There Is No "Christian" Vote

I’m not afraid of prison.

Let me explain. I’m actually terrified of prison, but I would never let the threat of it keep me from taking a stand for the gospel.

I’m not afraid of the church losing tax exempt status, if it meant obeying God.

I’m not afraid of ridicule.

None of those are reasons why I don’t preach politics. None of those are reasons why I refuse to endorse a political party or a particular candidate. And every election cycle, I receive encouragement, challenges, and the occasional threat to speak for or against some candidate, issue, or political party. I am urged to guide my church so they do not vote for the “wrong” candidate. I am told it is cowardice for me not to do this; that I have failed to be a true pastor.

My perspective is different. I see my greater responsibility as understanding and applying what God has said. At the same time, I guard against the tendency to equate God’s will with a particular political party, adopt a political agenda for the church, or fail to be Christ-like toward those with whom I disagree. It might concern some of you when I say, “There is no Christian vote…no absolute choice for all Christians.”

It’s not that clear. It almost never is. No political party has God’s answers to every issue. Arguably, each party has ungodly aspects to their platforms. Every candidate comes with unbiblical baggage and flawed beliefs. Even Christian politicians with biblical views, are tied to ungodly stances by choosing to align with a major party. Whether abortion and homosexual marriage on one hand, or unrestrained greed and neglect of the poor on the other. To identify a political philosophy as the “Christian one” is dangerous. The Republican ideology of lower taxes, less government, and strong defense tends to be baptized as the biblical view. Or the Democratic ideology of individual freedoms, individual responsibility to society, and government working for the common good tends to be christened as Christian. 

The danger is that our faith can become distorted. We see one party as standing for all the right things, and the other party as completely wicked. We struggle to recognize that truth and error is thoroughly mixed into both sides. We start making “what’s best for America” our guiding principle, rather than the kingdom of God. We allow fear, distrust, and even hatred, to characterize our view of others. We fearfully cling to the kingdom of this world, rather than trusting Christ. We start thinking politically rather than biblically.

No candidate or party is the unquestioned right choice for all Christians, at least not until Jesus comes back. While some Christians might be able to tie their entire perspective to one issue, such as abortion, not all Christians can easily do the same. It would be much clearer if our choice in the voting booth was “Abortion: Yes or No.” Sadly, that’s not the way it works.

Even if we believed in an unquestioned right vote for all Christians, God might have other objectives in mind. God’s choices are sometimes the opposite of our understanding, for he is carrying out a greater purpose. The Bible has more than a few examples of “the wrong choice” being in power by God’s design. Cyrus was a pagan, foreign, enemy king whom God called his “anointed.” Nebuchadnezzar was a ruthless, idol worshiping Babylonian. God chose to put him in power, remove him from power, and restore him to power again. Pharaoh worshiped the gods of Egypt, enslaved the Hebrews, and yet was chosen to carry out God’s purpose. 

Some organizations have declared it wrong for Christians not to vote for one of the major parties for President. They say, “You might not like your choices, but you must pick one.” And they imply which one. The reason they give is that no one else has a chance of winning. I vigorously refute that humanistic reasoning. Our obedience to God is never based upon our chances of “winning.” Providentially, we live in a country where we have the freedom to vote. By God’s Spirit we are able to choose between major party candidates, and candidates with zero chance of winning, or to make no selection at all. Each of us must decide what God asks of him or her.

The fallacy of choosing the “lesser of two evils” can be shown if taken to an extreme. What if your vote was between the Third Reich and the Khmer Rouge? Most would agree those political parties were exponentially more evil than our choices today. But if in some absurd nightmare, you were a citizen faced with those two options on the ballot, what would you do? To argue “I must vote for the Khmer Rouge because it more aligns with my values,” is spiritually unsound. If you did have that free choice and you reasoned in that way, the right to vote has become your highest value.

I encourage God’s people to stay on mission. That mission is not to preserve a political philosophy, nor to rescue America from itself. Our mission is to “make disciples of all nations” and “declare the praises of him who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light.”