Liberty News

Editorial takes on Donald Trump's advice to 'be tough'

An editorial by Johnnie Moore, Liberty University’s vice president for executive projects, was recently published on FOXNews.com, addressing the advice Donald Trump gave students at Convocation last month to “get even.”

Media reports jumped on those two words in his message, but Moore points out he told students in the same context to “not let people take advantage of them” and “Be tough. In the end – win.”

“It’s high time that Christians toughen up a bit,” he wrote. “Christians shouldn’t be malicious, but they also shouldn’t let people run all over them.”

He wrote that Jesus is “Exhibit A” — “the same Jesus who preached compassion is the same Jesus who publicly embarrassed his nemeses (the Pharisees) by calling them ‘a bunch of snakes’ in front of a large crowd of people.”

He gave many more examples from Scripture that aimed to put Trump’s advice in even more context for Christians.

“Jesus might have been meek, but he sure wasn’t weak. He had a steel spine; he spoke boldly and strongly. In the end he had lots of enemies who nailed him to a tree to shut him up. Then, Christians believe, Jesus just raised himself from the dead — showing that he was in control of everything, anyhow. I might just call that more than ‘getting even.’”

• View the full article on FOXNews.com.