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Title: Donald Trump, Man of Faith
Source:
First Things
URL Source: http://www.firstthings.com/article/2016/08/donald-trump-man-of-faith
Published: Jul 7, 2016
Author: Matthew Schmitz
Post Date: 2016-07-07 18:20:03 by ConservingFreedom
Keywords: None
Views: 2890
Comments: 26
[...] In his late twenties, Trump began attending Marble Collegiate Church on Fifth Avenue. Founded in 1628 in the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, Marble Collegiate is one of the few institutions that survives from the city’s founding. Peter Minuit, the governor of New Amsterdam, was the first church elder, and Peter Stuyvesant, the colony’s director general, led worshippers to service every Sunday. The high steeple of its current home, erected in 1854, rises two hundred feet above the pavement, a symbol of uprightness set in stone. Here Trump walked down the aisle after exchanging vows with Ivana and heard the sermons of Norman Vincent Peale, a man whose philosophy would become Trump’s own. [...] Before Trump made his own foray into politics, he read Peale’s book and adopted its program of “positive thinking.” The two men began to trade public compliments. Peale, always generous in his assessments of human nature, said that Trump had a “profound streak of honest humility.” Trump, not exactly showing that humble streak, said that Peale “thought I was his greatest student of all time.” In a certain sense, Trump was right. Peale has had no more perfect disciple. Peale distilled the optimism and self-sufficiency of the American character into a simple creed. The first article of his faith was a warm patriotism. He called the U.S. “the greatest country in the world” and addressed his writing to “everyday people of this land” who “are my own kind whom I know and love and believe in with great faith.” These were the people he met in masonic halls, resort hotels, and cruise-ship conference rooms. In them he sensed innate decency and ability. Any one of them could become efficient and successful—if only he would believe in himself, harnessing the power of positive thinking. [...] Thus the necessity of repentance recedes. It is important to think positively, and a negative thought, such as Domine, non sum dignus, can be injurious to spiritual health. Yet the gloomy aspect of traditional Christian practice is also the wellspring of Christian compassion. At the moment a Christian asks for forgiveness, he must acknowledge his own weakness and look mercifully on the weakness of others. In the Our Father, the Christian asks that he be forgiven, just as he in turn forgives. From the holy terror that Peale called “fear thoughts” comes the light of Christian love. At a campaign event in Iowa, Trump shocked the audience by saying that he had never asked God for forgiveness. All his other disturbing statements — his attacks on every vulnerable group — are made intelligible by this one. The self-sufficient faith Trump absorbed from Peale has no place for human weakness. Human frailty, dependency, and sinfulness cannot be acknowledged; they must be overcome. This opens up the possibility of great cruelty toward those who cannot wish themselves into being winners. A man who need not ask forgiveness need never forgive others. He does not realize his own weakness, and so he mocks and reviles every sign of weakness in his fellow men. [...] Christianity is a religion of losers. To the weak and humble, it offers a stripped and humiliated Lord. To those without reason for optimism, it holds up the cross as a sign of hope. To anyone who does not win at life, it promises that whoever loses his life for Christ’s sake shall find it. At its center stands a truth that we are prone to forget. There are people who cannot be made into winners, no matter how positive their thinking. They need something more paradoxical and cruciform. [...]
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#1. To: ConservingFreedom (#0)
seems Material vice Actually Many few they Make love ps Bet If you ... don't use exclamation points --- you should't be typeing ! Commas - semicolons - question marks are for girlie boys !
Not what he said nor implied. Care to address what he did say? Do you think Trump needs forgiveness from God? A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them. To review: "I am not sure I have," Trump said when asked [at the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa, July 18, 2015] if he'd ever asked God for forgiveness. "I just go on and try to do a better job from there. I don't think so," he said. "I think 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." - www.businessinsider.com/t...-like-to-have-to- ask-for-forgiveness-2016-1 "Why do I have to repent or ask for forgiveness, if I am not making mistakes?" asked Trump. "I work hard, I'm an honorable person." - www.christianpost.com/new...ave-to-repent-or-ask-for-forgiveness-if- i-am-not-making-mistakes-video-141856 A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them. Abraham said because mother failed difficult commander in He until this many God's love ps Did pss He If you ... don't use exclamation points --- you should't be typeing ! Commas - semicolons - question marks are for girlie boys !
