So…
…has anyone been paying attention to politics recently?
Ha Ha Ha Ha Haaaaaaa!
Thought I’d start with a little humor before I alienate the majority of the people I love.
I remember my mother and my uncle arguing about Nixon’s Watergate scandal.
(A scandal which, by today’s standards, was parking in a loading zone.)
Mom and Uncle had a rousing good debate about Watergate.
After the dust settled, we ate dinner.
That was it.
No accusations of intentionally ruining the country.
Neither stormed out of the house, forever severing all ties with the other.
Nixon was impeached.
The country was rattled.
I learned to ride a bike…
Then Donald Trump became the GOP presidential nominee.
Somewhere between my family’s ‘Nixon Dialogue’ and ‘Trump’s Complete Destruction of All Hope for The Human Race’, things changed.
The country stopped electing people who understand politics.
We despise those beltway politicians.
We love us some celebrities, though!
We think actors, talk show hosts, and pro-wrestlers will make excellent leaders.
We think this because celebrity news anchors tell us it’s so.
“Of course I trust Anderson Cooper! He’s gay!”
And Christians…
(…here’s the part where I upset all my evangelical friends…)
Christians, somewhere along the line…
…got the idea that voting for President is as important as pledging your life to Jesus.
Nobody SAYS that, of course.
Instead, they say stuff like:
“I’m going to honor God with my vote!”
This statement is followed by a single, resolute nod of the head.
Let’s pretend that somewhere in the very distant future…
…we will be presented with two completely awful presidential candidates.
Hypothetical scenario.
We could write in some other name.
But unless we write in ‘Jesus Christ’…
…we’re voting for a flawed, selfish, error-prone, human being.
And if by some miracle Jesus actually won the election, how are we going to swear Him in?
“Okay, Jesus, put your hand on the Bible…Whoa! That’s a big hole!”
We don’t need to vote for Jesus anyway.
He already holds the highest office in the Universe.
He cannot be impeached.
Christians have already ‘honored God’ when we decided to spend our lives as followers of Christ.
Scripture suggests that when God looks at us, he sees Jesus…
…not our voting record.
“YOU’RE SAYING IT DOESN’T MATTER WHO I VOTE FOR…!!!!!”
Yes and no….but please stop shouting.
It’s been suggested that between Trump and Hillary, we should vote for the lesser of two evils.
I’m saying that EVERY ELECTION is a choice between the lesser of two evils.
Again, we’re not pulling the lever for the Savior of Mankind.
Back to our hypothetical election…
Adolf Hitler is running against Satan.
It’s very difficult to distinguish differences between their platforms.
Both candidates have exhibited questionable business ethics.
Neither candidate is pro-life.
The third party candidate (Charles Manson) cannot win without pulling some less-than-ethical shenanigans of his own.
We could not vote at all!
The electoral equivalent of a foot stomping temper tantrum.
“Thanks to all the Veterans who died for democracy but…I’m not gonna vote this time.”
Just leave the decision up to the celebrity worshiping, brain-dead masses.
The result…
…we still end up with an awful person in the Oval Office.
I’m voting for Hitler.
Satan is going to kill everyone.
Hitler is going to kill everyone EXCEPT blue-eyed blondes.
(NOTE: I am not personally a blue-eyed blonde.)
Will God be honored by Hitler’s policies?
Absolutely not.
God will be honored by MY conduct as a Christian living enslaved within an evil regime.
“Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same…” (Romans 13)
20 Responses
John, Todd Starnes, a Christian guy who writes for Fox News and other places, put up an interesting article about Christians voting in the upcoming election. I found it an interesting read.
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2016/05/12/should-christians-vote-for-donald-trump.html
Thank you John for this. It has helped me make up my mind about who to vote for. My husband and I have been discussing this for awhile now, and I have been very stubborn about voting my party when I do not like the candidate’s value system. However, you are right. God is the sovereign authority, no matter who is in power. During my hesitation to actually participate in the voting process this November, I imagined what it would be like to be in North Korea and live as a Christian. Those people don’t actually get to vote for anyone but the tyrannical leader of the day. When caught, their treatment is worse than the atrocities of the Jewish holocaust. Yet, there those faithful are. Following Jesus. I have nothing to complain about. I am free to vote for whomever I want. Thank you for helping me make up my mind.
If every election is like choosing between Hitler and Satan, the only difference being a matter of degree, then maybe Christians should do the same as the JW’s and not participate in the politics of this kosmos! Is that always the case for you? Where do you personally draw the line (where you should/cannot vote in an election).
Hi Dale,
I’m not sure how we can consistently live in this country and ‘not participate in the politics’. While I’m not a fan of every specific law, I’m certain that we need governance to bring about law and order. It’s not reasonable to think I can follow the rules I like and ignore those I don’t.
I don’t personally draw any lines because I don’t believe conscientious voting can be a sin. I think God knows our motives.
The ‘Hitler vs. Satan’ scenario was obviously an exaggeration. If those two are ever nominated I’m pretty sure the United States will have been toast a long time prior.
