Donald Trump has tempted evangelical Christians just as Satan tempted Jesus — except this time it worked

Summary

Evangelical Christians have fallen prey to the temptations offered by Donald Trump, similar to those faced by Jesus in the desert. Trump has offered evangelicals wealth, protection, and power, leading them away from the teachings of Jesus and closer to the path set forth by the devil. The evangelical church has submitted to Trump, moving further from the values of serving the poor, healing the sick, and loving neighbors.

  • theangryseal@lemmy.world
    35·
    1 month ago

    This. It breaks my heart that my family pushed me so hard to follow the teachings of Christ, and somehow this living symbol of greed, gluttony, thievery, adulterous behavior, and any other imaginable sin, has became their leader.

    Thou shall not do shit unless it’s Donald Trump doing said shit.

    I was warned about the promises of the Antichrist when I was a kid, and I swear to god my whole family would stand in line for a week to get the mark of the beast on their forehead if Donald Trump said it was the mark of I love religion and Jesus ™ for only $599.99.

    They’re constantly hounding me to take my kids to their church like I’d be the one to send them to hell if there was such a place. They used to preach about love. The same church goes on about “trannies” and “the gays” and how the world is going to hell now.

    Now there’s a fake political ad going around where the audio is edited to have a heckler scream “Jesus is lord” and Harris says something like, “you guys are at the wrong rally”. What the heckler really said was, “you lie!”

    Doesn’t matter, goddamnit. That shit should be illegal. How is it legal to edit audio for a political ad and lie outright?

    • nickiwest@lemmy.world
      5·
      1 month ago

      I grew up in the Assemblies of God denomination. When I graduated from high school, I left home to go to college, expanded my horizons, and ultimately ended up deconstructing my religious beliefs. I have considered myself to be an atheist for more than 20 years, but I still have strong ethical beliefs that basically parallel the Christian teachings of empathy for the marginalized and the disadvantaged.

      For the past 8 years, I’ve watched my “decent Christian” family slide further and further into Trumpism. They are unrecognizable as the people who taught me the value of Christlike behavior.

      Most days, I feel like I’m a better Christian than they are. I’ve wondered for a long time how the same people who instilled those values in me have been led so far astray.

      I recognize in hindsight that they were motivated by fear of God rather than love for their fellow humans. Fox News and Trump have preyed on that fear and gradually expanded it until it has turned to hatred of anyone who doesn’t look or vote like them.

    • genXgentleman@lemmy.world
      22·
      1 month ago
      Yea.  I totally understand.  I'm in the medical field and I was telling one of my patients, wouldn't it be great if we, the people, bypassed the house and senate to pass a law to make it illegal for lying by ANY politician.  If a politician lied, they immediately forfeit their office.  If they are running for office, they are dropped out of the race.  If you aren't running but are speaking promoting a politician, then make it a very heavy fine based on income with a prison sentence for each individual lie.  If it's a media person, the fine would be based off the person's income, then fine the company based off it's year profit, and then prison for that person and the executive producer.
  And yes, I know, I know; free speech, how do you prove that a person knowing lies, yada,  yada, yada.  1)  We have free speech, but you can not yell fire in a crowded theater.  That puts the public in danger.  I would argue that politicians lying and disinformation puts the larger public in more danger.  2)  This would stop obvious lies.  No more fake figures being thrown out trying to make their lies sound like the truth.  Politicians would have to have proof before they spout their shit. 
 No more editing of video or "spinning" by so-called "news" channels.  No more deep fakes - disinformation by Americans or political groups.  No more 'FEMA spent all the money on immigrants'.  No more the economy is the worst in the world.  (Rather you believe it or not, we currently have the best in the world.)  No more illegals are voting, the election was stolen, ect.  If they say shit, they would have to have proof or they get a boot in the ass to kick them out the door.  This would go for any party, any office.  Federal, state, and local.  I truly believe that this would benefit every citizen of every party.
It sounds extreme, but it would definitely stop politicians and talking heads from spewing bullshit that harms our country.
      • Zomg@lemmy.world
        1·
        1 month ago

        All these things run on the idea that no other country exists, that you can effectively fine foreign nationals for lying, even those from hostile nations.

        Deepfakes will never stop existing, it’s hopeful but a waste of effort IMO.

        In the age of information, controlling any information would be useless, false, intentionally false or anything else.

        • genXgentleman@lemmy.world
          1·
          1 month ago

          I wrote that knowing about other countries trying to interfere with our elections. I was stating simply the first step that we could take. However, it’s a totally moot point. Politicians are to greedy and power hungry to let anything close to that happen. I was vocally stating a wish. I put politicians five step below lawyers.