Did God Protect Donald Trump On July 13th?

Did God Protect Donald Trump?, by Bonnie Kristian (Christianity Today; Author, Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (2022)):

If you’ve been on social media much since the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump ... , you’ve likely seen the claim: He survived the shooting because he was protected by God. ...

Did God step in to save Trump for this country?

I don’t know. I don’t rule out the possibility—I think God does act directly in the world. ... Maybe God did send an angel. Maybe God himself nudged that bullet off its course.

Or maybe he didn’t. ...

Maybe God redirected one bullet and not the other, protected one man and let the other die. Maybe he decided to spare Americans a rash of violence while leaving the Sudanese in all the agonies of long-term civil war. I don’t think that’s what happened, chiefly because I don’t recognize in that story the God revealed in Jesus Christ. But I must admit I do not know.

Moreover, two teachings of Jesus which seem applicable appear to discourage trying to know [Luke 13:1-5; Matt. 5:43-45]. ...

[O]ther Christians have different notions of how God operates in history. I know some believe he directs, controls, and intervenes in a manner I find either incommensurate with the character and commandments of Jesus or frankly nonsensical, like finding you a good parking spot, or giving you a flat tire to keep you out of a fatal crash, or otherwise dabbling in Custom-Order Divine Butterfly Effects for Very Special Middle Class Americans.

I don’t think that’s how God operates, but I’m also not spinning a comprehensive theology of the workings of providence in this little post. Instead I would only say that whatever your view of God’s providence, it should not waver in the political winds. ... Yet better than hewing to that consistency is hewing to the direction of Christ. We don’t need certain knowledge of providence to thank God that this wasn’t worse, to examine our own hearts, and to pray for sun on a righteous and unrighteous land.

• AZ Central, If God Saved Trump From a Shooting, What About the Man Who Died?
• The Christian Century, Did God Intervene to Save Trump’s Life?
• Christian Science Monitor, For Many Republicans, Trump’s Near Miss Signals ‘God Is Involved’
• Shane Claiborne (Salt Lake City Tribune), God Did Not Save Donald Trump
• Gregg Easterbrook, Did God Intervene to Protect Donald Trump From the Assassin?
• Fox News, Trump Shooting: 'God's Hand of Protection Was on Him,' Says Rev Franklin Graham, Others
• Lance Morrow (Wall Street Journal), Did God Save Donald Trump?
• New York Magazine, God’s Strongman
• New York Times, After Saturday, Trump’s Devotees See ‘God’s Protection’
• Politico, Sunday Services Paint Trump as God’s Chosen One
• Graham Tomlin, Did God Save Donald Trump?
• Wired, Supporters Believe ‘Hand of God’ Saved Trump

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