Yes, but it doesn’t matter, these people don’t read the Bible.

They do read the Bible though, at least in my experience. I've gone to a number of different churches, Evangelical and otherwise, and the Evangelical or otherwise Calvinist folks were the ones that read the Bible the most and in the most detail — but perhaps also the ones who came to horrible conclusions the most often. Like that you should shine the light of Christ into the world by blocking women for promotion at your job, because 1 Tim 2:12 says that Paul does not permit them to have authority over men. (Real example, if possibly the worst one I've seen.) Maybe my experience is not representative, but I don't think the problem is primarily that Evangelicals don't read the Bible.

I have a long theory about some of the ways that Evangelicalism distorts Scripture, but one root of the issue is that (IMHO) Scripture was written by humans, reflects the biases of the authors and their societies, and has a lot of horrible things in it. If you take a sola scriptura view and then read it through a lens that's been cultivated over years to reinforce patriarchy and supremacy (see e.g. Manifest Destiny, the curse of Ham, etc) then you will end up absorbing the genocidal and supremacist bits and not the hospitable and altruistic bits.

For them, it’s just an excuse to do whatever it is they’re doing.

For sure. People don't want to repent. They want to find justifications for what they were already doing, or planning to do.

In the case of the creator of the video, they literally don't.

The group’s leader, Brenden Dilley, characterizes himself as Christian and a man of faith but says he has never read the Bible and does not attend church.

Source, which then links to a video also on the NYTimes.

Thanks for the personal perspective!

On the new and old problems front, in-line with the article … I wonder how many don’t see it that way. Getting the Supreme Court to take down abortion for instance seems like a big one for some conservatives , like maybe “best president in our life time” big. Not just because of the decision itself, but also knowing that the Court is now on “their side”.

The best description I've heard, is: "finally a politician who speaks his mind!"

What people don't realize, is that Trump doesn't really "speak his mind", like a schizophrenic would. His longer rambling tirades are actually rehearsed, while the shorter ones he's been practicing for decades since becoming a professional con man, to the point where they've become second nature.

It's all a smoke screen, very effective at fooling those less experienced. He's particularly talented at saying something, and the opposite, plus a tangent. Which is something an actual schizophrenic would never do, but a con man can use to first get people to only hear whatever each one prefers, then over time cherry pick those same words and spin them into any narrative that's best for themselves.

Or in other words, but the same, don't you love words:

The best and worst description I've heard, because hearing is important, is: finally, at the beginning of it all, when someone changes things, a politician like you and me, running the country like a business, who speaks his mind then shuts up, because respect is important, I respect that!

Yea. And in a way, Trumps greatest political achievement may be that he proved or materialised the "elitism" facade around US Democracy and Government. While previously, to many, especially urban and higher/"educated" class types, it might have just been a Fox News culture war wedge, with Trump and how "no one" saw him coming or understood his appeal, the whole elitist facade and the safe bubble many had taken for granted was revealed.

His rambling does make sense.

He just spent an entire speech confusing his own press secretary with Nanci Pelosi...

It goes back, I don't know, 30 years? With both agricultural US and union areas (sometimes the same places) the Democratic party consistently expected those votes without actually delivering anything. Bill Clinton and the party get blamed for things like NAFTA and jobs moving to other countries, etc. So eventually these folks drift to the Republican party. Many of these people were broadly conservative anyways. Later, the religious aspects and toxicity of what started with Newt manifested to what we see now.

I don't know if an evangelical Democrat would fly now. It's a really bad situation with very entrenched beliefs.

The absolutely most brilliant scene ever: Yes! We're all different! (I'm not.)