I’M NOT GOING TO TELL YOU who to vote for.
Don’t get me wrong, I’d do if I thought you’d do it. But you won’t do it.
And you shouldn’t. You need to think for yourself.
I would, however, encourage you to mute the propaganda:
- the ever-present, one-sided ads, which usually broadcast half the truth or less. Honest, I do mute them.
- “news” stations that clearly favor one party over the other. “News” is objective, or it’s not “news.”
- talking heads. They’re too often not reporting anything but their own opinions, fact-free. Where have all the reporters gone; gone to blogging every one?
This coming Sunday, my Bible study class is going to talk about how the Bible affects our vote. Or doesn’t.
Fortunately, I don’t have to teach this session. I taught it during the last election cycle, and it wasn’t pretty. That’s because by the end of the session I made the uncomfortable observation that it didn’t look like the Bible or the Christian faith had much of an effect on the way Christians voted.
In many cases, if not most, the reasons people gave for voting the way they did had to do with money and political philosophy.
Some wanted us to back off the taxes and amp up the military. A great strategy if you’re conservative because you have a lot to conserve.
Others wanted to expand the role of government to better protect people at risk, and the environment. A great way to vote if you’re not one of the rich elite, and if you believe our system of laws and taxes was written mainly by the rich, for the rich.
There are plenty of Christians who vote a single issue, which they say they get from the Bible:
- Thumbs down on abortion. “You created my body from a tiny drop” (Job 10:10 CEV). “Do not murder” (Deuteronomy 5:17 CEV).
- Thumbs down on the gay lifestyle. “Do not have sex with a man as you would have sex with a woman. I hate that” (Leviticus 18:22 NIrV).
Those are a couple of hot topics that draw Christians to one particular party.
There are other Christians who wonder why their pew buddies are so narrow-minded. Narrow in the sense of tunnel vision; can’t see the big picture.
These other Christians may actually agree that the Bible takes a stance against abortion and homosexuality, or they may disagree; there’s a lot of that going on.
But either way, they lobby for what they say are broader, bigger, more important concerns:
- Thumbs up on higher taxes to help the helpless. “You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6:24 NLT).
- Thumbs up on those who don’t have health care. “You who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world….I was sick, and you cared for me” (Matthew 25:34, 36 NLT).
- Thumbs up on the poor. “Work for justice. Help the down-and-out. Stand up for the homeless. Go to bat for the defenseless” (Isaiah 1:17 The Message).
- Thumbs up on immigrants. “You must not mistreat or oppress foreigners in any way. Remember, you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt” (Exodus 22:21 NLT).
- Thumbs up on education. “Wisdom is more precious than rubies” (Proverbs 3:15 NLT).
- Thumbs up on the environment. “God put the man in the Garden of Eden to take care of it and to look after it” (Genesis 2:15 CEV).
Those are some of the broader topics—in the sense that they affect more people—drawing Christian voters to an opposing party.
Here’s my question to Christians. Do you think any of these ideas from the Bible make any difference at all in the way we vote?
The reason I wonder is because I don’t usually hear Christians talking about them at election time.
I hear them talking about jobs, China, Libya, a Black president, a Mormon president, and Social Security as a Ponzi scheme.
But I don’t hear many Christians quoting Jesus.
It does not matter who wins, Jesus is king and lord of heaven and earth. The Most High rules in the kingdom of Men. We have a system of legalized bribery. people with money and multinational corporations own our politicians, the Scriptures speak clearly about what is done to justice 1 public officials take bribes. and no politician is immune from the influence of money
Thanks, Kenneth.
I expect that most folks who aren’t rich would agree that the process of funding of our elections is badly broken and intrinsically corrupt. Many rich folks would agree, too.
When I was a news reporter, I couldn’t accept a gift from any of my sources, beyond the value of a ballpoint pen (in case mine ran out of ink while I was taking notes). Journalists wanted to maintain their objectivity in representing the readers instead of the subject of the article. But the people running our country can accept truckloads of “donations,” and free vacations.
Who would the candidates be more likely to represent? A voter who didn’t donate to the campaign or a $200,000 donor who might be there for the re-election campaign later?
I actually lost a friend today because he was upset that I refused to vote for Obama, even though I did not vote for Romney — I dislike both candidates and voted for a third party (TN is a Republican machine — Romney is far ahead). Since we have an “electoral” system — to me it did not matter. I like Obama a little more. He was upset that the popular vote won’t reflect my vote. To me money is the problem of this election — I don’t think any party has a hold what a “Christian” way to vote. I am also sick of all the negative Facebook posts. I fear that this election will divide this Country even more. My friend was absolutely livid of my decision and hung up on me! So sad!
I know what you mean, Wayne. My extended family is sharply divided. It seems to me that the anger and the political intransigence spiked during Bush the Second’s administration, and hasn’t leveled back to a semblance of sanity yet. On my personal FB page, I had to unfriend one gent because he wouldn’t stop swearing about people who disagreed with him, including me.
I don’t think religion should play much a part in the election process. Don’t get me wrong; my faith guides my belief about certain key issues, but there are many issues where I don’t feel my personal religion has much relevance.
Ex.1: While I don’t morally agree with homosexuality, I think oppressing those who practice the act is an awful way to run a country — even though God destroyed cities rampant with homosexuality. In this case, I don’t feel like my religious beliefs go along with how I feel a country should be run.
Ex. 2: if the US gave all its money away to other countries and poor people, like Jesus did, we’d go broke (oh wait…).
Ex. 3: If the country totally scaled back its military to the point of not being able to protect itself (the ‘turn the other cheek’ / libertarian mentality), we’d be a doormat for militant nations.
The point is, while the Democratic party more closely follows the teachings of Jesus and the Republican party more closely follows the teachings of , there are a lot of issues that shouldn’t be decided on by faith alone.
The president has a responsibility to watch over the well-being of the United States of America — from the poorest of the poor to the richest of the rich. And forcing the rich to help the poor (Jesus never forced this action, only requested it) is not watching out for the rich. On the flip side, giving the middle finger to the poor and helping the rich is not watching out for the poor.
All three candidates (Johnson, Obama, Romney) greatly oppose Christianity in their political stances — and they should.
Hey there, Brad. I think you’re right if you go with those extreme examples.
But lots of Christians aren’t down on the gay lifestyle. And the Jesus example of giving money away to the poor was a chat he had with one rich, young ruler. He didn’t tell everyone to do it. Some rich folks actually helped fund his ministry. I’m not sure what to make of scaling back the military to nothing. But I doubt that we need a military equal in budget to the next 10 runners up, some of which are our allies.
That makes no sense to me. Even less sense when one party wants to give more to the military than even the military is asking for. All the while, cutting back on services to the poor, kids in school, and repealing health care for those who wouldn’t otherwise have it.
That doesn’t feel Christlike to me.
My faith enters the voting booth when you’ve got one party that wants to help the poor and beaten down and another party that wants to help themselves and the rich-as-all-get-out.
More so in recent years, the “every man for himself” party has shifted to the extreme, it seems to me. Once upon a time not too long ago, both parties were working together to help the helpless. They co-sponsored bills to get it done. Not these days.
That’s just one example. There are lots of reasons I voted the way I did this year. Some based on my faith. Some based on my common sense. Some based on my hopes for a better America. (I’ve already voted.)
We are too busy misquoting Christ to spend any time quoting Him.
We do doctor his words, don’t we? Sometimes he’s a little tough on the ears. Often, I think, his true message gets to our heart, but we can’t seem to get it into our hands.