The Election is nearly here
After my last newsletter I lost a few subscribers on both sides of the aisle. It was a reminder that politics is a third rail subject that sets people off. It’s also a reminder of our increasing unwillingness to engage with opposing viewpoints. With that said, there is another election upon us and I think it’s necessary for us to have the conversation.
I am not a political expert but I do believe it’s the responsibility of the Christian to be duly informed and think critically as we seek to engage in the political arena. The problem is that we often don’t do that. There are many Christians who believe that the only proper position for the Christian is to protect the sanctity of life and vote Republican. For others, the belief is that we must be as radically loving as Jesus was and therefore the path to that is through the Democratic party. While there are aspects of each party the Christian can and should align with, it is important to remember that the way of Jesus is much older than our political parties.
Over the years I have heard Christians say we should do everything we can to impose our beliefs in the political arena for the betterment of society. For some, they say we shouldn’t bring our faith to the voting booth at all, for the betterment of society. I am of the belief that following Jesus changes you at your core. That means you don’t get to divorce your faith from your politics in the same way you don't divorce it from any other facet of your life. Which leads us to the question: what do we do in this election season?
5 Issues
Today I want to look briefly at 5 issues that are at the forefront of people’s minds this season.
Abortion: I want to go ahead and get this one out of the way because it’s among the most discussed right now. For many Christians, the sanctity of life of the unborn is the only thing on their minds when stepping into the voting booth, they are single issue voters.
As Christians we believe an unborn child is a person. In or out of the womb, it is a person made in the image of God and has a right to live. But pro life has to mean more than just pro birth. You have to be pro life from the womb to the tomb.
This means we care about those babies after they’re born too. We support policies that lead to their flourishing, like the right to be seen at a hospital and receive adequate medical attention. We don’t support policies that will take healthcare away from millions with no plan in place. We don’t support policies that lead to hundreds of thousands of people without access to clean drinking water, like in Flint. Regardless of how we feel about the borders, we don’t support locking kids (or adults) in cages. We don’t support policies that box poor children out of good public schools and underfund the ones they are in, and the list goes on. While we don’t support abortion, we understand when we step into the voting booth it is much more nuanced than we’ve been told.
We destroy our witness when all we care is to see kids born and then place them in conditions that kill them slowly. Paul Vischer recently did a video on this subject, it is worth your time.
The Economy
Despite the many books out there, I don’t think there is a “Kingdom economics plan.” What I can say is that as we think of Jesus’ command to love God and love others, the economic policies we support should have more than just ourselves in mind.
It’s easy to buy into the lie that we should only look out for ourselves but as we consider our witness in this world, if money is the main thing and only thing on our minds then we’ve failed. At present there are arguments about capitalism and socialism. One is being viewed as God sent while the other is seen as Atheist in nature and therefore condemned.
Space does not allow for me to talk about economic theory but I can say Jesus was neither a capitalist nor a socialist. Again, we love to try and place God in our neat little boxes. The Bible tells us it’s wise to work and plan for the future (Prov. 21:5, Prov. 10:4-5, Prov. 28:19). It also tells us we should be taking care of one another (Lev. 23:22, Matt. 25:40, Ja. 2:14-17).
As we step into the voting booth, remember the words of Jesus: Love thy neighbor.
Foreign Policy
In Exodus 12:38 we see the Israelites left Egypt a mixed bag. The vision of God is for a multiethnic conglomerate to worship him. In the end we see people of all tribes, tongues, and nations worshiping him (Rev. 7:9).
America is not God’s chosen nation. The Bible is not about us. We are not the heralds of all that is good, right, and true. In fact, the center of the Christian world is in the global south. If we become a nation that prohibits those people from coming here or go to war with those who are not like us, think of the ways it hurts our witness.
Again: Love thy neighbor.
Climate Change
We have been given a mandate in Genesis 1 to subdue the earth. Subduing is good stewardship. It’s taking care of this little blue dot we call home. Instead we have polluted this place and extracted everything we can from it. When it comes to issues of taking care of our home, we must bear in mind that the ramifications aren’t just for us but for future generations as well. The choices we make today will have long lasting effects we may not live to see. This is the ultimate example of loving your neighbor: doing for them even if you don’t get to see the results.
Down the Ballot
This is less of an “issue” and more of an ISSUE. In these seasons we tend to only focus on the top but so much of our lives are changed by those who are down the ballot. Be educated on them and what they stand for. More than just the President is being decided on November 3rd. Be informed.
Who you are as a Christian is going to enter into that voting booth with you. Bear that in mind as you think critically about who you are putting your support behind.
With that said, there is so much to be talked about here and so I want to do a special Q&A. Submit your questions by Friday and let’s talk through this some more.
Don’t waste your vote. Be informed. Be prayerful. Love thy neighbor.