re: #163 thecommodore

Perhaps something like this is in his future?

Pretty much.

Every church has traditions they emphasise more than others, whether it’s preaching, proselytising, Eucharist/Communion, readings from the Gospels, &c.

All churches preach in one way or another “all fall short of the glory of God” and “people are imperfect vessels for God’s glory” (I can understand it in the context they view it, though I don’t believe in things like “imperfect vessels,” “sin,” or God.)

That is, everyone’s a sinner, and God acknowledges sincere repentance (setting you up for another round of falling short). It is why the Catholic Church is notorious for allowing Confession to mobsters, Presbyterians forgive divorce, &c. Everyone is imperfect, so nearly all churches give each other a pass on what those of outside religious faith see as hypocrisy to their stated ideals. To them it’s a just a mistake.

In the case of most Evangelical churches, what’s emphasised is “Your Testimony,” or what it was which brought you to Jesus. Such testimonials are public, and are meant to be inspiring or motivating to others in the congregation.

The same goes with repentance. Repenting sins before God and community is another testimony, to get right with God. These testimonies of internal struggle (or “spiritual warfare”), acceptance, and asking of forgiveness are central to practicing faith in many Evangelical churches. Churches’ parishioners can spend quite a bit of time picking apart such testimonials, ostensibly to learn from it.

That is also why most churches’ congregations’ members pressure each other for “correct behaviour,” to enforce conformance to the particular sect’s stated doctrines.

To me, it all looks sort of culty, regardless of the church.

There is more to Evangelicals supporting Trump than his pandering to them (although that might be all he’s doing). To them, he’s advancing the work of The Kingdom (whether they view that as simply righteous society or working toward the Last Days). Like them, he also falls short of the glory of God, and is an imperfect vessel. Therefore he can be forgiven his multitude of sins, because (in addition to hating the same people they do) he is sort of a running testimonial (I don’t get it either, but I’m not an evangelical—I have read him described that way).