3 hours ago
3
Donald Trump recently told Fox News that he is worried about getting into heaven. This purported angst seemed more of a fundraising device, as it was accompanied by pleas to donate $15 to help secure his afterlife.
Nevertheless, his concern is entirely justified because a man motivated apparently entirely by ego and resentment is as far from the Christian ideal as it is possible to be. (I emphasise that this view of Trump is purely personal.)
Trump has said he is a Christian, but has never sought forgiveness from God. “I don’t like to have to ask for forgiveness. And I am good. I don’t do a lot of things that are bad. I try to do nothing that is bad.”
President Donald Trump held a Bible as a prop at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Lafayette Park near the White House in 2020 – and had difficulty getting it the right way up.Credit: AP
In this, Trump shares an astoundingly common misconception of Christianity that we get to heaven by living a decent life. That thought is nowhere in the Bible, which makes it clear that no one qualifies by his or her own merits – “for there is no one righteous, not even one”. Living a better life than other people is not a qualification, however much the thought that others are worse may
comfort us.
But the Bible has good news even for Donald Trump – he can indeed get into heaven, just not by his own efforts or fundraising. As the Apostle John writes: “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” The key verbs are “loved”, “gave” and “believes”.
The Christian teaching is that God entered human history in the form of Jesus to provide reconciliation, redemption and restoration exactly because we cannot achieve this on our own.
Paul, in his letter to the Christians in Ephesus, spells it out even more precisely. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works (that is, good deeds), so that no one can boast.” Donald Trump, me, Mother Teresa: for any of us, salvation is by God’s compassion and love as he draws us to himself through Jesus.
Does this mean the lives we live are irrelevant? Absolutely not – again, the Bible is crystal clear that God is immensely interested in how we live, our moral choices, our care and compassion for others. Christianity is much more concerned with this life than “pie in the sky when we die”.
If I can be presumptuous enough to advise the US president, I would echo Jesus’ words to the rich young ruler: “Sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.” I suspect the rich old ruler would echo the rich young ruler and depart sadly, for he owns Mar-a-Lago and much bitcoin.
Barney Zwartz is a senior fellow of the Centre for Public Christianity.
