Vote or No Vote.
As a Christian (one who follows Christ, has a relationship with him, and pledges his allegiance to Him alone), I find myself in deep thought, study, and prayer about whether or not to vote for the President of the United States. I find in myself a deep division on this issue. Both in the arena of whether or not to vote, and if so than who to vote for? This post is not about who to vote for, that is a private decision one should make for themselves if they do vote. I want to have some input and discussion on the first question. I’m not making a judgment; right or wrong, either way. I’m just looking for your info, your thoughts. Ill post my comments, my personal opinions, some updates, and some future posts, as I think and pray about this more. But welcome to the conversation!
UPDATE #1:
I want to clarify, that I am very thankful for my right to vote and for the men and women who fought and gave up their lives so that I may have that right. And I will continue to and always will vote for propositions, amendments, laws, etc… Those hold mostly direct and defined decisions. My question is whether or not I should be voting for, supporting, and putting my allegiance to a man (or woman).
Vote. As Christians, we’re under God’s ultimate authority, but He set up the government and we’re obliged to participate in the process, at whatever level that may be. Our country did not rise to the most powerful country on the planet in such a short amount of time without God’s hand in it. His power and authority are on display everywhere in our government’s founding documents. The thing is, there are so many people these days that want Him out of the way, and slowly, ever so slowly, they’re getting the job done. But ONLY because good people, like you and me, aren’t involved in the process with the same amount of passion that they have. We can’t be luke warm about this. As Christians, we’d better be leading the pack with passion, and that means participating on every level possible with a passion every bit as strong as the passion our Christ had in sacrificing His life for us. If we don’t, what kind of country will remain? I’d rather not live under a communist or socialist regime such as what some think would be best for us. God gave us our freedoms, we’re obligated to fight to keep them, at whatever cost. The very least we can do is vote. It’s okay to have allegiances to multiple things. We have an allegiance to our wives and families, other people, jobs and so forth. It’s a matter of priorities.
You have the top priority figured out. What’s next in line? WE must give our country second position or we soon won’t have the country God intended us to have to raise our families.
Im not saying that voting is completely wrong or that there is anything sinful about doing so. I will continue to vote on Issues, propositions, amendments, bills, and the sort. But, I get very nervous when people tell me that I have a Christian obligation or God directed mandate to vote. You can say that it’s every American’s privilege or duty, and we should honor it, fine. But God requiring it is no where to be found in the Word.
I believe that God truly was the center of the lives of some of the early leaders of this country (not as many as we like to think), and yes He was with them in the founding and leading of this country and their decisions. But what about the Christian leaders of other nations and countries? Was, or is His blessing not with them, but only the “Americans”? Were some of the leaders following God’s leading in their lives? Yes. But He did not institute or set up our government. As a matter of fact, God’s intention was to be the ONLY ruler and leader of His people. It was Israel’s selfishness and stubbornness that brought about a king other than God. It was their desire to be like the “other nations” and have a ruler, rather than have full allegiance to Go and be seperate and different. They rejected God and chose a man. And in their foolishness God gave them a ruler, but also a warning… That ruler would be corrupt and they would cry out for relief but He would not hear them. (1st Samuel 8). This choosing a man to lead, was not a good thing…
If as a follower of Christ, I try to live the life He set as an example, then I will constantly be working and reworking my way through questions such as these, and seeking wisdom from Him and others that he has put in my life. Who would Jesus vote for? Neither, because neither is perfect and Christ could not cast a vote for sin and corruption. I totally agree that “good people” need to be active and do something! But maybe it’s not the political arena as some would think… A lot of times we often blame this world for being so dark, but as Rob Bell says, “Why blame the dark for being dark? It is far more helpful to ask why the light isn’t as bright as it could be.” We shouldn’t sit back and wait for some political action, we should be looking for the everyday things we can do to make a difference. We will never be able to make big change if we can’t be faithful in making the small everyday changes first. Christ came to bring about a Kingdom completely different than the one in which men live, to establish a government completely opposed to the governments of men.
As a Christian I will also desire to orient my life not by priorities, but with Christ as the center. God is not a priority, he does not fall into an order such as 1.)vGod 2.) Family 3.) Country 4.) Job etc…. Or whatever order you want to put them in… But we should live our lives with Him as the center of which everything else revolves, and grows out of, and flows through. I am trying to learn to put Christ as that center, to have Him be in all and through all. To have Him be my only allegiance and my life. When I learn to live that way, and seek His Kingdom, all the rest falls into place.
I think you are definitely on the right path to making a decision. I wish that every voter took the time to analyze the candidates and make an informed decision, only after an extensive amount of prayer.
I think that voters should decide what things they believe are crucial to the office.
Personally I make my selection based on certain criteria, in a specific order.
1. Is the person I am voting for a MORAL person, based on their past record and their current positions?
2. Does the person have the strength to be a good commander-in-chief? After all this is the primary responsibility of the President and rests in his/her hands alone.
3. Personal Integrity: Is this person a man of character, who stands on principles? Does he make decision based solely on what is popular or does he lead?
4. Does this person know who our friends are? Does this person acknowledge that we have enemies?
5. Will this person preserve the intent of the constitution and limit the power of the government, and appoint people (such as judges) who will assist in this process?
6. Will this person require accountability and responsibility within the government?
In many cases the candidate doesn’t make it past the first one or two questions. If none of the candidates meet the criteria, and there are more than two candidates, then I think not voting can also be a way of standing on principle.
The example of Isreals King was expressly related to the Nation of Isreal as God’s chosen people. In Daniel it says “he sets up Kings and Deposes them”. God is involved in our government. His ultimate goal is to bring all of his children to redemption. To that end he will use believers and nations of believers much as he uses believers in our Churches ( Our Churches exist because of our nation). I believe he has helped America greatly for a couple of reasons one of the biggest to bring technology to fruition. That technology has enabled many people who were not yet reached to hear the gospel and will be responsible for insuring the other people groups left that have not yet been reached are. God uses us now and wants to use us more to distribute the blessings he has provided to us to the rest of the world so they will know that God loves them and cares for them too. The reason he has blessed our county more than others is the same reason we are not all equal in the gifts we have been given; “to whom much has been given, much will be required”. Make no mistake about it God is working through the United States. Jesus said “All authority is given to me in Heaven and in earth” and that includes who is the head of the government in the United States.
Quite frankly I am tired of the amount of time we spend debating God’s will in the choices before us. Each Christian needs to participate but they need to in the privacy of their conversations with God determine how they should vote. None of us has a more compelling argument for one or the other than someone else. And quite frankly, until we can demonstrate Gods love in an intimate fashion to all those people (all) that God has put in our lives, we have no business trying to figure out what someone else should or should not be doing for the greater or lesser good of humanity. We all have our preferences but need to decide with prayerful consideration.