“People sleep peaceably in their beds at night
because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.”
"The LORD tests the righteous,
but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence."
(Psalm 11:5)
"I'd like to punch him in the face."
(Donald Trump)
Yesterday I wrote about how Trump and Trumpists view violence as strength, and compared and contrasted this to how God used power and authority in the form of Jesus.
Today I want to expand on one of the deepest besetting sins of the Wild West American mentality: this idea that brute force is a sign of strength and by necessary contrast, humble self-mastery is weakness. This sort of macho man mentality is most definitely toxic, and enables men to think that they are tough and that women need to be protected...presumably from them...! It makes complete sense to me, having experienced how men view women in the evangelical complementarian cult, that evangelicals would overwhelmingly vote for a violent man like Trump.
And yes, Trump is violent, although perhaps mostly verbally. The problem with that is that he has a bully pulpit as the president of the United States. The evangelicals I grew up with had no problem with electing a man who threatened to "take out" the potentially innocent families of terrorists, mocked a disabled reporter, joked about committing murder and told his supporters he'd pay their legal fees if they beat up protestors at his rallies. That's besides the "punch them in the face" comment shared within this article, and his ongoing saga of violence-inciting, later-deleted tweets.
We have a real problem in American culture where violence or violent rage is glorified as honorable, when in fact, an inability to "use your words" is a sign of emotional immaturity and weakness.
American culture glorifies violence in film, song, art and in politics. Don't believe me, scroll through some of the most popular American films and music lyrics. Listen to what makes Americans laugh. Watch that video at the start of this article again for the reaction of the crowd. They think Trump's hilarious, as he jokes about assault. Wouldn't be the first time he'd joked about assault of some kind and got a laugh, of course.
The reason this is so problematic, is not that I believe pacifism is the answer, but precisely because I am a Christian. It is one thing to see a society glorify violence; it is entirely another to see people claiming to follow the God I love, justifying it. The God I love is not necessarily a pacifist; furthermore, critiques of genocide in the Old Testament are fair and should be faced and wrestled with by more Christians. I don't have answers for all that here. But instead of wrestling with and facing reality, what has happened is Christians have made irrational justifications for some of the worst atrocities and abuses committed by the Trump administration:
separation of children from mothers fleeing domestic violence: "they deserved it!"
defending the Saudi government for its murder of a journalist: "he deserved it!"
claiming intel on Russian bounties paid to the Taliban is fake news: "they signed up for it!"
No they did not. Sane people do not sign up to be massacred. No one is that stupid, and a lot of our military genuinely signed up to serve their country. That's a love thing, not the mercenary thing it's being disparaged as now. But I digress.
The point is this: the subtle lie we've been fed in America is that we need to respect those who "defend our freedom" and how dare we be concerned about war crimes or abuses or risks to innocence in the process. We've been force-fed this idea that violent men hold back or restrain evil, and a majority of Christians are fine with a "God, guns and Bible" theology because of that. They are cultural Christians, not Christian Christians.
Because God makes it very plain in the Old Testament, of all places, that God is grieved by the violence in the world and of the wicked. God literally hates violent men. God's soul hates them. I'd say that's a pretty strong hate emotion.
See, Americans of the evangelical variety who voted Trump have everything all twisted. They've accepted the lie that violence is strength, and they believe the lie that rough men protect their freedoms. This is why we get armed insurrections at state buildings, Christian militia groups and evangelical leaders essentially saying Civil War may be necessary to defend a pro-life ethic.
Just sit and think about that one for a moment. Murdering your liberal neighbors for the sake of your pro-life ethic. Moments like these make me very glad I attended public school in England and didn't spend all my time in Christian school. I mean-wow: the logic-fail there.
And the callousness. That's what gets me the most.
Like I said, I'm not a pacifist. Like I've also said, I'm just another person sharing my thoughts here. Feel free to take this and run with it and find solutions or critique my belief system. That's fair and necessary. I don't have any great insights on how to protect and defend without a military service, but I do think we need to get back to a character-based approach to all things, including in true service to country. It's not about blowing sh*t up, if we have the mentality we are representing a healthy ideal.
But the point here, is that the lie that male domination and violence is going to save us, is just that: a lie, nothing more nor less. There may be a time to fight to defend oneself or others, but this aggressive bullying, this cruelty, this callousness, this self-important hatred: it's not greatness. It's not Christlike in any way. And it's absolutely indefensible for a Christian. That's why I will continue to speak out against the evangelicals who minimize violence yet call themselves pro-life. And we need to continue to hold up a mirror to them, because I'm shocked at the way they treat people online. Violence and violent rage permeates Trumpets evangelical interactions with those who oppose them; they almost always lack the Spirit of God that gently instructs. (Most likely because they are defending the indefensible and have lost all authority, of course.)
They didn't elect a pro-life president: evangelicals overwhelmingly elected a tyrannical little troll who incites violence and attacks the innocent, causing multiple instances of deep personal suffering to our fellow Americans, even the risk of loss of life.
The actions of this president are the opposite of pro-life, whenever he calls for violence or aggressive law and order, ten years for vandalism, and so forth. Instead of caring about the lives he is meant to serve, he abuses people, and he thinks that makes him look strong.
It makes you wonder how Trump and Trumpist evangelicals would have treated a leader who humbled Himself to death, even death on a cross.
Here's the issue: the failure of the American church to lead by example has shown up the lies they believe. Beliefs lead to behaviors. Apparently, to many American Christians, brute force is acceptable leadership: if you don't get your way, fire or abuse anyone who stands in your way. But that is not the Way exemplified in the life of Jesus Christ.
The Psalmist says it firmly: God hates men of violence. Not violence alone, but those evil macho men who perpetuate it, whose bad character is permeated with it. You can't separate the sin from the sinner here.
This is a big deal. If evangelicals think that violence is the Way, they have lost the plot and should not be respected as followers of the way of Christ. It's that simple.
Trump says: "punch them in the face."
Jesus says: "Lay down your sword."
I leave it to you to discern which response truly values life.
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