“ROT IN HELL . . . MERRY CHRISTMAS”

With this benediction, GOP frontrunner for president Donald J. Trump (DJT) sent Yuletide blessings to his friends, his foes, or to no one in particular. On Christmas Day, these bitter words were included in a repetition of grievances whether real or imagined as posted on his Truth Social platform. I discussed his posting with my wife Deena and we wondered what people might have thought had we signed our Christmas cards this same way: “Have a Merry Christmas~Rot in Hell.”

I’m troubled by the changes I see in my friends because of this man. I also troubled by the changes I see in myself because of this man. I try to be positive, patient, forgiving, tolerant and loving. I want my blog to reflect what Scripture describes as the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22,23.) But sometimes I wonder how successful I really am. As someone raised Lutheran, I do feel strongly about speaking out about approaching danger to our republic, even as Lutheran Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer did for the sake of his country. I’m not even sure how to classify this post. Is it a rant? Or, an editorial? Let me call it a “public service announcement” and leave it at that.

For the sake of context, let me also include what I understand is the last of a series of equally indicting (pun intended) invectives, courtesy of DJT and Salon:

Merry Christmas to all, including Crooked Joe Biden’s ONLY HOPE, Deranged Jack Smith, the out of control Lunatic who just hired outside attorneys, fresh from the SWAMP (unprecedented!), to help him with his poorly executed WITCH HUNT against ‘TRUMP’ and ‘MAGA,’Included also are World Leaders, both good and bad, but none of which are as evil and ‘sick’ as the THUGS we have inside our Country who, with their Open Borders, INFLATION, Afghanistan Surrender, Green New Scam, High Taxes, No Energy Independence, Woke Military, Russia/Ukraine, Israel/Iran, All Electric Car Lunacy, and so much more, are looking to destroy our once great USA. MAY THEY ROT IN HELL. AGAIN, MERRY CHRISTMAS!”

I tried to find myself described above. I don’t have an electric car, but there are probably a few former colleagues of mine who wonder whether I was a lunatic in any event. The “Afghanistan Surrender” seems to refer to the February 29, 2020 U.S. agreement with the Taliban to withdraw American forces from Afghanistan, but that was negotiated during the Trump administration. Hmmm. More likely, DJT was referring to the last few days of chaos at the Kabul airport while Biden was President. Confusion is not unusual for people of Trump’s age as a keen observer of President Biden’s recall can attest (or at my age for that matter.) The phrase “woke military” did catch my eye and I may be guilty here, having served for a bit more than twenty years. It depends, however, on how one defines the term “woke.” Unfortunately, people with minds greater than mine such as Sean Hannity or Tucker Carlson have not–to my knowledge–defined “woke.” The best definition I could find was in a Fox News article:

Aside from being the past participle of wake, for decades, it meant conscious and aware – but the slang word has come to represent an embrace of progressive activism, as well.”

What is woke?

If by “woke” one means understanding that people of color have had an uphill battle for equality in this country and are frequently and deliberately targeted for violence; if it means believing statistics that indicate women earn less than men while performing the exact same jobs and believing this is unjust; if woke means treating folks in the GLBTQ community decently as you, yourself, would like to be treated; if it means believing that all Americans and not just a select few, are likely patriots who love this country, then I am one woke dude. And if Donald J. Trump has anything to say about where I go after I pass on, then my friends will at least know where to find me.

Pride and Prejudice

Barack Obama¹ once said “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion…” In my case at least, that seems to be true. The racist jokes I heard growing up, the pejorative terms mentioned to me that referred to black folks, the comments on how industrious they were, or the honesty they allegedly lacked, etc. were told to me by other white people. And likely they were only told to me because I was white, myself. White people tried to persuade me to hate Jews. It was a white guy that tried to recruit me into the Klan when I lived in South Florida in 1968. And then there were Italian jokes, Polish jokes, slurs about Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, etc. Had I not been white, I might never have been approached with this worldview. But I did not care for the people who told me these things and these weren’t the values I learned at home so I chose a different path in life.