Sounds like something a Marxist/Jesuit Useful Idiot would say. What does this mean?
Sounds like something a Marxist/Jesuit Useful Idiot would say. It's your contention that our Lord was not stripped and humiliated? That the cross is not a sign of hope? What does which mean: "Christ Frees Us", or that ugly POS sculpture? And what does either one have to do with the article? A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them. is not the standard for Godliness (presidential or otherwise). Every sinner is a tool in God's hands ... which doesn't justify the sinner, nor those who make themselves his accessories. A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them. "Christ Frees Us" is the name of the sculpture.
No idea what this has to do with the article ... but it looks to me like the meaning is: Man is the measure and meaning, and the Cross is merely a backdrop. I hope for the sake of the "artist"s soul that I'm mistaken. A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them. Which seems in keeping with: "I am not sure I have," Trump said when asked [at the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa, July 18, 2015] if he'd ever asked God for forgiveness. "I just go on and try to do a better job from there. I don't think so," he said. "I think 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." - www.businessinsider.com/t...-like-to-have-to- ask-for-forgiveness-2016-1 "Why do I have to repent or ask for forgiveness, if I am not making mistakes?" asked Trump. "I work hard, I'm an honorable person." - www.christianpost.com/new...ave-to-repent-or-ask-for-forgiveness-if- i-am- not-making-mistakes-video-141856 A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them. Obviously. Look closer. http://www.google.com/? gws_rd=ssl#q=%22Christ+Frees+Us%22+lcms
So? Of the three results on that page (relevant excerpts below), only the last appears problematic - and since it was not written by the article author, nor does the article author appear to even be a member of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, I still see no relevance. Perhaps you should simply state your point. Here, in our worship, God is truly present. His words, his meal, his water- specific realities-invite us to him. His gracious character, so definitively revealed in the face of Christ, frees us from our shifting sentiments and religious fashions. As Luther put it so pointedly: "We see the deepest into God's heart when we see his Son on the cross." Rom. 12:9-21 + The love of Christ frees us to love and serve one another. Meeting us in his word and sacraments, that crucified and risen Christ frees us from the desperate need to be like God and raises us to live from the forgiveness of sins, not as a god but as children of God who "can experience deprivation and yet have joy and delight." In that encounter with the incarnate Lord who did not insist on equality with God but rather humbled himself for the sake of his neighbor, the church’s witness, mercy, and life together finds its most profound expression of the reality that transcends this life. A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them. If you want me to comb through 153 links to assembke your point for you, my rate is $250 an hour. A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them. Abraham Lincoln is not the standard for Godliness (presidential or otherwise). PGMGN > TRUTH • 7 days ago No, electing Trump or Clinton will not change the hearts of men. But the freedom to embrace and fully preach the Christian faith to the people of this county will be hogtied by a POTUS who is on record claiming that Churches need to change their position on abortion. Not to mention the wholesale importation of the tools of chastisement. With each Our Father we pray to be delivered from temptation, not ushered into the end times because we're so prideful we think "we" can handle it. So you may want to watch out for that presumption that the negation of common sense and the duty to engage where one can to effect the good is somehow entering through the narrow gate. In deed, such a toss off of duty under such flimsy pretext smacks of an absentee father who pretends he is helping his family by not working or rearing his children ... rather becoming a free-form monk --- just "praying" his days away. free-form That's love ps Make http://www.wnd.com/2016/07/gop-millionaire-trump-worthy-of-christian-support/ If you ... don't use exclamation points --- you should't be typeing ! Commas - semicolons - question marks are for girlie boys !
