My response about values being abolished by the culture were not about Trump, they were about "a thoroughly corrupt political establishment bent upon destroying every last vestige of America's culture and values and which has already succeeded in nearly completely eviscerating the rule of law and the fundamental constitutional protections upon which this nation was built" that was in an earlier post that is not captured in your quote above. The values I mentioned, other than the Bill of Rights, are the bedrock of society as evidenced by several thousand years of history and practice about what enables a somewhat functional society with hopefully, chaos and anarchy reduction, and very little on the fact that I believe the promises of our Trinitarian God. I further think that our Trinitarian God (whether you believe in Him or not) is in charge of all that is happening to achieve His good purposes whether we can understand them or not; you might even say He is giving us exactly what we, as an apparently increasingly Godless country, have wished for. Repentance and faith are a gifts from God, I hope He decides to give it to all of us with ears to hear.Cortopassi wrote: ↑Wed Oct 30, 2019 9:54 amMountaineer, I respect your positions and I know you are a religious man.Mountaineer wrote: ↑Wed Oct 30, 2019 9:02 amFamily. Sanctity of life. Biological birth sex of humans. Individual responsibility. God. Bill of Rights. Trustworthy politicians. Selflessness.Cortopassi wrote: ↑Wed Oct 30, 2019 8:24 am
I absolutely could be wrong, but it is the main thing for me. I am fine with many of his positions and much of what he's trying to accomplish. But, rightly or wrongly, I do not care because his methods "trump" his accomplishments for me. I know, it is illogical.
And, no disrespect, but what values and culture are being destroyed in your opinion?
But, Trump is a trustworthy politician? And selfless? Certainly that is a great goal of all politicians, but he scores zero on both of those and is not helping the continuing situation where we don't debate anymore, we label and hate those who don't agree with us.
However, since you asked my thoughts about Trump, I'll give my two cents. His morals appear to be sorely lacking, he appears to be very narcissistic (those two characteristics are merely reflections of much of our culture), he appears to value an exceptional America, he appears to put the American citizens (of which he is one) ahead of non-American citizens - both those within and those without our borders (those are reflections of our increasingly culture of the past). I'm not a believer in "the ends justify the means" but in the civil realm (not theological) I can only really evaluate Trump based on what he does, and what he appears to stand for, not primarily on what he says or tweets; in the theological realm, absolute judgement about Trump's heart, his faith, his beliefs, his morals is way above my paygrade and best left to God. Thus, overall, I would give Trump higher marks than most recent presidents for truly putting America closer to the values on which it was founded. I'm sure it is a thankless job, just look at how most presidents have "aged" while in office. I'm also quite sure there is way more to the picture than what is revealed to the majority of us. I'd also say he understands our "celebrity, entertainment, it's all about me" current culture better than any of his adversaries; Trump appears to daily play them like a chess master while they think they are playing checkers. I'm sure his adversaries are not dumb, they just can't see the big picture because of their preconceived notions about how great they are and their feces could not possibly stink so the swamp stench must not be due to themselves.