Author: kevingdrendel

I am sixtiesh, an English Literature major in college and an attorney by profession. Faith informs my life, and this blog is about my faith journey.

Donald Trump, the Zealot

Trump has emerged as a chosen king, rallying the subjects to take over and displace the present occupiers.

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Gage Skidmore/Flickr
Gage Skidmore/Flickr

When Trump first announced his presidential intentions, it seemed to me like a reality show stunt. It was like a distraction from “the real the thing”, the serious business of presidential primaries that will determine the only choices that we have next November.

Now that Trump, the reality show candidate, is increasingly likely to become Trump, the presidential candidate, I have been unsure how to put it in perspective. Trump, the caricature, seems to be Trump, the real deal. Even as he polarizes people who are already quite polarized, he gains in popularity and delegates to the convention where he will likely be the “popular” choice.

I do not need to recount the number of ways that Trump has failed to exhibit the fruits of the Holy Spirit. The stories are now legion. The examples of mocking a disabled man, or cheering while people are forcibly removed from his audience or statements about punching people in the face are played over and over on social media like a parade of “fail” videos.

Meanwhile, Trump is not just polarizing the haves and have-nots and the Democrats and Republicans; he is polarizing Republicans and Republicans. More importantly, and more significantly, to me, Trump is polarizing Christians, even those who call themselves Evangelical Christians.

Continue reading “Donald Trump, the Zealot” →

The Lord is Our Righteousness

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Sunscreen

Paul says if we have hope only in this life, we (the followers of Christ) should be pitied above all people (1 Corinthians 15:19). On the other hand, if we have no hope for life beyond, our lives are in vain from the start. We are no better off than beasts. We might as well not even be born, says the writer of Ecclesiastes. (Ecclesiastes 4:3)

If you think about it, what is the span of a person’s life compared to time? It is even less compared to eternity. Our lives are like a vapor that appears, and then is gone. (James 4:14) The word picture is what you see when you breath hard into the bitter cold air. The breath appears and disappears as fast as it appears.

I have been reading through the Old Testament, and I am in Jeremiah now. In chapter 23, Jeremiah talks about God being angry with prophets who give people false hope, who tell people who have stubbornly gone their own ways that “all will be well” with them.

Continue reading “The Lord is Our Righteousness” →

Why does God let people suffer? Why is there so much evil in the world?

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The problem of evil is an emotional one, but not difficult in the end. Wintery Knight summarizes a good essay on the subject in this piece I am reblogging:

“I just wanted to draw your attention to this 4 page essay by Joe Manzari, which is the best darn summary of the state of the art on the problems of evil and suffering I have seen. The problem of evil…

Source: Why does God let people suffer? Why is there so much evil in the world?

Trump, Evangelicals, and the Road Ahead

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Followers of Christ are at a crossroad in 2016 as I write this. It is becoming increasingly more difficult to align with a political party, and Donald Trump is making that painfully obvious. He claims to be “Christian” but he has never asked God for forgiveness, and he does not know why he should ask. I am not his judge, and I don’t know his heart, but listen to his words and consider his deeds.

Jesus warned us to be on the lookout for danger:

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.”

Matt. 7:15-20

Some Trump supporters say that we are not electing him as a national pastor. That is true, but should we in good conscience vote for a person who claims to be one of us, but who appears to be more like a wolf in sheep’s clothing?

Recent history provides us a parallel story, and it did not work out so well in that story. While history may not repeat itself detail for detail, we should be mindful that there is nothing new under the sun.

“In 1934, at the age of 28, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote a letter to a friend about an upcoming conference that would involve members of churches from several countries and denominations. read more…

Source: Trump, Evangelicals, and the Road Ahead

The Tree of Life

This bubble of time in the sea of eternity is not our ultimate destination. This life is the illusion, and what follows, when we are freed from the bounds of time and space, is the reality.

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Shagbark Hickory

The tree of life was there in the garden. It was available to us until God “cast us out of the garden” and closed us off from it, so the story goes. Why?

I think there is intention to the fact that He let us know that the tree of life was there and we could eat of it. Conceivably, we could have chosen to eat of the fruit of the tree of life, instead of the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

(Notice that it was not a “tree of knowledge” but a tree of the knowledge of the difference between good and evil.)

I began thinking about these things one day as I was contemplating the slow unwinding of my own body. Continue reading “The Tree of Life” →