Should Christians Vote???

I agree that some Christians get way too entangled in government, but don't you think that being able to cast a vote is a God given blessing? I couldn't find it but the Bible says that knowing what is right and not doing it is a sin. What about abortion? If you were given the opportunity to vote against it, would you say the same thing? The world is not going to do the right thing. It's going to do what pleases self, but as Christians I think our vote is an important act to uphold what is right. I think that standing back and doing nothing is letting sin run rampant. I know a vote against gay marriage will not change the behavior, but we shouldn't reward the behavior with government benefits.

 

God establishes rulers and He takes them out. It doesn't matter how you vote, becuase God is going to put into political offices exactly who He wants.

It is not our responsibility to legislate morality. Take a stand with living out a Christian life and sharing your testimony when it comes time for it. Take a verbal stand when needed, but voting is not going to do anything, but take a Christian's focus off of what needs to be on and more importantly Who it needs to be on.

If we know our government is not the solution, then why bother messing with it. Our battle is not with earthly folks that do bad things. It breaks my heart that people are evil enough they would kill their own babies, but making a law isn't going to stop it.

Making a law that gays can't marry isn't going to stop them from their sin, so why involve ourselves in something that isn't the solution.

 

Here Guys, try this:


by Martin Luther, on how to get rid of the bad Mass:

"The mass is a bad thing; God is opposed to it; it ought to be abolished; and I would that throughout the whole world it were replaced by the supper of the gospel. But let no one be torn from it by force. We must leave the matter in God's hands. His word must act, and not we. And why so? you will ask. Because I do not hold men's hearts in my hand, as the potter holds the clay. We have a right to speak: we have not the right to act. Let us preach; the rest belongs unto God. Were I to employ force, what should I gain? Grimace, formality, apings, human ordinances, and hypocrisy. . . . But there would be no sincerity of heart, nor faith, nor charity. Where these three are wanting, all is wanting, and I would not give a pear stalk for such a result. . . . God does more by His word alone than you and I and all the world by our united strength. God lays hold upon the heart; and when the heart is taken, all is won. . . .

"I will preach, discuss, and write; but I will constrain none, for faith is a voluntary act. See what I have done. I stood up against the pope, indulgences, and papists, but without violence or tumult. I put forward God's word; I preached and wrote--this was all I did. And yet while I was asleep, . . . the word that I had preached overthrew popery, so that neither prince nor emperor has done it so much harm. And yet I did nothing; the word alone did all. If I had wished to appeal to force, the whole of Germany would perhaps have been deluged with blood. But what would have been the result? Ruin and desolation both to body and soul. I therefore kept quiet, and left the word to run through the world alone."--D'Aubigne, b. 9, ch. 8.

 

Let's not forget that God works through us. If the founding fathers had sat back and done nothing we would still be citizens of England. We live in a democratic society (even with all it's problems) and so even your non-vote is a vote.

 

One thing to keep in mind, we want the government to know, realize and respect that together we are a represented part of this society. You have positions like pro life, no gay marriage, put prayer back in school etc...

No politician will give a hoot no matter your cause unless he can count on you at the poll. Many politicians choose their position on popular concerns based on polls. If they can say, "who cares, the Christians never vote" then we will never be represented.

 

That's a pretty bold statement. No disrespect, but that puts you pretty close to all-knowing.

Please show me Scripture where it says that God works through humans to establish rulers? I've never seen that.

No it's not. A vote is when you go punch a chad (no offense to chads across the nation ) or when you punch the correct button etc. That and only that is a vote. Choosing not to participate in the corrupt political process is in no way a vote.

 

Who cares whether we are respresented or not.

EDIT: By the way I agree with your political analysis by the way

 

I am definitely not claiming to be all knowing. But I do know that God works through us.

I wasn't talking about rulers. I was talking about voting on ammendments.

When you don't vote against gay marriage it is the same as voting for it.

 

I believe that only neocon Christians should vote. Those who are isolationists should be consistent with their isolationism and stop voting.

Joseph Botwinick

 

Great question, I respect this...

Go back to when Jesus paid his taxes and gave us the often misquoted saying, "Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's."

He was teaching the Jews they had to face the dual reality of subjection to Rome and responsibility to God. We must also accept this dual reality. We live in the American society which is goverend by the US government. We should submit ourselves to the American government and laws while remembering our lives and soul's belong to the Lord.

1 Peter 2:13 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme;
14 Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.
15 For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men:
16 As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.
17 Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.

