Letter to the editor of the Defiance Crescent-News
Dear Editor,
Jesus summed up God’s laws by commanding Christians to love God and love their neighbor. Jesus had much to say about how to treat others, especially the poor — whom the Bible calls “the least of these.” Allegedly, Republicans are God’s Only Party, and President Donald Trump is Christian in Chief. Evangelical Christians hold numerous cabinet-level positions, and others hold lesser positions in the Trump Administration. Yet, a cursory review of President Trump’s first month in office reveals a Republican administration disconnected from the teachings of Christ in the gospels.
Sadly, many Evangelicals think they will one day be judged based on having the right beliefs; that what’s important to God is certain doctrines and social beliefs. However, the gospels reveal that God will judge everyone based on how they live, not what they believe. Matthew 25 makes clear that God will judge people, not on their beliefs, but on how they treated poor, marginalized people.
While I am no longer a Christian, I was a follower of Jesus for fifty years. I pastored Evangelical churches in three states for twenty-five years. If there’s one thing I learned, it is that how we treat other people matters to God; and, more importantly, how we love, care, and minister to the least of these reveals what matters to us.
With these things in mind, what do we make of the Trump administration’s treatment of undocumented immigrants, legal immigrants, non-Christians, people of color, transgender people, pregnant women, government employees, and poor people? Just today, Jesus-loving Republicans voted to cut $1 trillion from Medicaid, with cuts to Social Security and Medicaid to follow. Millions of Americans will lose medical insurance, child care, and food stamps. It is impossible to square these draconian, immoral cuts with the teachings of Jesus. Local Evangelicals send weekly letters to the editor preaching right doctrine and political affiliation. I have yet to read one letter in the Crescent News from Evangelicals preaching the importance of helping the least of these. I am grateful that a handful of local churches take seriously the teachings of Christ, providing food, utilities, rent, car repairs, and clothing to the poor. However, most churches are more concerned about political and theological fidelity than they are about a beaten, half-dead man along a dirt road. What we need are more Good Samaritans — Christian or not, Republican or Democrat — who love their neighbors as themselves.
Bruce Gerencser
Ney, Ohio
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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If DJT is ” Christian – in – Chief ” or indeed Christian in more than the most SUPERFICIAL of SUPERFICIAL FASHIONS then I’m the highly – improbable LOVE – CHILD of Kal – El of the former planet known as Krypton AND Spock ( Spock cha – Sarek of the ( former ? ) planet Vulcan.
” King Donald ” shows not even the most basic traits of Christianity, displays neither love nor forgiveness. He acts like an old immature schoolyard bully who never LEFT THE SCHOOLYARD, he holds on to memories of being wronged like most people keep treasured memories / mementos of childhood friends & family members, he seeks revenge & to exact PAYMENT FOR SAID WRONGS. He is petty, vindictive, seeks ANY crumbs of transitory glory This DOES NOT seem like Christian behavior to me, unless Earth is now in a bizarre / Bizarro alternate universe in which forgiveness, kindness, mercy, charity & LOVE are now WEAKNESSES & LIABILITIES to be AVOIDED.
Amen! Preach it, Bruce!
I agree wholeheartedly as a Catholic.
I am not one to determine who is or is not a True Christian®️ (unlike some funda-gelicals who would probably say I’m not one).
If you profess a belief in the Gospels, and you use a position of power to abuse the least of these, then it is clear that you are risking a trip to H-E- double hockey sticks when you pass on, whether that be of old age or when a tree falls on your tent in the woods one night.
No one, least of all me, is perfect. I am subject to both anger and fear. I know what it can do to otherwise good people. However, I expect our elected officials to rise above these primitive human emotions and exercise compassion and kindness. It is time to stand up to Trump and Musk and say “enough”.
Nice thing about the Bible, it is contradictory and ambiguous enough that even the syndrome of GOP priorities can be superimposed on it with very little if any cognitive dissidence. It probably helps that the Bible is a long, difficult, tedious read that lends itself to being a mere piety prop rather than a handbook for ethical living.
Amen, Bruce!
I’m not Christian anymore, but I did learn in my many years of evangelical church and fundamentalist Christian school that Jesus put a lot of emphasis on helping those in need. I’m not sure where white evangelicals swerved over from learning about taking care of “the least of these in my name” to taking Grandma’s insulin away from her because people want to not pay taxes. Are these people who theoretically getting their tax money back going to pledge to be responsible for paying for Grandma’s insulin now? Or should she pull herself up by her boot straps and work at McDonald’s so she’s worthy to receive life-saving medicine?
Somehow I missed the part in the Bible that says we need to pull ourselves up by our boot straps to be worthy of receiving medical care. I don’t remember Jesus asking for someone’s W-2 before healing them.
I was raised Catholic, dipped my toe enough into Evangelical Christianity for a few years, and ultimately deconverted and became an atheist. I’m currently a student of Buddhist philosophy–does that make me “spiritual”?–but not a believer in any deities.
Like John S., I don’t presume to know what it means to be a true Christian, and whoever identifies as Christian is Christian. (Even, or maybe especially, lay Catholics. 🙂 Kiddie-diddlers* of any sect, not so much.)
Like Obstaclechick, I had Jesus’ teachings about how to treat my fellow people strongly emphasized to me in my Catholic school education. Very strongly. My nuns were determined to send forth high school graduates who would be, in modern terminology, social justice warriors. I was taught that it wasn’t enough to treat people well personally, but that it was imperative to advocate for “the least of these”. I dumped the religion, but these teachings stuck.
*Tim Minchin expresses my feelings well in his “Pope Song”. Check it out on YouTube. NSFW.
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