This keeps coming up. “Why do you post so much on Facebook about how bad Trump is, but barely ever talk about Hillary, huh? What, are you ‘with her,’ you blind, liberal zombie???”
Okay, that’s an exaggeration. But you get it.
I do post quite a bit against Trump, and I understand how, having been conditioned our entire lives by a pretty strict two-party system, it can be easy to jump to the assumption that the condemnation of one candidate is somehow an endorsement of the other. But I would ask you to look again. If you scroll back through my Facebook page, you can read every post, every comment, every link I’ve ever posted against Donald Trump. Among them, there is not one Clinton endorsement to be found. In fact, on multiple occasions, you’ll find me expressing distaste for Clinton, calling her corrupt, and communicating the specific sentiment that she does not have and has never had my vote. I invite you to test this claim if you don’t feel like taking my word, but I think most of you reading this already understand that. Your frustration likely lies elsewhere.
“Why overlook her wrongdoings? Why not take her to task as you have Trump?” This is a completely valid inquiry, and I believe it stems from my own failure to be clear about my specific intentions in posting what I post. I’ll explain: see, when I post things to Facebook, those things will be viewed by a very specific audience. Specifically, the people on my Facebook friends list. Now, among these particular people, there exists a trend that is, to put it lightly, troubling. A great deal of those who would see my posts are professing evangelical Christians who regularly twist, pervert, and often simply ignore many basic and obvious tenets of the faith they claim to hold in order to make the claim that support for Donald Trump is consistent with the Christian faith. It is not. It is observably, demonstrably, and obviously not. To claim otherwise is to utterly dismiss Christ and everything He taught. This is what drives my posts.
So again, why not level the same criticism at Hillary supporters claiming their Christian faith as their reason for supporting her? The answer is honestly very simple: on my Facebook friends list, among the specific group of people that is going to see my posts, I have not once seen anyone do this. To be clear, I’m certain it happens. I know that tons of you reading this have seen it happen yourselves, probably on your own newsfeed. And I know I’m sarcastic a lot online, but this one is real, guys. Just because I don’t see it, doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. And if you see it happening among your Facebook friends and it offends your conscience, then I urge you to not ignore said conscience, but rather to speak to your audience about it. As for me, communicating such sentiments on Facebook specifically would be the online equivalent of shouting into an empty room.
So let’s wrap this up – My posts are intended to address one specific issue that plagues my particular audience: the grotesque perversion of a faith that is incredibly important to me by those who are “holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power.” (2 Tim. 3:5a) I don’t stress when people who don’t share my faith take jabs at it. I can understand that. What I will not stand for, however, is people who claim to share my faith, who claim to study and value its scriptures, abusing it for political ends and sacrificing their consciences on the altar of partisan politics. It’s sickening, it’s enraging, and though I don’t take many things personally, this is one place where I draw the line. I’m not voting for Hillary. I’m not telling anyone else to do so. Maybe you disagree with that, maybe you don’t. Whoever you are, whatever you think, let’s get coffee and talk about it. But at least understand that you don’t have to hop on the comment thread of everything I post to remind me about emails, Benghazi, her treatment of Bill’s accusers/victims, and the fact that she’s probably some kind of lizard-person from space in league with Beyoncé and the disembodied head of Walt Disney. I get it. Neither of us wants Hillary in office; this is something that we have in common. I will not and never have downplayed her many failings, and I speak of Trump’s more often on Facebook for a specific purpose, one which I hope I’ve communicated effectively here. Thanks for actually taking the time to read this; effective communication is important, especially in today’s cultural climate. Later, friend.
#FeelTheJohnson