may be permitted to briefly lean into dense theological language, no human should dare make a public declaration about his salvific status before God but, by any reasonable definition of what it means to be a Christian, it is clear that President Trump simply is not a Jesus follower.
In closing, the question remains, “Why does this matter?” In other words, what’s the point of asking this question and writing this piece? One could easily double the length of this article in answering this question, but for the sake of brevity I would suggest it matters for two reasons that are near and dear to my heart, mind, and spirit:
- It matters to those inside the Christian community because, by perceiving him as one of our own, President Trump is leading people away from Jesus without them even realizing it. President Trump has pulled the wool over the eyes of countless Christians, convincing many that vices are virtues while recasting Jesus in his own image. Forget love, truth, self-sacrifice, self-control, humility, forgiveness, and grace. President Trump has convinced them that The Way of Jesus involves hate, deception, self-interest, self-indulgence, pride, vindictiveness, and vitriol. This is a cancerous growth of pure idolatry that cannot be permitted to fester within the Body of Christ. He is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
- It matters to those outside of the Christian community because, by perceiving him as a representative of Jesus, President Trump’s behavior violates trust and harms the Church’s public witness. Personally, as an ordained minister, I struggle to put into words how much harder it has gotten to share my faith with others these past four years. The wall of skepticism has increased exponentially. The reason for this is many people now read truly nefarious intent and duplicitous meaning into such basic words as love, truth, self-sacrifice, self-control, humility, forgiveness, and grace. Christians need to make clear this man is not a follower of Jesus, and his spiritual doublespeak in no way represents The Way of Jesus.
