{"id":977,"date":"2007-06-25T00:00:55","date_gmt":"2007-06-25T00:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/june-why-do-christians-vote\/"},"modified":"2014-01-28T06:25:07","modified_gmt":"2014-01-28T06:25:07","slug":"june-why-do-christians-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/june-why-do-christians-vote\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Do Christians Vote?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Bible says that believers are pilgrims and strangers on the earth and that we have no certain dwelling place here.\u00a0 As normal human beings we are citizens of many countries, speakers of many languages, and partakers of many cultures.\u00a0 Yet as Christians we are only visitors here, ambassadors for a more noble country, pilgrims on our way home, foreigners and outcasts to the ways of this world, and seekers of a more permanent city which has everlasting foundations, whose builder and maker is God.\u00a0 As believers in God as Creator and Sovereign we understand that He made people and commanded them to govern their affairs.\u00a0 Therefore Christians have been the most conscientious earthly citizens and the best caretakers of this earth and its societies.\u00a0 Yet as believers in an eternal heavenly home we also have the shallowest roots, the least to covet, the most to give, and yet the most to gain when we leave this earthly abode.<\/span><\/p>\n

How deep does such a person grow roots in this life and with what grip does he take hold of earthly endeavors?\u00a0 Believers throughout history have taken various views as to their citizenship responsibilities.\u00a0 Some have found themselves in God-fearing countries where it has been easy to support, work for, and even die for civil liberties.\u00a0 Others have suffered for their faith at the hands of their own government and have sought to escape the tyranny of despots who violated divine principles of governance and persecuted believers with the sword.<\/p>\n

Before giving some Biblical principles of earthly citizenship that believers have most generally followed, I should first make my ecclesiastical point of view clear.\u00a0 I am writing as a premillennial and dispensational Baptist. Though we who hold these views may differ in many details,\u00a0 there are general Biblical teachings with which we would agree.<\/p>\n

1) The Church is not Israel.\u00a0 Israel was (at least in an Old Testament framework) a theocracy.\u00a0 It was ruled directly by God through the mediation of prophets, priests, and kings.\u00a0 It was a union of religion and state and there was no other religion than Judaism and no protection offered by the state for any other belief system.\u00a0 The Mosaic Law was a unity of religious, civil, and ceremonial responsibility.\u00a0 The church of the New Testament, on the other hand, has no such organization nor desire.\u00a0 God\u2019s plan for His Church is separate from Israel except where it overlaps at the cross.\u00a0 The cross is the end of the Mosaic dispensation and the beginning of the Church.<\/p>\n

2) The Church is not tied to human government.\u00a0 Baptists and other such premillennialists have always desired a separation of church and state.\u00a0 Though such terminology is practically lost on today\u2019s atheistic secularists, it is our basic point of view.\u00a0 Human government was begun by God\u2019s command under that dispensation when Noah came off the ark.\u00a0 It has continued as a divine principle ever since.\u00a0 The Church began at Pentecost, over two millenniums later, operating simultaneously with governments but having its own divine principles of operation which are unique to its purpose.\u00a0 In the 1960s Noel Smith wrote,<\/p>\n

\n

And now let us do some reasoning about the separation of Church and state.\u00a0 The fundamental thing is, their respective natures, philosophies, and missions inherently demand their constitutional separation.\u00a0 The union of Church and state runs counter to their natures.\u00a0 Separately, each complements and helps the other; together, each is dead weight on the other.1<\/sup><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

3)\u00a0 The Church is not a denomination.\u00a0 Though I for one am very much in favor of keeping \u201cdenominational\u201d names on our churches, Baptists have always understood that the Church exists on earth only as autonomous local congregations.\u00a0 Since Constantine the error of churches being part of the national government or part of a larger ecclesiastical structure has plagued this world.\u00a0 Infant baptism has been the entrance into denominational\u00a0 structures and has attached the Church to the state in unbiblical ways.\u00a0 New Testament churches gain members by conversion to Christ and subsequent adult baptism.\u00a0 Neither has anything to do with governmental authority or ecclesiastical oversight.<\/p>\n

4) The wheat and the tares grow together until the harvest.\u00a0 When Jesus gave this parable (Matt. 13:24-30, 36-43), He was speaking prophetically of His second coming and the establishing of His kingdom on earth.\u00a0 Until then He made it clear that the lost and saved would dwell together in this world under human government and the believers should not try to separate lost and saved by human governmental means.\u00a0 The Church, on the other hand, is commanded to make this separation, but only within its own local body membership and even then by simple exclusion, not by violence or even incivility.<\/p>\n

Therefore, as members both of the Body of Christ whose citizenship is in heaven, and also of the country where we now live whose citizenship is on earth (and which we believe is also God-ordained), how does a Christian balance these responsibilities?\u00a0 With what thinking does he come to the civil voting-booth and participate?\u00a0 Here are four \u201cfreedoms\u201d that Christians seek to promote when the country they live in gives them the freedom to participate by voting.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Freedom from the State<\/h3>\n
As I\u2019ve already said, Christians have held to a separation of church and state whenever it has been possible in the country where they live.\u00a0 This has been the great American experiment which has been a blessing to the churches and the world.\u00a0 The church and state both have divine commissions from God to operate in this world, but both do that best when they do not control one another.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

Leonard Verduin, in his monumental book, The Reformers And Their Stepchildren, describes the great mistake the Reformers made in trying to make their Church the State Church and at the same time describes the struggle and persecution Baptists and other independents (their \u201cstepchildren\u201d) had to suffer due to the lack of church-state separation.\u00a0 Yet he says of government\u2019s God-given responsibility,<\/p>\n

