On Monday, President Donald Trump said we should want to prove to God that we're good so we can get "to that next step."
Christians should roll our eyes at the stunted theology, but before dismissing the comment outright, behind it lies a truth our culture desperately needs to hear.
Donald Trump is right about one thing: Without a moral authority beyond ourselves, virtue cannot survive. If "goodness" becomes whatever an individual or government says it is, it won't be long before virtue collapses into self-interest. America's founders understood this.
George Washington warned in his Farewell Address,
Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.
In other words, once a nation abandons faith in God, people become accountable only to themselves.
That's a recipe for moral decay.
When citizens no longer restrain their appetites by conscience or divine authority, selfishness fills the void. The result is predictable: people abuse their freedoms, victims cry out to government for help, government responds by writing new laws, and every new law trims a little more liberty from the people. That's how free societies die - not through invasion, but through the slow erosion of virtue.
So on that point, Trump is right: Faith matters. Religion isn't a hobby for the sentimental; it's the scaffolding that upholds moral order. But where Trump misses the mark, and where his words reveal a deep, persistent misunderstanding of Christianity, is in what he thinks that faith actually teaches.
Trump said, "There's no reason to be good. I want to be good because I want to prove to God I'm good, so I go to that next step."
That's not Christianity. That's moralism: The idea that being "good enough" earns God's approval. The entire gospel of Jesus Christ stands in direct opposition to that belief. Christianity teaches that we can never be good enough to prove ourselves to God. That's the whole reason Jesus came - because human effort could never bridge the gap between our sin and God's holiness.
The Apostle Paul made it plain:
'By grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God - not a result of works, so that no one may boast' (Ephesians 2:8 - 9).
The Christian pursuit of goodness isn't about earning heaven; it's about reflecting the character of the One who saved us. We obey not to prove ourselves to God, but because we belong to Him.
So yes, Trump deserves immense credit for recognizing that a society without God cannot sustain virtue. But let's also be clear: God isn't measuring goodness like a cosmic scorekeeper. He's offering redemption through Christ to all who recognize they aren't good enough.
That's the paradox of real faith: Goodness begins not with proving ourselves, but with admitting we can't.
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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Not the Bee or any of its affiliates.
