Last week, we discussed, among other people, this couple:
We talked about the distinction between penitents who take responsibility and try to do something to make amends for the damage they have caused and those who blame everybody but themselves and do nothing to make amends.
As it happens, this couple is taking responsibility and trying to right the wrong they did:
Rather than leave the GOP quietly, the couple from Byron, Georgia, decided to publicly announce their decision to break with the party, and joined a growing community of former Trump supporters called Leaving MAGA.
“If people would just listen and research and do something other than just listen to Fox News, we may all be better off, but it’s going to take an open mind and an ability to say, ‘I made a mistake,’ because once you say you made a mistake, you can turn the ship around,” said Chrissey Kelley, 50, a stay-at-home mom.
Speaking out against MAGA cost the Kelleys relationships with friends and family members who support Trump, but in sharing their story, they hope to inspire others having doubts about the GOP.
Over on the Book of Face, one reader complained:
They still owe a debt.
Trillions wasted and blood spilled while they cheered.
And another reader astutely noted:
Yes, but they’ll never be able to repay it. We must accept that and move forward. We need every sincere ex-MAGA going forward. It won’t help us to punish them.
To which the first reader replied:
Bullshit.
They can volunteer as an escort at a women’s clinic. They can donate to trans inclusive organizations. They can speak out against the lies they were spewing, they can march for black lives, they can risk their safety in front of an ICE detention center.
They OWE a blood debt.
Me, I note that the people in the story are attempting to pay down the debt. They may not be doing what my reader demands, but they are trying to do something, and at some personal cost to themselves. So I urge those in the Resistance to be gracious. And remember that each of us owes an unpayable debt too:
Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.
“Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began the reckoning, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents; and as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him the lord of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But that same servant, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ He refused and went and put him in prison till he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me; and should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his lord delivered him to the jailers, till he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.” (Mt 18:21–35)
One of the greatest dangers we face is Being Right. The Pharisees were right. They stood firm for the traditions of their ancestors when lots of Jews caving in and compromising with Greco-Roman oppressors, which was why tax collectors and similar quislings were hated. And it blinded many of them to the fact that there is distinction between being right and being loving.
The Donatists were right. They had the guts to endure persecution, torture, and the death of loved ones while lots of Christians caved and even betrayed other Cbristians to save their skin. But the sinners and weaklings they hated ended by receiving grace in their failure and weakness while the Donatists refused it because it matter more to be right than to forgive and love as Christ did.
Indeed, all through history there have been people who sinned egregiously–just like the Prodigal Son–and there have been people who did everything right at great cost to themselves. And the latter have often found it enormously difficult to accept the idea that those sons of bitches should be forgiven and loved–just as the the Older Brother did.
But nonetheless we are called to accept and encourage those who are attempting virtue even when they don’t live up to our standards and expectations. And we are to do so because Christ does so. That is in part what this parable is all about:
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the market place; and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing; and he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius. And on receiving it they grumbled at the householder, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you, and go; I choose to give to this last as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ So the last will be first, and the first last.” (Mt 20:1–16)
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One Response
Trump was successful because he told the white working class what they wanted to hear. That they are the “real Americans” and their problems are the the fault of immigrants, transgenders, etc. Note that he scapegoated safe targets, not the real source of their problems, such as CEO’s, billionaires, etc. This fit nicely with the culture war theme.
Social Security is going bust, the national debt is becoming unsustainable, but what does MAGA worry about? Nonsense issues such as transgender sports. The typical MAGA is easily bamboozled. They focus in culture war of no real importance while the billionaires pick their pockets. If you point this out to them, they become quite angry.
The good con artist, like Bernie Madoff or Trump Isabel to get his marks to really believe in him, even when a reasonable person would realize they are being conned. The mark has too much self respect invested in the con artist to see the con. They believe the horse manure until It’s too late.
Former MAGA should be forgiven, but they need to engage in some honest soul searching.