Sam Weaver
Get out and VOTE!
By Sam Weaver
I was a bit dismayed by two emails that I received from readers over the past couple of weeks. Both respondents claimed to be Christians — and who am I to say that they are not?! My search for Truth is a learning process, and I learn a great deal from my readers. Even those who disagree with me.
The first discouraging email was from a reader who argued that voting was un-Christian. He surmised that politics is entirely a product of this world. Christians, he said, must entirely separate themselves from all things of this world. Therefore, Christians should not vote. Perhaps this way of thinking explains to some degree why some 40% of evangelical Christians did not vote in the 2000 elections.
The second email was long and somewhat complicated. It contained a link to a diatribe written by Martin Dyckman, (http://sptimes.com/.../Push_for_holy_war_an_.shtml) which purports to explain how "neo-cons and misguided fundamentalists" shape President Bush's foreign policy and why this foreign policy is both wrong and dangerous. The link is immediately followed by the statement, in bold text: "This is yet another reason I'm against Bush and find him downright dangerous and, frankly, not very bright. [I wondered for a brief moment whether or not I had heard from my old girlfriend, Angie.]
This second responder then went on to list five reasons, and several personal anecdotes, why she believes that abortion should be legal. She eloquently attempted to make her case that "extreme," "right-wing Christians" are harming America and that John Kerry must be elected president on November 2. (Remember, she claimed to be a Christian.)
I had planned to write a dazzling "get-out-the-vote" column directed at evangelical Christians just before the November 2nd election. Research had indicated to me that as many as 6 million Christians failed to vote in 2000. But if those 6 million Christians think along the lines of these two readers, then what is the point?
Though disheartened, I am not defeated! I am determined to expose the fallacies of these two emails and to use them to argue the case that every evangelical Christian out there must vote!
For every Biblical passage that may be contorted by human interpretation to suggest that Christians should not vote, there are several which may be seen to imply that Christians should and must be involved in the electoral process. Context is the key. Because of time and space limitations, I'll cite only two.
The first verse is Matthew 22:21. This is a famous, but greatly misunderstood passage. It includes the line, "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's." The full context of this verse cannot be understood without reading Matthew 22:15-22.
In Christ's day, Caesar was the government. Caesar, or government, has two fundamental duties: to protect citizens from foreign threats, and to administer justice within the state. Tribute (or taxes) must be made to Caesar for these two purposes. In Jesus' time as a human being on this Earth, there was not a Constitutional Republic to be found.
Only after 1776 did the world begin to see the wonders of representative governments. In America — that "shining city upon a hill"; that first and only model of true liberty — the people have a voice in their government. In a representative government, people are not only denying their duty to "Caesar" (government), they are neglecting their duty to God when they fail to make their voices heard through the ballot box. Why do you suppose that voting and showing up for jury duty are called civic duties? In America, it is an outright sin not to vote if one is eligible to vote!
The second verse that needs to be discussed is Matthew 5:13. "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men." To be sure, this is an exhortation to Christians to be faithful, and to exude a Christ-like example to the non-faithful. But, in my mind, it also looks forward to voters in a free society. Matthew 5:13 tells me that if the faithful in America do not vote, then they will surely lose their savor. They will become a minority voice and will be trodden under the feet of those who do not believe.
To those three or four million Bible-believing Christians who failed to vote in the presidential election of 2000, I implore you to be salt and light! Think about all that is at stake! The next president will likely nominate two or three new Supreme Court Justices, and will almost certainly appoint the next Chief Justice. This will have a profound (even perhaps a deciding) effect upon abortion-on-demand, homosexual "marriage," school choice (i. e., the "legality" of school vouchers and of home schools), and virtually every other issue facing America today.
The next president of the United States will determine the future course in the War on Terrorism. Do we want a proven leader who is steadfast and resolved; or do we want to change horses in midstream, and hand over the reins to a globalist who is, at heart, a pacifist and who seeks guidance not from God, but from the United Nations?
If you understand liberty; if you love and fear the Supreme Creator and the Author of Law; if you want to preserve America as a bastion of liberty and free republican democracy, then cast your vote this Tuesday! Be the salt and light that Jesus Christ expects you to be. Do not cower in pessimism and cynicism. Be free! Do your duty and make your voice heard. Otherwise, we will all be trampled under foot by a man who has no convictions on anything, and by his judicial appointments whose ethic will surely be relativism.
If you are Christian and do not vote this Tuesday, believe me when I say there are millions of voters out there who strongly oppose your views and your way of life. I hear from them almost every other day. I would not wish some of the vitriol that I receive on my worst enemies. If you do not vote, then their will, not your will and certainly not God's Will, will become the law of the land for generations to come.
