NEW YORK ¨C Now that Donald Trump is the Republican Party¡¯s presumptive presidential nominee, it seems fitting to address a source of perplexity that has persisted ever since he arrived on the political scene: How can America¡¯s fundamentalist Christians be so enthusiastic about so thoroughly un-Christian a politician?
This seeming paradox is rooted in Christian fundamentalist thought itself. At its heart is a special code of meaning-making that enables believers to see and hear what others do not.
Consider the words of Jesus in the Book of Matthew (13:16-17): ¡°But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.¡± The meaning of these words can be properly decoded only by the faithful. Prophetic signs may well appear to those who see through the lens of faith. The ill-equipped are likely to behold something entirely different or perhaps nothing at all.
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