Whoops! I forgot to answer your point, I see folks here saying abortion is murder, if you believe that you should voice that belief at the polls. If not, pro choice will be the loudest voice in the land.

 

But, at least with Australian Rules balloting, you can vote for the best candidate without it being a vote for the worst. Here, since the votes are not re-allocated, a vote for a third party is in reality a vote for the greater of two evils. IOW, if you think the republican is the lesser of two evils (between him and the democrat), but you vote for the Green party (or any third party candidate), what you have done is voted for the democrat.

I would like to see Australian rules balloting here.

 

"Almost thou persuadeth me.........."

Jump, would you fail to vote if the two candidates were Christian vs. Muslim?

How about supreme cocaine lord vs. Christian?

A lesbian vs. the grandson of Billy Graham, Will Graham?

The first is not at all unlikely, the second maybe a little far-fetched. The third... maybe. The point is that my vote can make a significant difference in who makes decisions about going to war, fighting terrorism, appointing SC justices and federal judges, the various cabinet secretaries, programs pushed through Congress........

At what point do we simply stop voting, turn the country over to an oligarchy (we're close to that now), or to a few elitist intellectuals? Will that be God's design?

 

Well if you want to continue to believe that way I guess you are more than welcome to it, but to say that just because someone doesn't play politics that they support gay marriage is nothing short of absurd, again no disrespect intended.

 

LeBuick I absolutely agree with you that we are to be subject to the government. That is exactly what Romans 13 is teaching us. However our government doesn't require us to vote. So we are not rebelling against authority for not voting.

And you can have your voice heard much more than voting when it comes to any issue. Voting doesn't let your voice be heard. Becuase unless someone asks you or you just go around offering up who you voted for and why nobody will ever know who you voted for or why.

Again voting is not the answer, becuase it is fighting a battle that we are not even supposed to be in on a field where our battle is not being waged. And as long as Christians are focused on the physical Satan doesn't have to work nearly as hard on the "real" battlefield!

 

Your vote means absolutely nothing if we are to take Scripture at its word. God said He alone establishes rulers and takes them out. God will put whomever He wants into each position regardless if not a single solitary Christian showed up at the poll. That's just what the Bible says. We can either believe that or we can believe that we have to help God out by voting.

I choose to believe God doesn't need me in the polling booth nor does He want me there either.

 

Government, American government, is of, by, and for the people. We are to elect public servants who understand that they serve at our pleasure and are there to fulfill our wishes. It isn't the other way around. This isn't Israel under the heel of Rome.

 

I disagree, the voice of the people is heard best via the ballot box.

Politicians will move in the direction of the peoples votes. Ex. If every Christian in this country stood on one accord, let's say no gay marriage. And we made it known that every voting christian were in one accord and planned to make their voice heard via the ballot box. A candidate, doesn't matter who but at least one will platform against gay marriage feeling this would get him all the Christians vote. The Church should be active in society and I believe this was Lot's fault. He cared about his family but failed to worry about the moral view of the society and look what happened. This society needs a councience and good voice of that concience should be the Church.

This was very effective years ago but recently the Christians don't go vote or we split our vote. This is what makes no politician care about our cause because we don't impact the election of we don't vote. I say not only should we vote but we should not be ashamed of whose we are and let them know if you represent anything not of God you will not get my vote...

 

I am not familiar with the German government of today. Our government wrote those words while black men we in slavery. Which people were they the government for? Certianly not all the people.

 

Let's say there's only 100 citizens of voting age in the U.S. 48 vote against gay marriage, 49 vote for gay marriage and 3 don't vote because they believe it's against God's will. Well, gay marriage would be legalized by 1 vote. Do you really believe that's God's will? I think we will be held accountable for our apathy. I am thankful to God to be living in country where I have the opportunity and privilege to help make decisions like these. Much better than living say, in Iraq.

 

I guess what we need is a king, emperor, or just a dictator (say, Fidel Castro). Then we wouldn't have to argue over whether to vote or not. Nor would we have to argue over how much we want the guv-ment to take of our money for taxes; we wouldn't have to argue over abortion (it would be useless because our voice would mean nothing). We wouldn't have to argue over whether high gas prices are the result of big oil's gouging or just a natural supply-and-demand situation.

We wouldn't have to worry about getting the best plane fare for a trip abroad (or to the next state, or wherever). We would have to have permission even to leave town.

I know all the scriptures about the powers that be being ordained by God. I know all of them which talk about God raising up rulers, or taking them down. But I also read about God's use of means to implement his plans--including the use of pagan kings and armies---and the vote of the people.