This Is Important!

I seldom address politics in my weekly blogs.  However, it is important that Christians deal with government, including politics, from a biblical worldview.  Jesus told His disciples that they were to be salt and light in their culture.  One of the ways that a disciple of Christ can be salt and light in today’s culture is to be active in the political process. I know that the government is not the answer to our problems and that only God can change lives.  However, we must address all areas of life from a biblical perspective.

We are approaching election day here in the United States and it is my conviction that, as a Christian, I have a moral obligation to make my voice known by voting. However, the problem that many Christians have about the voting process is that they look at this from a dualistic worldview perspective.  They see politics as part of their secular, not their spiritual lives.

When a Christian approaches voting from a secular/sacred divide, he/she ends of doing various things such as:

• Not voting because they don’t see it as having spiritual meaning and/or importance.
• Voting for a particular person based on his/her personality.
• Voting for a political party.
• Voting for what will give him/her temporal gain.

The reality that we must embrace when performing our civic duty by voting in an election is that we must make our decisions based on a biblical worldview.  When we apply a biblical worldview to the area of politics, we realize that we must cast our vote based on the ideas or worldview that an individual and/or a political party espouses.  Whenever I engage in the voting process, I am choosing what ideas/worldview that I want to direct or control my life and the lives of others in my community, state or country.

As election day draws near, I know that I must not be silent by not voting.  For me, it means that I have to take some extra time to cast my vote as I will be out of town on election day.  But just making sure that I vote is not enough.  I must be willing to take a stand for certain ideas and values that are in line with biblical truth.  Here are some of the basic ideas/values that I will be voting for.

The Sanctity of Human Life

We are witnessing the dire consequences when a society does not hold in high esteem the sanctity of human life.  When the culture rejects the fact that every person is created in the image of God and that life begins at conception (see Psalm 139:13-17; Jeremiah 1:5), human life ceases to have intrinsic value.  Because Christians have not voted to protect the sanctity of human life we have witnessed:

• Over 60.8 million babies aborted since 1973 which is an average of 1.2 million per year.
• Mass murders taking place in epic proportions.It is becoming all too common to hear accounts of shootings in crowded movie theaters, army bases, schools, shopping malls, and houses of worship.  Just this past weekend 11 Jewish worshipers were killed while attending their Shabbat services in their local synagogue.
• An epidemic increase in suicides, murders and doctor assisted deaths.
• Losing of what it means to be human where gender has become a choice. This results in today’s gender confusion that makes it legal for individuals to use restrooms and/or locker rooms based on their individual gender preference.

The Family

God ordained marriage to be between a man and woman as a picture of the relationship between Jesus and the church.  Marriage is the cornerstone of society as it is through the marriage relationship that families are made.  When Christians are silent or vote against a biblical standard of the marriage relationship, society embraces:

• Easy divorce that finds divorce rates in “Christian” marriages keeping pace with those of the world.
• Laws that allow for same-sex marriage.
• The disintegration of the family which will always lead to the collapse of a civilization.

Religious Freedom

One of the most treasured freedoms we have experienced here in the United States is the freedom to practice one’s religion without intervention by the government.  Once again, by either not voting or voting for people and laws that do not value the freedom of religion, we find ourselves seeing this freedom eroding at a rapid pace.

I recently saw where posters were placed on community trash cans that compared Christians to trash that needs to be kept off of city streets.  Christians who choose to live out their faith in their private businesses have been harassed and even faced criminal charges.

These are just a few of the ideas that I believe God expects His people to support and protect as we engage in the political process.  There are other values that are always at stake in any election.  These include the power of the government verses dependence on God and the support of Israel.

Kyle Idleman gives Christians a strong challenge in his book, “gods” at War.  I believe this is a challenge that every Christian needs to accept at this critical point in our country’s history.  He explains how Joshua told the people of Israel that it was time for each of them to choose a god and worship it.  He clarifies what he meant by the term “god” when he wrote,

It’s time to choose a worldview and let it remake you.

Christians must destroy dualism in their lives.  It is imperative that we choose a biblical worldview and let it remake us into biblically-thinking and biblically-acting citizens.  A great place to start is to make sure that we act as salt and light in this world.  This means we must take the truths of Christianity into the public arena and make our voice heard.  I do not believe that any Christian can allow false ideas and values to control our lives any longer.  Yes, we must vote but we must vote, in every instance, to make sure that the sanctity of human life, God’s design for the family, and the freedom to practice our religion are protected.

We must also become more determined to give our children a biblical worldview education at home, church and school.  The goal of this type of education should be to prepare them to be salt and light when they go out into the world as young adults.  We can model this for our children to see by engaging in all areas of life – including politics – from a biblical worldview ourselves.  This week talk with your children and let them know how privileged we are to live in a country where we can vote and why you vote in a certain way that will take God’s truth into the public arena.

The question is What ideas do you want to control your lives and the lives of your children and grandchildren?  How you answer that question will determine their future.  We can’t afford to answer this wrong.