Day of Granite

Granite Day, 8th of Childwinter, 525 M.E. (Betelgeuse): "Also know this, that in the last days perilous times will come," Paul the Apostle allegedly wrote to Timothy, a fellow missionary. In Chapter 3 of the Second Book of Timothy (King James version), Paul prophesized that in the end times, "men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God." Paul advised Timothy, "from such turn away." 

I'm not a Christian and don't believe the Bible in any but the most allegorical sense. I don't put any stock in prophecy, biblical or otherwise. But doesn't the one whom Paul is describing sound a lot like Donald Trump?

If lover of his own self, boastful, proud, and unthankful don't describe the president-elect, I don't know what does. If you disagree with that description, fine - you're free to have your own opinion - but I suggest you examine your own self-delusion and cognitive dissonance. His narcissism, self-aggrandizing, and reluctance to credit others are essentially his defining characteristics.

"Blasphemer" and "disobedient" are example's of the Judeo-Christian emphasis on patriarchal authority and control and no small part of my quarrel with that belief system, so we'll set them aside for now.

Without natural affection: I see no evidence in Trump of genuine affection for his children, other than an unseemly lust for his daughter and reliance that his sons will remain loyal to his needs. I see no evidence of affection between him and his immigrant trophy wife in what appears to be more of a business arrangement than a marriage. He has no close friends other than business associates whom he turns on when it's convenient or profitable for him, and he famously doesn't even have any pets.

Trucebreaker: The 75-year-old NATO treaty is in dire jeopardy and Trump has almost gleefully broken or withdrawn from the Paris climate agreement, the Trans-Pacific partnership, UNESCO, the Iran nuclear accord, and the UN Human Rights Council. You might not agree with the value of all these treaties and accords, but you can't deny that the man is a trucebreaker.

False accuser: "They're eating the dogs!" is but the start of a long, long list of false accusations by Trump, far too numerous to catalog here. If you're somehow still unaware of his many, many lies, you might want to start at the Wikipedia page about his numerous false and misleading statements.

Incontinent: I love that Paul included incontinence in his list of faults. By scent alone, we can follow the trail of prophesies to the present-day wearer of Depends adult undergarments.

The rest of Paul's list (despiser of those that are good, traitor, high-minded, lover of pleasures more than lover of God, etc.) only serve to cement the target that the Apostle already put squarely on Trump's back.

So in all sincerity, I ask Christians how they can support the president-elect. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson once said, "pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it. That's my worldview." Yet in spite of Paul's clear warning, Johnson is fastidiously supportive of Trump. Even if the words in 2 Timothy 3 aren't a prophesy of Trump, they're clearly a warning against a certain personality type and an unambiguous command to turn away from such people. Why the blind eye then to Paul's words? 

Or is the Bible just a joke to them, a convenient document most of them haven't read but which they can conveniently hide behind whenever it serves their purpose?