The New Testament, not surprisingly, has a lot to say about virtue:

“Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth…” “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance…” “For the love of money is the root of all evil…” “Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge…” “Let no man seek his own, but every man another’s wealth…”

Donald Trump does not exhibit any of the Christian virtues. In fact, if you tried to imagine the opposite of Christlike, you wouldn’t be far from Donald Trump.

And yet, the great majority of American evangelicals are supporting him. Why? For Ted Cruz, the #1 reason was Trump’s revised list of Supreme Court nominees. Cruz isn’t really that stupid, of course. He didn’t endorse the man he called a “pathological liar” just because the latter made an agreeable list of names. Trump’s word is worthless, even in the form of a legally valid contract. Just ask his former employees and business partners. The only positive difference between Trump and Clinton is that the former has made conciliatory gestures toward evangelicals. Evangelicals have responded. Meaning that Christian voters are willing to support anyone in exchange for a smile and a pat on the head.

This depressed me. Big time. I was bummed. Are we really that stupid? What is wrong with us? Is the world better than we are? It was a good time to remember that Christians suck. We suck. Church sucks. Go anyway.

The New Testament church began with Jesus, a Nazarene, who from the beginning was called The Offspring of Adultery. Because, well, unless you tended to assume that people born out of wedlock were conceived supernaturally, that’s what it looked like. Jesus surrounded Himself with debased women, common laborers, and tax collectors, aka legalized racketeers. After three years of ministry, one of His disciples sold Him out to His enemies, and He died as a criminal. The disciple who might have been His hand-picked successor denied Him three times, even with an oath, and the rest scattered. The early church featured members struck dead for their sins, self-serving cults of personality, strife at the highest levels, strife at the lowest levels, confusion over the very nature of the Gospel, drunkenness in church, disorder, fraud, lawsuits, and sexual immorality, even such as is “not so much as named among the Gentiles.” Under more positive circumstances, the church is often described as a bride, “little children,” and sheep. In our feminist, youth idolizing, and industrialized society, these might sound like good things. In the patriarchal, elder-respecting, and pastoral society of the time, they were dubious compliments at best. The early church featured a disproportionate number of women and slaves. One of the earliest symbols of the church was the cross, which was about as nice a symbol as the electric chair.

I could go on. By all accounts, the early church was chaos, it sucked, and looked nothing like an organization that I would want to be a part of. In short, it looked a lot like it does today.

And yet, I am a part of the church. I need to love her. I need to support and cherish her. This is the bride of Christ we’re talking about here. Growing up, churches were evaluated in doctrine and in practice according to a long list of requirements, and if found wanting, the thing to do was turn away in disgust and do “home church.” There’s a word for having such high expectations of the church that you can’t go anymore: schism. In the past, I identified with my church, but not THE church. The response to the failings of other Christians was easy: “Well, that’s not my church…” Is Christ divided? Heck, I remember snickering whenever a celebrity pastor would receive his “comeuppance.”

For most of my adult life, I was part of what I considered to be a mature body of believers. I was comfortable with this maturity, proud of it, and judged other churches in comparison. Today, I distrust that sentiment. Are we really mature, or do I simply not know my church well enough to be aware of her faults? Are we mature, or do we fail to minister to the lost and the immature? Maturity as a result of not having new believers in our midst is not a good thing. Are we mature, or do we fail to confess our sins to one another and bear each other’s burdens, and instead let our problems languish in the shadows? Are we mature, or are the sins that beset us just easily hidden? Are we mature, or are our sins primarily of omission rather than commission? Are we mature, or am I the problem in the church, and blind to my own sin? That one hits close to home. It has been true in the past; it will be true in the future. Make no mistake, the church should be mature. But then, I should be a light to “so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Is that the daily rule in my life, or the exception? Should I be surprised when a bunch of sheep act like it?

The church has problems. It always has, and always will. We’re a bunch of sinners. Paul says it all:

For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

Weak and base, that no flesh should glory. Got it. Church sucks. Go anyway.