More of your straw men: neither the article nor any poster on this thread has argued for abandoning the duty to engage where one can to effect the good, nor for becoming a free-form monk just praying his days away. Do you think Trump needs forgiveness from God? "I am not sure I have," Trump said when asked [at the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa, July 18, 2015] if he'd ever asked God for forgiveness. "I just go on and try to do a better job from there. I don't think so," he said. "I think 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." - www.businessinsider.com/t...-like-to-have-to- ask-for-forgiveness-2016-1 "Why do I have to repent or ask for forgiveness, if I am not making mistakes?" asked Trump. "I work hard, I'm an honorable person." - www.christianpost.com/new...ave-to-repent-or-ask-for-forgiveness-if- i-am- not-making-mistakes-video-141856 A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them. Most have even are KNOWING I'm to Ghandi < quote > an < quote / > Make love ps many pss the an is share If you ... don't use exclamation points --- you should't be typeing ! Commas - semicolons - question marks are for girlie boys !
to go by what a person does than what they say Are you suggesting that Trump has in deed asked God's forgiveness although he says otherwise? "I am not sure I have," Trump said when asked [at the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa, July 18, 2015] if he'd ever asked God for forgiveness. "I just go on and try to do a better job from there. I don't think so," he said. "I think 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." - www.businessinsider.com/t...-like-to-have-to- ask-for-forgiveness-2016-1 "Why do I have to repent or ask for forgiveness, if I am not making mistakes?" asked Trump. "I work hard, I'm an honorable person." - www.christianpost.com/new...ave-to-repent-or-ask-for-forgiveness-if- i-am- not-making-mistakes-video-141856 A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them. Pope to poor: Pray for the conversion of the rich Today Francis received a group of poor and homeless people from the Lyon region of France who are taking part in a pilgrimage led by Cardinal Barbarin Francis during his audience with poor people (and their escorts) from the diocese of Lyon. 06/07/2016 mauro pianta vatican city Pray for the ... rich - the wise --- the hypocrites. * Pray that “the Lord may bring about a conversion in their hearts”. In fact, go even further: “give them a smile from the heart, wish them all the best and ask Jesus for their conversion”. http://www.lastampa.it/2016/07/06/vaticaninsider/eng/the-vatican/pope-to- poor-pray-for-the-conversion-of-the-rich-cHolPhxU8ZifDfhBDFRf4M/pagina.html the half lands chronic put Make love ps fight * pope judas pss oh pluralism individualism protestant where If you ... don't use exclamation points --- you should't be typeing ! Commas - semicolons - question marks are for girlie boys !
Tsk Tsk. We buyz ya bookz and buyz ya bookz and allz ya duz iz eatz the pagez!
Lol, dont we all. Blessed is the gift of grace.
Not the same as making a point. Whether you ever do is up to you. A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them. He doesn't seem to think so: "I am not sure I have," Trump said when asked [at the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa, July 18, 2015] if he'd ever asked God for forgiveness. "I just go on and try to do a better job from there. I don't think so," he said. "I think 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." - www.businessinsider.com/t...-like-to-have-to- ask-for-forgiveness-2016-1 "Why do I have to repent or ask for forgiveness, if I am not making mistakes?" asked Trump. "I work hard, I'm an honorable person." - www.christianpost.com/new...ave-to-repent-or-ask-for-forgiveness-if- i-am-not-making-mistakes-video-141856 A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them. Got Breath?
Well, at least then - but hearts can be changed. Just ask Nebuchadnezzar about that.
Got a point? A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them. Must suck being both deaf and blind. Good luck with that.
