Andrew Kaczynski BuzzFeed News Reporter April 14, 2016,
n April 2016, Trump eventually revealed his favorite Bible verse. WHAM 1180 radio host Bob Lonsberry asked the president, “Is there a favorite Bible verse or Bible story that has informed your thinking or your character through life?”
Trump responded: “Well, I think many. I mean, when we get into the Bible, I think many, so many. And some people, look, an eye for an eye, you can almost say that. That’s not a particularly nice thing. But you know, if you look at what’s happening to our country, I mean, when you see what’s going on with our country, how people are taking advantage of us, and how they scoff at us and laugh at us. And they laugh at our face, and they’re taking our jobs, they’re taking our money, they’re taking the health of our country. And we have to be firm and have to be very strong. And we can learn a lot from the Bible, that I can tell you.”
[Strange–one of his wives said his favorite reading, kept on the bedstand, was Mein Kampf.]
Nan, I have heard the “Mein Kampf” story, but let’s set that aside and focus on his answer to the question. Most Christians have not read the bible, except the scriptures read aloud in church or Sunday school. So, expecting the president to have read it is truly a bridge too far. Yet, most people are familiar enough to cite something resembling the Golden Rule or something else Jesus might have said.
So, for a well-reported “vindictive” person who has said in an interview he likes to manage by “fear,” to say “an eye for an eye” is his favorite verse from the bible is more than telling. It is a window into the mean-spirited, bullying nature of the person in the White House. It is not fake news to merely quote what this person says. Of course, he will say he was joking or misquoted.
Keith
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Is the graph “Most Christians have not read the Bible” from you or Trump? Unclear.
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Nan, it is my personal observation growing up as a Southern Baptist, coupled with the observation too many people do not like to read, unless it is for fun. There are a couple of interesting data points courtesy of Pew Polling, which is several years old:
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– 45% of Christians do not think every word in the bible is true
– in a bible test, Atheists scored higher than Christians
I should not have been so flippant with that remark. Thanks for asking. Keith
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Thanks.
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Nice blog
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Thanks for stopping by!
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I’m with Keith on this … if Trump has ever read so much as a page out of the book he claims to love, I would be in shock. And, while I am not a Christian, I know enough to know that Christianity is supposed to be about love, about helping others, about treating ALL people with kindness and compassion. Trump certainly missed that lesson!
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