US presidential hopeful Donald Trump has said who Jesus is for him, after being asked the same question put to Peter in Matthew’s Gospel.
The question “Who do you say I am?”, in reference to Jesus, was put to Mr Trump by evangelical commentator Cal Thomas in the US.
The exchange was published in transcript form on Mr Thomas’s website.
After Mr Thomas put the question a second time, Mr Trump gave the following answer.
“Jesus to me is somebody I can think about for security and confidence,” Mr Trump said.
“Somebody I can revere in terms of bravery and in terms of courage and, because I consider the Christian religion so important, somebody I can totally rely on in my own mind.”
The first time the question as to who Jesus is was put to Mr Trump, he stumbled a little.
“I will be asking for forgiveness, but hopefully I won’t have to be asking for much forgiveness,” he began.
“As you know, I am Presbyterian and Protestant.”
He then said it was “deplorable” Syrian Muslims could come to the US so easily compared to
Syrian Christians, before concluding, “I’m going to treat my religion, which is Christian, with great respect and care”.
The exchange comes ahead of Mr Trump’s speech to 500 evangelical leaders in New York later this month.
Meanwhile, the Archbishop of Canterbury has agreed with Pope Francis that Mr Trump’s plan for building an anti-immigrant wall is not Christian.
Archbishop Justin Welby was asked by a UK MP whether he thought a policy of treating an entire religion as suspect and banning them from a county – a reference to Mr Trump’s policy on Muslims – was unchristian.
The archbishop said in reply: “It is certainly not a Christian thing to do nor is it a rational thing to do.”
Sources