Did God Save Trump?

We interrupt our regularly scheduled Bryce vs. BryceGPT programming to bring you this article that’s definitely written by me. (Which actually brings up a point about blogging and AI in general: one of the reasons I like to blog is that by writing these posts, I think through issues and reach conclusions that are only tenuous up until the point I’ve actually written them. They’re a way for me to process information, and if I offload that to AI, then . . . why should I bother? In any case, on with the post.)

I’ve seen the “God saved Trump” rhetoric swirling around the former president in the wake of the attempted assassination, and it’s been something that’s really made me think through things from a religious perspective that I haven’t necessarily framed in that way before. Honestly, it’s been a bit of a struggle.

On the one hand, there’s the fact that God is all powerful. Anything He wants to do, He can do. However, theologically speaking, I believe He restrains Himself in certain ways for a variety of reasons. For example, he could go around killing people left and right, but that’s an evil thing to do, and so He doesn’t do that. Similarly, He doesn’t lie, cheat, steal, etc. In other words, I believe the things He asks us to do are things that He does Himself.

The question thus becomes, was that bullet going to kill Trump, and did God intervene to save his life? Or seen in a different light, God certainly could have altered the trajectory of the bullet and had Trump die, and chose not to. (Though let’s be honest: God could cause Trump to keel over for any number of reasons at any point in time.) Then again, if you believe God chose to save Trump, why in the world did He chose to let the firefighter die? The argument being used by Trump supporters is that Trump is so important, God intervened, so Trump can still do the work he has left to do on the world.

Up until now, if you’d asked me what I believe, I would have said I believe God only intervenes in very limited cases, where the effect on the world would be so enormous that He has to step in to keep things from completely imploding. That was a fairly surface level opinion, though, and I’d never delved too deeply into the concepts behind it. For example, why didn’t God intervene to have Hitler die, thus saving millions of Jews? What about Stalin? Osama Bin Laden? If God can smite people dead, why doesn’t He cherrypick the worst ones and leave the rest of us better off?

The flip side of that is that if God saves people, why in the world does He let so many people die of horrible causes? If cancer can be healed, why not just heal it for everyone? Why would God heal one person and not another?

Is the answer that God never intervenes at all? That He set up the world, sent us into it, gave us all the freedom to choose what we want to do, and then sits back and lets it all play out? Is it one of the fundamental restraints He choose to live by? The evils we do to each other are thus our fault, and not God’s.

Except, if that’s the case, then why do we bother to pray for help at all? Why ask for protection or blessings, if God won’t intervene to protect or to bless?

Here’s where things move beyond the theoretical for me, because I actually have real experience with prayer. Enough that I believe 100% that it can and does accomplish things. I’ve seen it happen firsthand in my life, and so it’s not really a question for me. I’ve received inspiration to do things I would not have done, to not do things I was fully intent on doing, and I’ve had experiences were events changed based on prayers. If I believe that, then I have to conclude that God can and does intervene. Not always, and not always in ways we expect, but definitely at times.

So how do I line up those two contrasting thoughts? As I’ve worked it over in my head, the biggest conclusion is that I don’t understand the complete picture. God’s ways are not our ways, we’re told, and that makes sense. I’m not omniscient. All I’ve got is four decades or so of experience to draw upon, and even those four decades are limited by where I’ve lived and whom I’ve interacted with. So it stands to reason that there will be things that God has happen (or allows to happen) that make absolutely no sense to me.

But maybe, from an eternal point of view, the struggles we face in this life really pale in comparison to the ultimate impact they have on us in the time after we die. To try and put this in terms I can actually explain, I’ll use Minecraft. Let’s say I’m playing a game of Minecraft. I’ve been playing it for . . . four decades. And something happens in that game that feels completely, utterly, unfair. Maybe they run an update that ruins everything I’d been creating. Maybe I get stuck in an underground river I didn’t see and end up drowning to death (true story). I am absolutely crushed by losing all my work. If Minecraft is really all that matters, then all of it could feel completely unjust.

Except I know Minecraft is just a game, and that the things I do in that game can have an effect on me in reality. I’ve played with my kids and developed good relationships with them. My kids have had friendships ruined through actions that happened in Minecraft. (Why in the world do people burn down other people’s houses?) Ultimately, the things I take away from Minecraft are the things that matter, and not the actual world of Minecraft itself.

I believe this life is a test. I believe our spirits continue to live after we die, and that we get new bodies eventually. The only things we take with us from this life are our experiences and our relationships. Everyone is born. Everyone dies. What’s the difference between this life and a super advanced VR environment like the Matrix? Honestly, I don’t see much of one (except that I believe this one is being run by God, not spider-looking robots, and that it’s for our benefit, not God’s.)

With that in mind, all I know for sure is that only July 13, 2024, Trump’s test wasn’t over, and the firefighter’s test was. Trump hasn’t had the chance he needs to learn (or fail to learn) everything he needs to be given a chance to learn or do in this test. After the attempt on his life, what if he’d emerged a kinder, gentler man? One with the understanding of just how fleeting this life can be, and who thus began to be more forgiving and generous to others? I’m not saying that actually happened, but was there a chance?

I believe God puts each and every one of us into the best situation possible to make it most likely that we will successfully learn what we need to learn and return to live with Him. God doesn’t stick someone into a situation they’re not up to facing. One that they’re doomed to fail. And remember: living or dying isn’t succeeding or failing. Not in the bigger picture.

None of this discounts the pain of the firefighter’s family. The heartbreak and dire implications that event can and will have on them. Likewise, I would never go up to someone going through a struggle and tell them to chin up, because it’s all just Minecraft anyway. Life is both completely important and not nearly as key as we think. Thankfully, it’s not my job to judge who should live and who should die.

But that also means that we can’t draw any conclusions about someone’s cause or righteousness based on the blessings or cursings they face in this life. Trump should 100% be thanking God he’s still alive, but just because he didn’t die doesn’t mean his campaign is now God-certified-approved. Bad things happen to good people. Good things happen to bad people. What matters is how we handle those trials and blessings, because each one presents its own challenge. There are many who ultimately become warped and twisted by their riches, after all. Or who become bitter and resentful from their lot in life. At the same time, there are those who remain generous and caring, and who keep their faith and their positive outlook.

In other words, how you respond to Trump and his policies matter far more than whether Trump is still living or breathing. They’re a test. One we’re passing or failing, and I leave it to God to decide which is which, though I have my own opinions.

So my ultimate conclusion is completely different than what I would have said even a day or two ago. God don’t just occasionally intervene in this life; He intervenes constantly. All the time. All with an eye to keep trying to get us to win. To succeed. To learn, so we can become the best people we can be, and hopefully return to live with Him. He doesn’t intervene to keep us from struggles. He intervenes to make it as likely as possible that we will overcome them.

I’ll finish this up with two quick movie references that sum up a lot of this for me. That Gandalf is a pretty smart guy.

And from just a little later in the scene:

And finally, one of my favorite lines in the whole series:

Thanks for sticking with me to the end of this post. I don’t know if it helped you, but it certainly helped me, and that’s something BryceGPT definitely couldn’t have done.