I wonder if the scripture about being subject to governing authorities is fitting since we the people are supposed to vote for those who would govern us as opposed to the rulers (Kings Pharaoh’s etc.) that existed in Christ’s day. Their system was subservient in design and ours requires us to take an active role and decide what our politicians will do for us. The system has been hijacked along the way by power hungry oligarchic lawyers who refuse to follow the laws that they impose upon us. In other words, they are breaking the laws and it is our duty as Americans according to the founding documents to hold them accountable.
The other aspect is, because we as a nation have become duped by education, media and politicians and have relinquished critical thought for emotion based thinking, we are responsible for the mess that we are now in. A choice between Hillary and Trump isn’t quite as bad as Satan and Hitler but equally as difficult to choose between the two based on trustworthiness.
We can only hope based upon what we want to believe is true rather than relying upon the actual evidence before us that the candidate of our choosing will serve the people of the USA better than our ideological opposition. I for one am not willing to suspend my logic to embrace such fantasy. Once again, hold your nose and vote leads us to a divided country rather than a united one, voting for a team wearing red or blue rather than ideals that we can enthusiastically support and refusing to acknowledge that our system has been irreparably damaged by progressive thought, emotion based decision making and a disdain for God’s call on humanity to follow the command of Jesus Christ.
Great point, Stephen. The concept of a democratic republic didn’t exist when scripture was being penned.
I really understand and respect the opinions of those who cannot vote for either candidate in good conscience. I think God knows every voter’s heart. The motive matters.
I’m especially grateful for God’s grace at times like this because not matter what I decide, it feels ‘wrong’.
“The concept of a democratic republic didn’t exist when scripture was being penned.”
Mmmm, the Greeks (6th Century BCE) might have something to say about that… and the Roman Republic (509 BCE)… and the Indian Republics, the sanghas and ganas (6th Century BCE) 😉
Old Testament.
Conceived of at about the same time as the Greeks and the Indians were developing their democratic republics, actually written down about 150 years after (during Babylonian captivity), so yes, they most definitely did know about democratic republics when they wrote the OT… and Jesus most certainly knew, too.
Ok. It was poor phrasing.
No writing took place prior to the invention of symbolic language. And they didn’t use ‘pens’.
Referencing ‘democratic republic’ was shamefully vague. I should have referenced the American democratic system of government.
I hope that you and Stephen can forgive this grievous error.
Excellent point John! Going to share this a lot.
Perhaps you should not write about politics when you don’t have a grasp on history. Nixon was not impeached, he resigned. Second, everything you wrote here is the polar opposite of what our founders intended and precisely what brings dictators to power. Throw away your principles and vote for who is going to kill the least amount of people. This article represents everything that is wrong with this country. I suggest doing some reading at http://wallbuilders.com/ to learn some real American history before venturing into political writing again.
Actually, Nixon was impeached. He did resign but only after the impeachment proceedings began.
No he wasn’t.
Hi Cindy,
Perhaps you should not write about my grasp on history when you haven’t seen my test scores. It’s true that Nixon resigned. But do you think he just woke up one morning and decide to quit being President?
“…everything you wrote here is the polar opposite of what our founders intended and precisely what brings dictators to power.”
EVERYTHING?!! Including, “…we’re voting for a flawed, selfish person”? That’s the polar opposite of the founders concept?
“This article represents everything that is wrong with this country.”
EVERYTHING!!!!! ??? That’s great news! It’s going to be easy to fix the country now. Just have everyone in America read this article and do the polar opposite everything in it! Problem solved!
“Throw away your principles and vote for who is going to kill the least amount of people…”
Let me make sure I understand. Are you suggesting that voting for whoever kills the least amount of people is an unprincipled decision?
I suggest reading a few more of my blog entries to learn how I tend to use hyperbole and exaggeration before venturing into literary criticism again.
** The link you supplied is good. There is a lot of interesting history. Thanks for posting it **
While I agree, for the most part,we can see in the nation of Germany the result of taking an apathetic or wrong attitude towards voting. The nation labors under a giant cloud of Shame, according to those that I know who have been there.
I don’t want to have to be the grand parent who is ashamed to tell his grandchildren who he voted for someday.
A vote for Jesus might not be a bad thing given the alternatives.
Hi Jay,
I’m not actively trying to persuade anyone to ignore their convictions. I’m just outlining my thoughts. As I said, I’ve got several (really smart, God-fearing) friends who think I’m wrong. The contents of this article represent a change in my perspective that has occurred fairly recently. I proclaimed several months ago that if Trump was nominated, I wouldn’t vote this election.
For what it’s worth, I never asked my grandfather how he voted. If I had, he’d likely have given me his reasons for casting that vote. I would have nodded and asked for more ice cream.
Most excellent!
Thanks for these comments, John. This was a new angle that I had not considered before. Gonna put that in my pipe and smoke it for a while!!
I just recently started following your blog. Go ahead, check your stats, I’ll wait. See? Told ya.
This article really was good. I like it a lot. I’ve read it more than once and shared it with others. Thanks for writing it. That’s all.
Just wanted to say something mildly silly which might lead you to recognize my odd sense of humor and then give you a simple, honest compliment.
Kinda like a virtual high-five.