If Donald Trump were a mere celebrity, an influencer on TikTok or the host of The Apprentice, his comments would be of no real consequence, and he would not be worth writing about. But given that Biden won 51.3% of the popular vote in 2020, this person (DJT) who may well become president in 2025 is telling half of the country to rot in Hell because if they are not with him, then surely they must be against him. And what of the millions of Americans who fawn on him? Do they want us to rot in Hell, too? This is a man who has promised to be “dictator-for-a-day” if elected. And this promise has become a mantra which he repeats wherever he speaks. Imagine the damage he could do to the country! Imagine the damage a democrat president could do if he were dictator for a day! Or two! Or twenty!

So, does God want people to rot in hell?

The answer to this post’s question based on Scripture appears to be decidedly “No.” The apostle Peter writing in his second epistle states:

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

Hell (Hades) was not even created for people, but rather as a place of punishment for the fallen angels (Jude 1:6,7.) So, how does this happen?

In two words, it is the law. There are immutable physical laws and forces in the universe. Laws dealing with energy and entropy. gravity and electromagnetism. There are also spiritual laws in our reality.

Admittedly inadequate examples from nature

When the same poles of two magnets are pushed together (e.g., positive to positive or negative to negative), the two magnets repel each other. They are repulsed, or incompatible. When antimatter particles meet particles of matter, they are annihilated (in fact, both sets of particles are destroyed.) This sort of incompatibility exists between God and creation. I am not suggesting that God would be annihilated if He came into contact with mortals. I am saying it would be the death of mortals were this to occur (I John 4:12.) But just as matter can be transformed, so can people be transformed through faith in Jesus Christ. Once this occurs, the incompatibility is resolved. Ergo, the problem is solved.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger

Soon after being elected governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger faced a dilemma. Now, people who know Schwarzenegger would say that Schwarzenegger is fair and compassionate. But this was his problem: An inmate who had been on death row for a number of years was about to be executed. Schwarzenegger was a U.S. citizen but he was also an Austrian citizen as well. As such, he faced possible legal action in Europe where the death penalty was banned. The inmate was put to death. After the execution, Schwarzenegger faced sanctions in Europe. His defense was that he never ordered anyone to be executed. He just allowed the decision of the justice system to be carried out in the name of justice. What California did to Stanley ‘Tookie’ Williams, co-founder of the Crips who was convicted of four murders was just in the sense that the law was properly applied. You can find the Governor’s reasoning to not intervene and allow the execution go forward here. No doubt God applies some sort of process of His own. Applying the law is not personal as far as judges go, else there would be a conflict of interest. God takes no pleasure in seeing people drink themselves under the table or torture prisoners or spend an eternity regretting what they did in this life.

God provides opportunities for people to be spared from destruction. He doesn’t force us to love Him. If so, what kind of love would that be without freedom or choice? However, many questions remain. What happens to people who never heard of Jesus? What about babies who die and so on. My only answer here is that God is a God of love and justice and I trust Him to do the right thing.

Afterward

For the record, I agree with God’s desire that none should perish but that all should come to repentance. This includes Donald J. Trump (in particular.) DJT may currently believe he rich, but only when he meets the living God will he know his true impoverishment. I also pray that my evangelical brethren will call him out on this the next time he invites them for a photo-op in the Oval Office, which they all seem to relish.

If Christ can save me, He can certainly make a difference in the life of Donald Trump (and all Americans.)

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Footnotes

¹As an interesting anecdote, I was teaching at a high school in 2009 when only several weeks into his first term as President, the White House announced that on such and such a day then President Obama would hold a televised address during school hours for the nation’s children. I remember the high school contacting me to ask if I planned on showing the address in class, because they had heard from at least one parent who threatened to keep their child from attending my class if I intended to let them watch.