...is like discarding a half eaten hamburger in a trash can that happens to be in the vicinity of a homeless person and calling it a work of mercy.
I'm not saying that Christians should not vote. It is a responsible action. Like putting your garbage in a proper receptacle and not dropping it on the sidewalk. But lets call it what it is; and it is not letting the voice of the Church be heard. It is waste management. At best - and it rarely is - the state helps to restrain evil. It does not usher in the kingdom.
Neither party nor any recent candidate embodies the Christian message (No, not even Katherine Harris). Therefore voting = compromise. Picking the lesser of two evils. And witness and compromise are mutually exclusive concepts.
If we care about abortion do we simply vote pro-life then go home and watch TV and eat cheetos and feel good about doing our Christian duty? Dear God I hope not. Because where does that candidate stand on immigration? Helping those living in poverty? Inflation and debt?
I once talked with gentleman who said, "Yea. I may not agree with (a certain politician's) economic stance. But I made a decision long ago to vote strictly by moral issues, not economic theories."
Every issue is a moral issue.
Last I checked God loves Mexicans and poor people too.
"Oh, Wil. You can't have it all."
"Nope. Not within the American political system."
The lesser of two evils may be the better choice between two options. So go ahead and vote that way. But lets quit stopping there. The problem is that we've bought into the idea that these are the only options: liberal or conservative, yes on prop 204 or no on prop 204, legislated morality or ganja fueled peace orgies, elephants bearing their Americanized Jesus that feeds his cherished corporations with the corpses of the poor and then offers them a clear glass of melted glacier water to wash it down, or jackasses herded by Satan himself on a black ATV that runs on an alternative fuel derived from aborted babies and toppled monuments to the 10 commandments.
We've been told to "vote or shut up." If we believe this, if we see voting as our only, or even our primary, voice, then our ballots become the duct tape sealing our lips.
Thank the Living Jesus there is a third option: seeing the Church of Jesus Christ as the primary political entity to which we belong and through which we let our voice be heard. We do not need to continue searching and waiting for the perfect candidate to represent Christianity. I have been told so many times over the past few months as the mid-term elections approach that if Christians do not go out and do our part and vote, then we will be powerless as we watch evil continue to spread throughout our once great nation. Again, sure, vote. But I believe that voting is neither our only, nor our best, avenue for influence.
What is? The body of believers united and mobilized, willing to risk everything, to love God by loving our neighbor.
Since when do we have to wait for laws and governments to change things? The early Church brought about change by getting themselves thrown to the lions by the ruling authorities. They did not need to try to get the state to work on their behalf because they saw themselves as the instruments of God for change. We need no mediator and no law to grant legitimacy or power (efficacy) to what we are called to do. We only need the God-given faith and discipline to actually do it.
8 comments:
Preach it brother.
I recently visited a Nazarene church (on the East coast) and in the lobby just outside the sancturary doors there was an entire display about our "duty to vote," complete with voter guides from Focus on the Family. *shudder*
I agree with you man, if we think that voting is (and I quote) "a form of ministry" we've gone so far down the path of giving our lives away to the state and marginalizing the church and more importantly the Kingdom of God. When we approach politics in this way we are no different from the "founding fathers" who saw the need to replace God and his Kingdom with the all-powerful state in order to make Christians stop killing in the name of their religion.
The problem is that when we give in and let them tell us that our faith is private and personal we don't stop killing, we just do it in the name of the state now.
Semantics – Do you really think the church should be the “primary legal entity” or are you suggesting an alternative to Democrat, Republican, Green, etc.?
Question on Charlie’s comment - if Focus does not supply education material, do you think the church will educate themselves as individuals/organization on how to vote? Is something better than nothing - referring to *shudder*?
Thanks for your response. On semantics, I said primary political entity. Meaning a body of people working to affect the here and now. It doesn't really matter to me if it is recognized as legal or not. And by this I mean as an alternative, for Christians, to Democrat, Republican, Green, etc. We might even take this as far as to say an alternative to Democracies, Monarchies, Fascism, Capitalism, Marxism...
I'm not for a new Christendom. When that happens, we get the Church and State further confused and keep killing in the name of both. I am for Christians seeing themselves as different, as alien sojourners, even as we live among these worldly orders.
Peace in Christ.
Hey Anonymous,
In reference to my *shudder* comment about Focus on the Family. This is was disturbed me so much. They say that voting is a form of ministry, that it is our "duty," and then go on to encourage voting along party lines, and choosing that party based on abortion and gay marriage issues.
What makes me shudder is this...
Focus on the Family (whether they mean to or not) are producing propaganda for the Republican party, not "educational tools" as you said. There was not a single mention of issues of poverty and injustice on that flyer. Secondly, to call voting a "ministry" or "our duty" is to baptize the State as some kind of fourth person of the Godhead. Focus on the Family tends to be incredibly nationalistic when it comes to these things, there is no hint that we Christians might be a minority in the midst of an evil empire.
Beautiful.
For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men?
What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.
By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 3:4-11
I sincerely pray the seeds have been planted that you can now water.
i just now have been able to reach this link to your blog wil and this is the first blog that i have read and wow did i enjoy it now you and this charlie guy are clearly a lot smarted then i am so will not go on and try to add on your work because i will just sound stupid but i did want you to know how much i enjoyed and agreed reading this
walking on water
ray
I resonate with your comments. Voting in America is often choosing between the lesser of two evils. It is about time we as Christians recognize that the whole system is corrupt. Why do we tend to religate our responsibility to "BE" the church to others? For example: We have given over the sanctity of marriage in many ways to the state as well as our ministries i.e non-profit service orginizations (not that they are bad but should that stuff be happening inside the church?)
I also agree with Charlie. Why is it my "duty to vote"? I am not an American, i may live in America but as soon as i pledge my allegiance to Christ and become a Christian i cease to identify myself with psuedo nationalistic boundaries.
If we fail to recognize that that by voting we agree to work within the system then we will continue to conform to the Constantinian Cataract (as Lee Camp puts it) and Christendom. Like Hauerwas has said and Wilson mentions we are aliens in this land, sojourners.
Peace of Christ
P.S I stumbled upon your blog from Charlies site. Keep up the good bloggin.
Dave
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