Is it possible to have compassion for President Trump?
Jesus said, according to Luke, "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you, . . . Do to others as you would have them do to you . . . Be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate" (Luke 6:27-28, 31, 36). I have been praying that I might feel some compassion, rather than anger and hate toward President Trump and his deluded followers. Yes, he is an evil person who has done much evil. The description that Paul (or someone writing in the name and tradition of Paul) employs in a rather strange apocalyptic passage in 2 Thessalonians fits the President and his followers quite well: "He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship . . . declaring himself to be God" (2:4). The writer calls this person "the lawless one" (2:3). Those who follow this "lawless one" are imagined as having been deceived by "a powerful delusion," which leads them ...