The Christian in the Voting Booth (Part 1)
Negotiables and Non-negotiables
Quickly, before we get to the content, I want to let you know about a couple of changes.
All of the posts in the Past-People-Politics section of the newsletter will be available to everyone for the first week. After that, they will go behind the paywall for full subscribers only. I’m quirky, I know. I want to have a paid subscriber option, but every single time I write a post I can’t get around the urge to make sure everyone can benefit from it. This is how I have chosen to balance my inner wrestling.
I am going to release this post in a series of smaller pieces as opposed to one long-form piece. I suspect it may be more beneficial to you this way. Let me know whether or not you like it better this way. Ok, enough housekeeping. Let’s get to the content.
Election cycles are becoming trying times for Christians. Each one seems to be more pivotal than the last and everyone has strong opinions on how Christians should vote. We will be in another campaign season before you know it and the stakes may be higher than they’ve ever been. Of course, we hear that every four years. Is it hype or are the stakes really getting higher with each election? I believe they are.
The pressure in our culture is ever increasing and it will eventually reach critical mass. Logic has gone out the window. What passes for academia and intelligent discussion anymore is pure lunacy. We are no longer driven as a nation by rational thought and sound morals. We are driven by passion, lust, and emotions. Our public forums sound more like animals barking at each other than cordial disagreement among reasonable people. When the zoo animals get to choose their zookeeper all manner of chaos will ensue.
So where does this leave Christians trying to do their civic duty? The respective political parties are only going to platform candidates who stand a chance at winning. That means the people you are presented with each election cycle will have been already selected because of their ability to appeal to the desires of the people. It is clear, due to the godless direction of our culture, that we won’t have the option of voting for a sound theologian, biblical scholar, or pastor any time soon. We may have to settle for someone less than ideal in one way or another. The wise thing to do would be to draw those lines now before the campaign starts heating up and the media blitz starts reaching out of our devices and smacking us in the face.
So, let’s put some thought to it and hopefully draw some of those lines.
Determine Your Negotiables and Non-negotiables
This is easy on one hand, hard on the other. There are certain things that should automatically disqualify a candidate in the eyes of the Christian. There are other things that may go against the believer’s judgment. However, they may not disqualify the candidate. How do you know the difference? You must divide between the Word of God and personal interest.
“Even though princes sit and talk against me, Your servant meditates on Your statutes. Your testimonies also are my delight; They are my counselors.” (Psalm 119:23-24, NASB)
The Word is our counselor. No matter what the powers that be are saying, even if it is in opposition to us, we must receive our counsel from Scripture. That means our primary voting guide ought to be Genesis through Revelation, not some pamphlet from the office of elections. Therein lies our first major problem. Even among evangelicals, biblical illiteracy is dominant. We can’t vote according to the counsel of Scripture if we don’t know the counsel of Scripture. Get well acquainted with your Bible. You’re going to need it.
We also tend to vote based on personal interest first. We need to flip that pattern. Of primary concern should be a candidate’s alignment with the clear teaching of Scripture. Here is an example of what I am talking about:
Candidate A seeks to advance the availability of abortion, but he promises to pay your student loan debt and his fiscal policy will help your budget. The counsel of God’s Word stands against that candidate and the faithful Christian will vote no.
Candidate B seeks to end, or at least diminish, the practice of abortion. However, his fiscal policy will make things harder for you personally. I would advise the Christian to vote yes.
Of course, this is simplistic. It’s not always that easy. What happens when both candidates stand against the clear teaching of Scripture in some way? I don’t believe the answer is to refuse to vote at all. I also don’t believe the answer is to vote third party. At least not as things stand right now. I will flesh this out in the next post, Playing the Long Game.
Take a walk through Psalm 88, often called the darkest Psalm. There is comfort here for the saint in seasons of darkness.
I agree with you right up to the point of saying that voting for a third party shouldn’t be an option. You are talking about voting based on principle but making an exception if it means voting for someone other than the Republicans or Democrats? I agree that we can’t sacrifice Biblical principles on the altar of self interest. However, it’s just as great a tragedy to sacrifice those principles on an altar of political expediency…