Hurting God

Joe Biden is a devout Catholic, but I suspect he might agree with the sentiments of the German Lutheran Passion hymn, Herzliebster Jesu. The translation I grew up with begins like this:

Ah, dearest Jesus, how hast thou offended,

That man to judge thee hath in hate pretended?

By foes derided, by thine own rejected,

O most afflicted.

Who was the guilty? Who brought this upon thee?

Alas, my treason, Jesus, hath undone thee.

'Twas I, Lord Jesus, I it was denied thee:
I crucified thee.

The tune, by Johan Crüger, is in a minor key and complements the words to make one of the saddest, loveliest songs in our church's hymnal. Confession and forgiveness are bedrocks of the faith I grew up with.

I can imagine Biden singing these words, admitting that he hurts God, as we all do. And I think he can identify with the sadness and injustice. Joe Biden is capable of confession and the humility it requires.

According to Trump, Joe Biden wants to "Take away your guns, destroy your second amendment, no religion, no anything. Hurt the Bible, hurt God. He's against God, he's against guns." It's hard to tell from the rambling, but a (false) accusation that Biden aims to abolish the 2nd amendment appears to be given as evidence that he wants to hurt God. Does this mean that guns are the foundation of his theology, such as it is? Proof of your faith is a faith in weapons? What kind of religion is that?

Can you imagine Trump singing a song of confession (or, for that matter, anything in a minor key)? He cannot, or refuses to, see his own faults. And many pander to this inflated view. Wealthy pastors of megachurches encourage his delusion by singing his praises, while they too whine about being criticized for no reason.

Many evangelicals these days accept sin to the extent that it allows them to vote for Trump. If nobody's perfect, it's OK to vote for a man who denies that morals apply to him. Is it OK to accept forgiveness while dispensing with confession? Meanwhile, the platform they endorse provides little besides condemnation and revenge.

It's true that nobody's perfect. We all hurt God, in that we have done it to the least of those among us.

Ah, dearest Jesus, how have we offended?