Christianity is a religion of losers.
like
a
false
dichotomy
success
negates
spiritual
success
versa
Jesus
taught
wealth
can
generate
love
generosity
blessings
rewards
are
called
are
chosen
would
certainly
know
what
they
are
talking
about
America
rich
great
again
boris
the
writer
understands
street
alley
urban
... marx
... ebonics
... fluently
#2. To: BorisY (#1)
Material success negates spiritual success
#3. To: All (#0)
#4. To: ConservingFreedom (#2)
(Edited)
Lincoln
of
previous
difficulties
children
dying
business
romances
woman
marriage
in
chief
an
endless
insufferable
war
didn't
surrender
himself
to
God
the
over
whelming
tragedy
success
sacrifice
of
the
Battle
of
Gettysburg
isn't
ritual
bell
ringing
mumbo
jumbo
praying
we're
talking
about
are
called
few
are
chosen
hands
are
Donald
Trump
boris
Abraham
Lincoln
ever
attend
church
did
have
a
very
Godly
step
mother
#5. To: ConservingFreedom (#0)
it offers a stripped and humiliated Lord. To those without reason for optimism, it holds up the cross as a sign of hope.
"Christ Frees Us"
#6. To: VxH (#5)
"it offers a stripped and humiliated Lord. To those without reason for optimism, it holds up the cross as a sign of hope."
What does this mean?
#7. To: BorisY (#4)
Abraham Lincoln
God's hands are Donald Trump
#8. To: ConservingFreedom (#6)
What does which mean: "Christ Frees Us", or that ugly POS sculpture?
#9. To: VxH (#8)
What meaning did the artist have in mind?
#10. To: VxH (#9)
[me:] it looks to me like the meaning is: Man is the measure and meaning, and the Cross is merely a backdrop.
#11. To: ConservingFreedom (#9)
(Edited)
No idea what this has to do with the article
#12. To: VxH (#11)
(Edited)
https://www.google.com/webhp? gws_rd=ssl#q=%22Christ+Frees+Us%22+site:www.lcms.org
#13. To: VxH (#11)
http://www.google.com/? gws_rd=ssl#q=%22Christ+Frees+Us%22+lcms
#14. To: ConservingFreedom (#7)
(Edited)
monk
just
"praying"
his
days
away.
the
libertarian
pot
smoking
holier
than
thou
way
boris
America
great
sober
again
#15. To: BorisY (#14)
the negation of common sense and the duty to engage where one can to effect the good is somehow entering through the narrow gate. In deed, such a toss off of duty under such flimsy pretext smacks of an absentee father who pretends he is helping his family by not working or rearing his children ... rather becoming a free-form monk --- just "praying" his days away.
#16. To: ConservingFreedom (#15)
(Edited)
Christians
people
no
idea
what
salvation
eternity
is
the
most
' knowing '
HARD
working
hard
working
their
way
to
nothingness
oblivion
damnation
passing
judgement
is
two
different
things
more
inclined
go
by
what
a
person
does
than
what
they
say
said
ounce
of
experience
is
worth
more
than
a
ton
of
advice
America
great
working
again
boris
are
called
few
are
chosen
liberal
blather
ounce
of
dreams
pc
heads
up
worth
more
than
any
hard
work
whatsoever
the
wealth
big
brother
sistah
#17. To: BorisY (#16)
I'm more inclined
#18. To: ConservingFreedom (#17)
(Edited)
country
is
20
trillion
$ $ $ $ ' s
in
debt
of
what
the
govt
gives
away
up
in
liquor
stores
casinos
cartel
caves
poverty
is
a
crime
sin
the
blame
where
the
blame
belongs
America
call
a
spade
a
spade
great
again
boris
your
inner
demons
privately
not
publicly
yeah
work
ethic
did
all
that
go
#19. To: ConservingFreedom (#13)
#20. To: ConservingFreedom (#2)
Do you think Trump needs forgiveness from God?
#21. To: VxH (#19)
We buyz ya bookz
#22. To: Titorite2 (#20)
dont we all.
#23. To: ConservingFreedom (#21)
#24. To: ConservingFreedom (#22)
He doesn't seem to think so:
#25. To: VxH (#23)
Got Breath?
#26. To: ConservingFreedom (#25)
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