The Tenth Leper

And then there were two.  The selection process for this presidential election’s candidates over the past year has played out like Presidential Idol.  Early in 2007, it felt like everyone in Washington was a contender.  Every day someone new was announcing their White House bid.  Then it kept getting narrowed down more and more until finally this week people voted off Hilary Clinton.  Now comes the face-off between McCain and Obama.  How will their debate performances over the next few months stand up to the judges’ criticisms?  Both will contend.  But only one can the Presidential Idol.  What an exciting 44th season it has been!

What’s struck me about this election is frankly how irrelevant evangelical Christians have become.  Their monumental influence was felt just last election between John Kerry and George W. Bush.  Bush ran on a platform of being against gay marriage and abortion and for millions of people that was enough.  For many of those same voters, this election isn’t nearly as clear-cut.  Neither candidate obviously appeals to the evangelical base.  The most obvious choice might be the Republican thus conservative candidate, but this year’s Republican candidate isn’t as conservative as many want him to be.  And God forbid we should elect that Muslim with ties to Saddam Hussein who hates America and is secretly going to try and bring it down from the inside!

Christians face a dilemma this election season, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing.  Unless you are your own god, you are a sheep to some shepherd, and the identity of your god is what separates the noble from the pathetic.  Christians are the sheep of Jesus.  They are to follow him.  He shepherds his own with his word and his Spirit.  Come election time, many sheep change shepherds, from Jesus to their pastor.  From Jesus to Pat Robertson.  From Jesus to the late Jerry Falwell.  Christian songwriter Derek Webb, former lead singer of Caedmon’s Call, has made a career of stepping on the toes of the American church.  Derek illustrates this in his song “A New Law” when he says “Don’t teach me about politics and government.  Just tell me who to vote for” and then “I don’t wanna know if the answers aren’t easy so just bring it down the mountain to me” and then again “Don’t teach me how to listen to the Spirit, just give me a new law.”

Such is the attitude of many believers.  The last thing many people will ever do is shut their door and get completely alone with God, completely free of distraction.  It’s easy to study the Word of God, but it is a whole new depth to take it and meditate on what you study, asking for the Spirit to reveal its full meaning to you.  It’s a sign of maturity to wait in silence for God, to not just pray but to listen.  And this is what many are scared of.  Because it’s not easy.  You can’t plan it out. You can’t predict what you will get out of it.  At least when you memorize Scripture you can say “I will memorize these verses today.”  When you open your Bible to study it you can say “I’m going to study John 6 and compare it with passages in Exodus which talk about the manna in the wilderness” (which I recommend doing by the way).  And this isn’t wrong at all, but we can’t limit our walk with Christ to the things we can control.  Memorizing the words of Scripture is a cognitive exercise that anyone can do.  But to memorize it in the context of meditation, to store it in your heart and not just your mind so that it will come back to you in a moment in which you need its direct application, to allow its meaning to direct the course of your life is a work of God.  Hebrews 6:1-3 wisely observes that we can’t mature more than God will allow us to.  Maturity is God’s prerogative.

In response to the question that is the title of this entry: can Christians vote for Obama, I answer with a resounding YES.  Why?  Because he’s such a godly man?  No.  I don’t know him, but when it comes to matters of faith, he strikes me merely as a politician who goes to church rather than a Christian who goes to Washington.  For Christians who have relied solely on marriage and abortion to decide their candidate for them, this election isn’t clear cut, and their decision will have to be made by careful study of the Word, prayer, and conscience.

Yes conscience, the forgotten factor in the life of a Christian.  Reading Romans 14, Paul makes it abundantly clear that there are things in the Christian life which are not spelled out clearly, and for these we must exercise use of our God-given conscience.  If one is convinced they should not eat meat, let them and shut up.  If one is convinced one day is holy as opposed to another day, let them and shut up.  You think Sundays are a day of rest for pastors?  Shoot…  If I’m a pastor one day I plan to Sabbath on Saturdays.  Is that unholy?  If you try to guilt-trip me I’ll vomit Romans 14 all over you.  Some prefer to abstain from alcohol while some joyfully consume it in a holy manner.  What do you prefer to do?  Then do it and don’t dare bring judgment on the other person’s conscience.  Whatever convictions you have, keep between yourself and God (Romans 14:22).

