What is Your Authority?
(I
voted for Gary Johnson!)
The aftermath of President Trump’s election is nothing short of
amazing.
My Facebook and Twitter feeds are full of hate for the new
administration and every action that has been taken. They are also overrun by
an equal number of posts or replies in defense of the President. A lot of them are a combination of amusing
and disappointing. They are amusing because of the extreme and outrageous
things they say. They are disappointing because I know these people. Some of
them I know well. They are colleagues and, in some cases, relatives. Many of
them are very well educated and hold advanced academic and/or professional
degrees. The fact that they are seemingly unable to think critically before
posting is disconcerting and, I suppose, testament to the heightened emotions
that seem to be ruling the day.
There is, however, one category of social media post that I find
particularly troubling. These posts are those in which the individual calls
into question the Christianity of anyone who voted for or happens to support
actions by President Trump.
Here are just a few examples
that I grabbed: (Spelling, capitalization, grammar, and punctuation are as
posted.)
“if you call yourself a Christian, how can you
support this latest Trump cruelty?”
“I'm more disappointed with America and people who call themselves
Christians that they would support a man like trump.”
“Amen, Amen! These same modern day 'Christians' would be the same crowd
of people crying 'Crucify Him, crucify Him - give us Barabas!'”
“#GOPGOTTAGO
This is intolerable. Stop the pretense of being "Christian".Trump
& Bannon have to go. The sooner the better.”
Anyone has the right to the political or social policy position they
choose and they have the right to shout it loudly on their social
media platform of choice or on the street corner. They do not, however, have the right to accuse others regarding their faith.
In some of the cases the individuals are professed non-believers. In others, they have a history of being anti-religious. As a result, I challenge their (or anyone else's) authority to question the Christianity of any
individual. That is a relationship between the individual, Jesus Christ, the
Holy Spirit, and God. If you happen to disagree with this, I have just one
question.
What is your authority?