\n

The State is intended, by God himself, to regulate as best it can, with the insights available to it and with the resources at its command, the things of this age.\u00a0 It is implied in the New Testament vision that the State, being itself a creature of God’s common grace, works with the resources which that non-redemptive grace makes available.2<\/sup><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Christians are glad to give unto Caesar the things that are Caesars and still give unto God the things that are God\u2019s (Matt 22:21).\u00a0 These don\u2019t have to be in conflict, but where they have been Christians usually end up suffering rather than benefiting.\u00a0 When governments propose to encroach upon believers\u2019 responsibility to follow Biblical teaching and commands, believers will vote in opposition.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Freedom of Conscience<\/h3>\n

This is the greatest freedom a government can give to its citizens.\u00a0 The Christian conscience will never seek to violate God\u2019s laws or seek freedom to do wrong.\u00a0 Rather, the Christian enjoys order and protection to worship according to the dictates of his convictions.\u00a0 When the apostle Paul had to answer for himself before the governmental authorities in Caesarea he said, And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offense toward God, and toward men (Acts 24:16).\u00a0 At the same time Paul realized that if a Christian becomes a law-breaker he should suffer the consequences as any other citizen, For if I be an offender, or have committed anything worthy of death, I refuse not to die (Acts 25:11).<\/p>\n

Christians clearly understand that every individual must answer to his Creator and, therefore, God\u2019s moral law in the world is incumbent upon all people.\u00a0 Government does best when it helps protect the citizen\u2019s ability to follow it.\u00a0 The American evangelist Charles Finney, himself a lawyer by training, wrote,<\/p>\n

\n

It follows, that no government is lawful or innocent that does not recognize the moral law as the only universal law, and God as the Supreme Lawgiver and Judge, to whom nations in their national capacity, as well as all individuals, are amenable.\u00a0 The moral law of God is the only law of individuals and of nations and nothing can be rightful government but such as is established and administered with a view to its support.3<\/sup><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/div>\n

Freedom to Support Government<\/h3>\n

Christians rejoice when they live in a country that gives them freedom of conscience and at the same time does not interfere in the church\u2019s business.\u00a0 Christians in western nations, including the United States which has a Bible-based heritage, have enjoyed this freedom.\u00a0 Ravi Zacharias has written,\u00a0 \u201cThe certainty is this:\u00a0 America was not founded on an Islamic, Hindu, or Buddhist worldview, however valuable some of their precepts might be.\u00a0 If we do not see this, we do not see the fundamental ideas that shaped the ethos of the American people.\u201d4<\/sup><\/p>\n

Because of this, Christians in America feel free to enlist in the military and fight for a righteous cause for he beareth not the sword in vain (Rom 13:4); to pay taxes for the benefit of all, tribute to whom tribute; custom to whom custom (Rom 13:7);\u00a0 to pray joyfully for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty (1 Tim 2:2).<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

Freedom to Evangelize<\/h3>\n

Christians also bear the burden of world-wide evangelism which is given to them directly by their Lord (Matt 28:19-20, Acts 1:8).\u00a0 This they must do regardless of the country in which they find themselves, and this they have done regardless of persecution or freedom.\u00a0 Evangelism, we believe, must be accomplished by the Spirit of God using the Word of God through a spokesman for God.\u00a0 We want coercion of no other kind whether that be governmental, physical or emotional.\u00a0 Christianity is the only religion that asks for faith alone for adherence.<\/p>\n

Many today fear that evangelistic Christians want to force their faith on others.\u00a0 Such a statement only reveals the depth of misunderstanding there is in our day about the Christian faith itself.\u00a0 The fact is, it is impossible for anyone to be forced to be a Christian!\u00a0 Christian conversion can only be by willing faith.\u00a0 Perhaps other religions can gain converts by force, but Christianity would cease to be Christianity if such were applied to it.\u00a0 King Agrippa confessed that Paul almost persuaded him to be a Christian (Acts 26:28).\u00a0 But Paul never forced anyone and neither could he.\u00a0 He only answered, I would to God that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds (29).\u00a0 When believers can vote for this freedom, they will every time.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

And So . . . .<\/h3>\n

To these ends Christians in any country feel the need to vote and rejoice when such can be done freely.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
Notes:<\/address>\n
1. Noel Smith, \u201cThe Separation of Church and State,\u201d\u00a0 The Biblical Faith of Baptists, vol. IV , p. 102.<\/address>\n
2. Leonard Verduin, The Reformers and Their Stepchildren (Grand Rapids:\u00a0 Eerdmans, 1964) 24.<\/address>\n
3. Charles Finney, Systematic Theology (Minneapolis:\u00a0 Bethany House, 1994) 236.<\/address>\n
4. Ravi Zacharias, Light in the Shadow of Jihad (Sister, OR:\u00a0 Multomah, 2002) 28.<\/address>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Bible says that believers are pilgrims and strangers on the earth and that we have no certain dwelling place here.\u00a0 As normal human beings we are citizens of many countries, speakers of many languages, and partakers of many cultures.\u00a0 Yet as Christians we are only visitors here, ambassadors for a more noble country, pilgrims […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[123],"tags":[139],"class_list":["post-977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","tag-democracy-government-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Do Christians Vote? - Aletheia Baptist Ministries<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/june-why-do-christians-vote\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Do Christians Vote? 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