For the election, make up in your own mind, on grounds of a Scripturally-guided conscience what is worth electing a person on.  You know what?  That’s going to look different for different Christians.  Any pastor or what-not who says that as Christian you must vote for X is out of place.  Quote them Romans 14:22, because they don’t have that authority in your life.  WHO you vote for is of a more subjective nature.  But…WHY you vote for them is more objective.  By saying “vote for whoever you want to,” I’m not saying certain issues are irrelevant.  If conservatism and liberalism were based merely on abortion and gay marriage, then I’d definitely be a conservative.  I believe from Scripture that abortion is murder and that homosexuality is a sin.  But if we were to give weight to issues based merely on frequency in Scripture, a candidate’s views on poverty should carry enormous influence in the Christian’s decision of who to vote for.  Who is more sympathetic to the lower class?  Maybe what’s more important to you than anything is peace.  Jesus called the peacemakers “blessed.”  Maybe the Iraq war and not gay marriage is going to be your trump card in this election.  What are your views on fair trade?  What is your conviction about immigration?  Are our laws too strict or too loose?  What matters to you?  What do you feel most strongly about?  While Scripture speaks clearly about the sanctity of life, it also speaks of mercy for the poor.  And the paradox in our political party is that while the Democratic Party is most often in favor of abortion, it is also more focused on the rights of the poor.  Which demands the attention of your conscience?

I once heard a preacher (who is otherwise an awesome preacher) say that if you’ve ever voted for someone who has supported abortion, you need to repent to God for it.  The implication is that whoever you vote for, you are supporting EVERYTHING on their agenda, which is simply not true.  Even for the most staunch atheist voter that’s not the case.  Very few people will agree with every position of a candidate.  But they weigh it out.  They put the issues into scales and see which side weighs more.  And the Christian’s vote is no different.  Voting for Obama doesn’t necessarily mean you support his views on abortion.  Maybe you’ll vote for him because of his views on the Iraq war.  Is justice not important?  Maybe you’ll vote based on his views of health care.  Is care for the poor not important?  WHY a particular candidate has your vote is the crucial question.  It is one thing to vote for a pro-choice candidate because of their stance on health care, and it is another to vote for them because they are pro-choice.  If I were to encounter a Christian who votes for Obama based on his stance on abortion, then I might have to have a talk with them and ask them to justify their vote.  So long as the Christian has evaluated the stances of the candidates and made a decision in light in scriptural principles and conscience, leave them be.

Someone might say “Well yes their stance on such and such is nice and desirable, but is politically implausible.”  Is that really the point though?  Did you vote for Bush in 2004 believing that a marriage amendment could ever really get passed?  We are to vote what’s right, not what’s easy on the issues we personally feel are most important.  American politics can be a great lesson in walking by the Spirit if we let it.  The reason is that the Scriptural positions held by a candidate will often be countered by an anti-biblical position.  And if you’re someone who puts their trust in princes, this will be immensely frustrating for you.  But this is why the Bible tells us not to put our trust in princes (Psalm 146:3).  They will let you down.  And even the best of them will fail at times.  Welcome to Earth.  Population: 6 billion sinners and counting.  We’re not voting for a pastor.  We’re not voting on whether or not Jesus comes back in November.  Yes pray for a good and wise prince.  But recognize in your voting that compromises must be made, because until Jesus returns, no governmental power will be without its compromises of full compliance to God’s Word, assuming it doesn’t outright disdain it.  If you can’t in good conscience compromise one issue for the sake of another, then don’t vote.  Be a good citizen of your heavenly kingdom at whatever cost to your earthly kingdom.  Be a good American citizen as much as you can, but if push comes to shove, know where your allegiance lies.

While American politics can be a great lesson in Christian liberty and in learning to listen for and walk by the Holy Spirit, it is also a great lesson in thanksgiving and in trusting God’s sovereignty.  Proverbs 21:1 says that the king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord and he turns it wherever HE will.  God has used each president for his own purposes.  We may not see the reason now, but one day we will.  Remember that God’s will is not trumped by anything, let alone who sits in the White House.  Rather it is carried out through them.  Additionally, Romans 13 shows us that government is a blessing from God.  If you resist the government, you are resisting God.  Now obviously many have seriously abused government and turned it into a tyrannical regime.  But like the evening news, most of the good things that happen around town go unreported.  Our security is in large part due to our government.  If someone gets in the White House who is completely against everything Christian, so long as our government is in place then thank God for it.  We have laws in place.  We have police to patrol our streets and cities.  We have restrictions to protect you.  We get to elect our officials.  We get to worship freely.  If someone steals something from you and are caught, they will be punished.  We do not live in anarchy.  Thank God for that.  And don’t rant against the president’s every mistake.  Take time to pray for them, whoever they are.

And above all, remember this: Jesus did not come to overthrow the Roman Empire of his time as many thought he would.  Rather he was focused on his mission of proclaiming a new Kingdom that was coming.  With that Kingdom in mind, everything else finds its proper orbit.  No government is perfect.  But that’s okay, because the one to come is.  And it is already spreading throughout the world in spite of the earthly kingdoms.  The Church does not need a Conservative Republican in the capitol of the United States of America before its message will spread.  We don’t need abortion to be illegal to be able to address the hurt and fear of a young pregnant girl.  We don’t need strong welfare laws before we can give money and time freely to the poor.  The Church does not need the world’s laws to be the Church.  It has more often than not functioned in spite of them.

So in the next five months, search the Scriptures, pray to God, listen to the Spirit, and vote in such a way that you do not violate your conscience, whether it leans to the right or to the left.