Hate the Sin, Love the Sinner
A friend of mine, a liberal evangelical Christian, got into it with a MAGA evangelical Christian around this topic on Facebook. She had posted something about loving the LGBTQ community and he said that they should be judged and condemned. When she said no, he said "Do you Love Trump?"
I waited with baited breath for her answer.
She actually does. And she prays for him. But she hates his words and actions.
I was quite blown away by the largeness of her heart. It never occurred to me to pray for the man, because he seems irredeemable. But I understand that the fat lady has not sung yet, and if he fell hard enough, there is the teensiest chance that he would repent. Teensie, einsie, ittle, widdle chance. But until he dies... the fat lady has not sung.
I was challenged a while ago by my very non-Buddhist thought that Dylann Roof should get the death penalty. It goes against everything I have been taught. Every human being has a Buddha Nature, even if it buried deep, deep, deep by mountains of bad karma. If I believe in karma, isn't it enough that his karma will catch up to him. I am moving in that direction. So then there is Trump. Like every other human being on this earth, he is a Child of God. What a painful thought, to have to give him this wonderful, positive label. However, the other label that belongs to every human being on this earth is that he is a sinner. If you were to consider the 7 deadly sins (is that really in the Bible?), I think he's done them all.
The fact that he has committed crimes and defrauded people is something for the courts, and I hope he is punished to the full extent of the law. But of his soul, we are not supposed to judge. Only God is supposed to do that. We are not even supposed to second guess God's judgment. I may want him to burn in hell, but it's not necessarily going to happen.
At any rate, I wanted to ask - have you made the gargantuan effort to love Trump as a Child of God, and pray for his redemption, at the same time that you hate everything he says and does?
= new reply since forum marked as read
and I struggle to see their divine nature. I struggle to pray for them.
I can, however, pray for Trump rather easily. I remember in 2004 when he came out against Bush and the Iraq war. It was amazing because very few people were against the war at the time.
having TFG around. I have a perfect example of how not to act. If I question what I’m about to do, I can just ask myself what would TFG do. Then I do the opposite.
