A collection of quotes from pro- and anti-Trump voices. First, from Trump supporters: Arngrimr notes that if the Left had gotten their way with National Popular Vote, Trump would have won 520-18.

This tyranny of the majority has served them well in the states where they took control, but the US Constitution and its balanced system prevented them from destroying it outright. In an attempt to circumvent the Constitution, the initiative of the National Popular Vote Act was born. Their stated goal: "The National Popular Vote law will guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia."

All 18 states that have approved the NPV compact went for the Democratic nominee this year, with the exception of one congressional district in Maine. The map would've been red except for Virginia, New Hampshire, and one congressional district in Nebraska. But NPV isn't triggered until states representing at least 270 electoral votes approve it. Julie Neidlinger is very happy, and she wants to enjoy her joy:

I don't often feel joy as I am a sort of introverted downer person. I have had moments of joy where my face won't stop grinning... It's not the same as joy that comes through faith. It might be closer to happiness but on a high-octane level. It's a coursing, shocking feeling. Senses and ideas are all overwhelmed, and experience is so much more than the expectation that the mind is short-circuited. I have so much excitement flowing through me that I don't know how to process it. I am absolutely unused to feeling this up, this hopeful, this surprised, this gobsmacked. I have, apparently, learned to function in a world of disappointment and down-ness.... I know Jesus is on the throne, I know he's my Savior, I know God sets up leaders and takes them down, I know Trump isn't perfect, I know there could be some crazy stuff ahead and things won't go as we think. I know Jesus comes first, not our nation, and making our nation great again can't happen without people turning to God. I know. I do. But let me have some joy, unapologetically, without a lecture. Let me be ecstatic without tempering it with caveats. The strange masochistic tendency of modern Evangelical Christians to turn a win of any sort into an admonishment to downplay it is strange to me. Let this Gen-Xer have her good day before we get back to low-key "whatevs" business. A joyless life is like solitary confinement, and today's little taste of joy won't last very long. So let me have it. Thanks.

- November 07, 2024 at 10:54AM
Election 2024 reactions
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Posted on the Monergism Facebook page last week and reposted here with their permission:

What do Christians mean when they say that people need to be "saved"? Do we mean that people need simply to modify their behavior and obey God's law? It would be great if it were that simple, but that is not what we mean (Romans 3:20; Galatians 2:16). Instead, we mean that human beings are prisoners, captives, and slaves to their idols, to their own lusts, to the world's system, and to the devil (Romans 6:16-18; John 8:34; 1 John 2:15-16). We cannot extract ourselves from these things because, like those who have Stockholm syndrome, we have fallen in love with our captors--loving those things which harm us most (John 3:19). Though we vaguely recognize that something is wrong in the world and within human nature, we tend to shrug it off, suppress or ignore it, and willingly fall under the illusion that we live in freedom (Romans 1:18-19; Romans 1:28). We cling to the falsehood of human progress, imagining that human ingenuity will somehow deliver us from ourselves and our problems (Jeremiah 17:5-6). Pridefully, we hold to the idea that we are something and can do something to make things right. But we cannot escape our captivity on our own. No wisdom, plan, power, understanding, or technology can release us (1 Corinthians 1:20-21; Romans 7:18). The problem runs far too deep in us for that (Jeremiah 17:9; Romans 7:23-24). Like the Hebrews in Egypt, we are slaves who need rescue. The tyranny of our idols and lusts is too powerful for nature to conquer. We need redemption from outside ourselves (Isaiah 43:11; Titus 3:5-6). So, salvation is not about behavior modification (Ephesians 2:8-9). We are too entangled in the web of our own making to escape (Proverbs 5:22). We first need supernatural intervention by One like us who can break the bonds and lead us out of slavery (Hebrews 2:14-15; John 8:36). Then, and only then, after being freed from our captors, are we free to do right, to love mercy, to do justly, and to walk humbly with our God (Micah 6:8; Galatians 5:1). But those who ally themselves with the tyranny of sin, like the Egyptians, will experience the fullness of God's wrath, which is ultimately what we need to be saved from (Romans 1:18; Colossians 3:5-6; John 3:36). Final Thought: In biblical terms, salvation is holistic: it rescues us from sin's power, our deserved judgment, and our rebellion against God. Romans 2:6-16 tells us that God's holy justice is exact and impartial, dealing with each person according to their works. This is a heavy reminder that none of us can stand before God on the basis of our own merit (Romans 3:23). Without grace, we would face judgment, not acceptance (Romans 6:23). Salvation, therefore, is God's gracious intervention that transfers us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His Son (Colossians 1:13), a rescue beyond human effort or wisdom. Through Christ, God provides what we cannot: a righteousness that meets His perfect standard and redeems us from the bondage of sin into true freedom (John 8:36).

- November 04, 2024 at 12:50AM
What does it mean to be saved?
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