Tuesday, December 19, 2017

Sinners Can Be Winners!

I was walking past a house where a woman lives who is the daughter of people I know who have a Trump sign still in their yard. I got to thinking about something the mother had said to me once about one of her children or grandchildren getting pregnant without the benefit of marriage and she shrugged it off, made some slight joke about it, and of course I do not judge whatsoever about a child being born out of wedlock, as we so priggishly used to say. The family is quite church-going, though, and also have a religious sign in their yard and it all got me to thinking.
It has been such a conundrum to me that supposedly good Christians have supported Trump so enthusiastically even with his admitted extremely ungodly like actions towards women, his affairs, his three marriages, the women who have accused him of sexual harassment and assault while they hated Obama who has lived, relatively speaking at least, a very straight and narrow life, especially when it comes to marriage and fatherhood and respect for women.
Of course here, in the south, race plays a huge part in that and I am not going to try and pretend it does not.
Still, though, one would think that a man like Trump would be at least not a favored candidate for those who proclaim to follow the Bible and the teachings of Christ.
But then it hit me- these people all have had failings when it comes to living in a Christ-like manner and they know it. We all do, but for those who claim to be Christians, it must be an even darker burden, knowing that they have failed to live up to what they say they so strongly believe in. And then here comes Donald Trump who, even though it is quite apparent has absolutely no inclination towards religion, says he does. Says that the Bible is his favorite book, after the one he hired someone to write about himself, of course. And in just avowing that he believes in Christianity, just in saying that he reads the Bible, just in courting the Christian religious voter's support by giving lip service to outlawing abortion, he makes himself one of them- as obviously imperfect as any human could ever be and yet still, a believer!
And yet, as Christians are so fond of saying, if you just believe, all is forgiven and your sins are washed away in the blood of their savior and besides that- look at how very, very forgiven Trump is! So forgiven that he has billions of dollars! (According to him.) He lives in a golden palace! He has been elected president of the United States! God has spoken!
Sinners can be winners!
And Jesus loves them too despite all of that silly talk about the camel and the eye of the needle.

Ugh.

Well, I could be wrong about all of this. Not that that's ever happened before.

And on that cheery note, I am going to go tend to household chores and then sit down to sew a pretty rose and bluebird print flannel dress for this incredibly delicate and feminine little girl.


Doesn't she look like a miniature Bandita? A small, gleeful, wicked Pistolera? 

She don't care 'bout no Jesus and would much prefer to be washed in mud rather than blood. 
Oh, how I love her!

Happy Holidays!

Love...Ms. Moon



18 comments:

  1. Bandita bonita!! I love that little girl's face! What a cutie.

    I enjoyed this post very much. As someone who lives in the South, too, your revelation about why the Christians around here support DT is a revelation to me as well. I'll tell you another reason they support him--their pastors and preachers tell them to. They've been taught relentlessly to vote Republican no matter what, and like good little sheep, they do as they're told. Yes, I have some contempt for them. Can you tell? ;)

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    1. Absolutely on the pastor thing. And churches are supposed to stay out of politics but of course they do not. Still though- how did Trump become the Republican nominee? I keep trying to come up with theories and this is just one of them. No matter what I figure out, though, it will not change the fact that he was and got elected. Which sucks so much.

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    2. I think your theory is a good one, and I think Jennifer's point about pastors is a good one too. And the third factor is his Reality TV show. A lot of people felt like they knew Trump from "The Apprentice." Basically he had years and years to create a persona to sell to voters via that show (whether that was his intent at the time or not). And of course it was all bullshit, as all Reality TV is.

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  2. Fuck forgiveness.
    Love,
    Rebecca “this little light of mine” Loudon

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    1. FUCK FORGIVENESS!!!!
      I was reading a piece by a sort of local columnist and he's all folksy and shit and although I don't think he's a big Christian, he often talks about church and stuff and in this piece he wrote about a women he met who had been raped by an uncle and gotten pregnant when she was a girl and she got sent away and had to give up her baby but now, you see, you must understand- she is married and has forgiven her uncle and she has children and she is going to meet the little baby girl she had to give up so long ago and so all's well that end's well! I commented with a big, "Oh hell no," and said that all the forgiveness in the world wasn't ever going to fix what happened to that woman and people kept commenting on my comment that GOD can fix anything and that forgiveness is the key to healing and blah, blah, blah.
      Fuck that shit.
      Love you.
      Mary "I'm gonna let it shine" Moon

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    2. oh jeez Rebecca...I know right? if god was able to fix this shit how come none of it gets fixed? because he is a mean pissant tyrant of a god, I don't care how carefully they dress him up like Jesus.

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    3. Sometimes I feel like forgiveness Is akin to having your cake and eating it too. You get to do whatever the fuck you want to someone and then they forgive you and now all is well. A person can absolutely decimate another’s life, get forgiven then they get to be loved on top of it. Fuck it.

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  3. delicate and feminine are not words I would use to describe Maggie. she is a force of nature.

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  4. oh right, I wasn't done. those evangelicals are no more christian than I am. remember cults? that's what evangelism is, a series of cults, the traveling tent revival settled down in one spot. nothing christian about them.

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  5. The NYT had a story the other day about some evangelicals questioning the direction of their movement -- some of them, including Billy Graham Jr., were asking how evangelicals could rightly be associated with Roy Moore and, by extension, Trump. It was a very interesting article, and I was glad to see that some religious people are pondering these moral conflicts rather than just writing them off as a liberal conspiracy.

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  6. Evangelism these days is no more about Christianity than Trump is. Saying their sins can be washed clean simply if they believe does not give them license to behave badly and hatefully, except they seem to think it does. They seem to think proclaiming belief is permission to wrap themselves in the cloak of moral (and racial) superiority when their belief is as hollow as the actions. You, dear Mary, have more goodliness and love in your non believing little finger than most professed evangelicals do in their whole Trump-loving communities. To be honest, it sickens me, the hypocrisy, the fake belief, the bigotry and lack of humanity now on display. Oh, don't get me started.

    I love you.

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  7. Here's what I have to say about the Christian sinners and winners: fuck all of them and the horses they ride.

    Now Magnolia June would make the perfect leader.

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  8. I agree with Elizabeth; and Maggie is a clever little sprite!

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  9. I do believe that you nailed it, Ms. Moon. If that big orange sinner can claim to be a Christian and thus be forgiven by god and made to prosper then what a great inspiration god has given the ordinary sinners. Their god forgives all sins all the time if only he is worshiped. And somehow their god has embraced the Republican party so they do, too, no matter what. Many of my family members believe this crap and are huge supporters of Trump and Pence. It's beyond frustrating. I am literally sick about what has happened and continues to happen in the USA.

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.