© Sam Weaver
I was a bit dismayed by two emails that I received from readers over the past couple of weeks. Both respondents claimed to be Christians — and who am I to say that they are not?! My search for Truth is a learning process, and I learn a great deal from my readers. Even those who disagree with me.
The first discouraging email was from a reader who argued that voting was un-Christian. He surmised that politics is entirely a product of this world. Christians, he said, must entirely separate themselves from all things of this world. Therefore, Christians should not vote. Perhaps this way of thinking explains to some degree why some 40% of evangelical Christians did not vote in the 2000 elections.
The second email was long and somewhat complicated. It contained a link to a diatribe written by Martin Dyckman, (http://sptimes.com/.../Push_for_holy_war_an_.shtml) which purports to explain how "neo-cons and misguided fundamentalists" shape President Bush's foreign policy and why this foreign policy is both wrong and dangerous. The link is immediately followed by the statement, in bold text: "This is yet another reason I'm against Bush and find him downright dangerous and, frankly, not very bright. [I wondered for a brief moment whether or not I had heard from my old girlfriend, Angie.]
This second responder then went on to list five reasons, and several personal anecdotes, why she believes that abortion should be legal. She eloquently attempted to make her case that "extreme," "right-wing Christians" are harming America and that John Kerry must be elected president on November 2. (Remember, she claimed to be a Christian.)
I had planned to write a dazzling "get-out-the-vote" column directed at evangelical Christians just before the November 2nd election. Research had indicated to me that as many as 6 million Christians failed to vote in 2000. But if those 6 million Christians think along the lines of these two readers, then what is the point?
Though disheartened, I am not defeated! I am determined to expose the fallacies of these two emails and to use them to argue the case that every evangelical Christian out there must vote!
For every Biblical passage that may be contorted by human interpretation to suggest that Christians should not vote, there are several which may be seen to imply that Christians should and must be involved in the electoral process. Context is the key. Because of time and space limitations, I'll cite only two.
The first verse is Matthew 22:21. This is a famous, but greatly misunderstood passage. It includes the line, "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's." The full context of this verse cannot be understood without reading Matthew 22:15-22.
In Christ's day, Caesar was the government. Caesar, or government, has two fundamental duties: to protect citizens from foreign threats, and to administer justice within the state. Tribute (or taxes) must be made to Caesar for these two purposes. In Jesus' time as a human being on this Earth, there was not a Constitutional Republic to be found.
Only after 1776 did the world begin to see the wonders of representative governments. In America — that "shining city upon a hill"; that first and only model of true liberty — the people have a voice in their government. In a representative government, people are not only denying their duty to "Caesar" (government), they are neglecting their duty to God when they fail to make their voices heard through the ballot box. Why do you suppose that voting and showing up for jury duty are called civic duties? In America, it is an outright sin not to vote if one is eligible to vote!
The second verse that needs to be discussed is Matthew 5:13. "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men." To be sure, this is an exhortation to Christians to be faithful, and to exude a Christ-like example to the non-faithful. But, in my mind, it also looks forward to voters in a free society. Matthew 5:13 tells me that if the faithful in America do not vote, then they will surely lose their savor. They will become a minority voice and will be trodden under the feet of those who do not believe.
To those three or four million Bible-believing Christians who failed to vote in the presidential election of 2000, I implore you to be salt and light! Think about all that is at stake! The next president will likely nominate two or three new Supreme Court Justices, and will almost certainly appoint the next Chief Justice. This will have a profound (even perhaps a deciding) effect upon abortion-on-demand, homosexual "marriage," school choice (i. e., the "legality" of school vouchers and of home schools), and virtually every other issue facing America today.
The next president of the United States will determine the future course in the War on Terrorism. Do we want a proven leader who is steadfast and resolved; or do we want to change horses in midstream, and hand over the reins to a globalist who is, at heart, a pacifist and who seeks guidance not from God, but from the United Nations?
If you understand liberty; if you love and fear the Supreme Creator and the Author of Law; if you want to preserve America as a bastion of liberty and free republican democracy, then cast your vote this Tuesday! Be the salt and light that Jesus Christ expects you to be. Do not cower in pessimism and cynicism. Be free! Do your duty and make your voice heard. Otherwise, we will all be trampled under foot by a man who has no convictions on anything, and by his judicial appointments whose ethic will surely be relativism.
If you are Christian and do not vote this Tuesday, believe me when I say there are millions of voters out there who strongly oppose your views and your way of life. I hear from them almost every other day. I would not wish some of the vitriol that I receive on my worst enemies. If you do not vote, then their will, not your will and certainly not God's Will, will become the law of the land for generations to come.
© Sam Weaver
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