“In my lifetime, [Donald Trump] has supported the Christian faith more than any president that I know,” [Franklin] Graham said. “That doesn’t mean he is the greatest example of the Christian faith, and neither am I, but he defends the faith. There’s a difference between defending the faith and living the faith.”
— Rev. Franklin Graham, quoted in The New York Times, Feb. 26, 2018
Someone had to say it.
Let’s consider this:
Jesus said, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter replied, “Yes, Lord, You know that I love You.” Jesus said, “Defend the faith!”
“Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter said to Him again, “You know I love You.” Jesus said, “Then find every sinner you can, point a finger in their face and scream at them that they’re going to Hell!”
“Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” and he said to Him “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.”
Jesus said to him, “Then gather together everyone else who loves Me and belittle everyone else who is lost, sick, different, poor in spirit, and not just like you; tell these brothers that because they believe in Me, anything they think is right must be the right thing.”
— John 21:15-17 (slightly modified)
Of course, that’s not how that exchange on the beach with Jesus and Peter goes. Jesus asks Peter three times, “Do you love Me?” and when Peter — getting increasingly irritated — answers in the affirmative, He says simply, “Feed My sheep“. In other words, spread the Gospel, love others, bring them the Truth.
“This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. … These things I command you, that you love one another.”
— John 15:12-14, 17
Nowhere does Jesus tell us to “defend” Him or “defend” the faith. We Christians (and heaven knows, I can be just as guilty of it as the next guy) tend towards a knee-jerk “defence” of Jesus whenever someone comes along who speaks against Him, the church, the faith itself. Believe it or not, Jesus calls us to keep loving the most egregious atheist, or the biggest promoter of evolution and the theory that the very creation of the earth was an accident.
Faith in Jesus Christ means accepting that He is Truth, and Truth is its own defence. Indeed, when Jude writes that we should “contend earnestly for the faith” (Jude 1:3), he’s talking about watching out for people “who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Jude 1:4) Jude goes on to write that unbelievers will be dealt-with — but by God, not by us.
The other thing that we need to remember is that “defending” something implies hunkering down, arming oneself against all comers and adopting a bunker mentality. That’s not Scriptural, either. Throughout the Bible, God’s people are required to push forward, take possession of His promises, and “GO”. If there’s any “defending” that’s done, it’s our faith that defends us — not the other way around.
Which brings us back to Franklin Graham’s assessment of Donald Trump and the question, “What did Jesus tell us to do?”
Do we defend something that doesn’t need to be defended?
Or live something that needs to be lived?
Two Minutes for Cross-Checking! 