Psalm 51

Augustine: Why’d you pull punches on Ash Wednesday?

Chris: I didn’t, I preached about our sinfulness and fallibility.

Augustine: But, you didn’t make the connection between President Trump and the sin of David that caused that psalm.

Chris: You mean all the adultery and sexual assault President Trump has committed?

Augustine: Psalm 51 isn’t just about adultery or sexual assault. It is also about Uriah the Hittite, who David callously sacrificed in order to get what he wanted. He sacrificed this foreign-born man and used his wife Bathsheba.

Chris: Okay, so Trump is definitely sacrificing foreign-born people for the sake of the election.

Augustine: Yes, and he’s also sacrificed one of his warriors—Ryan Owens—and then used Owens’ widow for political ends.

Chris: That’s a stretch.

Augustine: The raid was inadvisable and the earliest reports suggested it didn’t get any useful information. It killed Ryan, injured six other Seals, killed 9 civilian children—including the daughter of an American—and 16 adult civilians.

Chris: Well, the 8-year-old daughter was the daughter of an American member of al Qaeda.

Augustine: So, the US has now killed two of this guy's kids, and him… that seems horrible. Are you okay with killing children, especially children of your countrymen?

Chris: Of course not… so, you think Trump acted like David. He hastily ordered a bad raid before his State of the Union to look like he is “bombing the hell” out of ISIS, got a bunch of people killed, lied about the intelligence gathered to justify the raid, and then paraded Ryan’s widow around in order to look presidential?

Augustine: All I’m saying is if disaster strikes, you know who to blame.
Chris: I think you are going too far—I couldn't preach that to myself, let alone to my congregation—but I do understand how I can be seen as being pretty quietist in my preaching, considering all that is happening in my country.