Did God want Donald Trump to become president?

Crossed

March 16, 2019

During a January 2019 interview, the Christian Broadcasting Network asked White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to provide a “spiritual perspective” on the presidency of Donald Trump. In this column, Scott and Bill respond to her answer: "I think God calls all of us to fill different roles at different times, and I think that he wanted Donald Trump to become president. And that’s why he’s there, and I think he has done a tremendous job in supporting a lot of the things that people of faith really care about.”

Scott’s Statement
If God weighs in on presidential elections, are all presidents God’s pick, or does he sometimes get outvoted? Is Donald Trump there because God desired it, but Jimmy Carter failed to meet his standards, so was denied a second term? If God is in the business of selecting world leaders, there are a lot of nasty tyrants on his record.

A person who believes we have Donald Trump in the White House because God wanted him to be president must hold one of two perspectives: Either all events in the universe, down to the tiniest detail, are God’s will, or events unfold in accordance with initial conditions and the laws nature, with God only occasionally reaching in and overriding those laws to tweak outcomes. If the former, the believer must credit God with all the horrors in the world, along with the occasional cancer recovery and extraordinary sunset. If the latter, how can one tell if an outcome is one where God intervened or one where he kept his hands off? If he is meddling, is it for one’s own team or the other side, which is equally populated with praying believers?
Isn’t it dangerous to have people thinking that God chooses who holds power? Would those people then assume that everything that leader pursues is God’s intention? They would be unable to make reason-based judgments on actions or policies.

A less dangerous theists’ position would be one where God is seen as a “first cause,” or the order underlying the universe, but is not a hovering creator watching over or manipulating events. This perspective can lead to practical alignment with the Humanist view. Humanists recognize that we are responsible for the future we get. No deity manipulates the world (or elections) for us. We have to do the work ourselves to carefully and dispassionately evaluate the probable impact of our actions and decisions. And then, we should select the choices that best serve humankind and the health of the natural world.
 
Bill’s Response
Scott makes the same mistake Ms. Sanders does. They try to make God fit their agendas. They try to keep God in their particular box. God doesn’t work this way. To claim “God commands history” doesn’t necessitate that God micromanages everything or is a dispassionate clockmaker. Scripture is clear: God’s ways are a mystery to us. God is free to work in human history as God chooses. We are free to respond to God’s initiatives, as we choose. This mutual freedom, though a paradox, is necessary, if our love for God is to be freely given and not coerced. God is God, and we are not! It’s not out of line to say “God commands history, therefore God may have wanted Donald Trump to be president.” But we cross a line when we try to claim, definitively, how or to what end. We can get glimpses of how God works, even to what end, through God’s self-revelation, Jesus Christ. However, we must take care, “for we see in a glass darkly.” (1 Corinthians 13:12
 
Bill’s Statement
“Did God want Donald Trump to be president?” Many have dismissed Ms. Sanders’ question. But what role does God have in the course of human affairs?

Ms. Sanders is correct. Regardless of our faith, God calls us to fill different roles at different times. The Creator of heaven and earth …  the Lord and sustainer of life … chooses to take an active role in human history to work out the redemption of creation. God invites us to engage in God’s saving work, while sustaining our free will to accept or reject this invitation. Even when we reject God’s invitation, God uses us for the same end: the redemption of creation.

Time will tell, but I also agree with Ms. Sanders that God might have wanted Donald Trump to become president. But to what end? God ordains faithful leaders, giving them wisdom, courage, and integrity to lead God’s people, even the nations, in the fulfillment of God’s will and the greater good. However, God also calls forth those whose hearts have been hardened to chasten the nations and even God’s people, helping them to see more clearly how far they have fallen and where they have transgressed God’s will.

Here’s where we must take care. Ms. Sanders, and others, believe President Trump is faithfully fulfilling God’s will for the greater good. Others would take issue with her assessment. Who is right? How are we to know?

We must look to the life and teachings of Christ: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has appointed me to bring good news to the poor … release to the captives … recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free … . Love your enemies, do good, and lend expecting nothing in return … ." (Gospel of Luke, selected verses)

If POTUS is working for the good of all people, bringing justice, peace, and hope where there is none, Ms. Sanders is correct; if not, God may have a different thought.

Scott’s Response
If I read it right, Bill suggests that God might have wanted Trump to be president so that we would experience the consequences of his hardheartedness, which might reveal to us our failings, chastise us as a nation, and promote our redemption. This is certainly a different take than that of Ms. Sanders! But both are superstition, constructions that attempt to fit current events into the prevailing religious myth. Seeing God at work in the wisdom and integrity of principled leaders, and also seeing him at work in the ascent of unprincipled leaders, is similar to attributing storms, plagues, and earthquakes to the anger of gods, and safe passages and battle victories to the approval of gods. Delusions of divine involvement in human affairs don’t help us understand and bear the responsibility of governing ourselves.

Agree Statement
Scott and Bill agree that we share responsibility for creating our future. Belief that a God also participates in the creation of that future is a matter of faith.