1. It Is Better To Vote Than To Sit By And Watch

This might be a controversial statement, but hear me out. In an ideal world, our politicians would fear God, display good moral character and have God-honoring policies. In our day and age, unfortunately, finding a candidate who is truly like is becoming increasingly rare.  

For the last couple of years, we have all experienced the consequences of being under corrupt politicians. They have made illogical decisions that have damaged our health and well-being. How did such people get elected into office in the first place? By good people being silent, playing nice and staying out of politics. 

For far too long the Church has steered clear of the political and cultural sphere. In the past, this was not the case, at least not in the U.S. As a result of followers of Christ remaining silent and not getting involved in politics and culture, the Church has watered down the truth and has been influenced by the culture rather than the other way around. 

The Church is not the Salt and Light it should be (Matthew 5:13-16) and this has had a major impact on all aspects of life.  So should a follower of Christ vote, even if none of the candidates fears God or shares their values and worldview, but whose policies will be most beneficial to everyone in the community? I would say yes they should. 

As Christians, we are commanded to love our neighbours. Jesus said that this was the second most important commandment (Matthew 22:34-41). If we are to truly love our neighbours, would we not vote for a candidate who legislates biblical/natural law values that protect and care for everyone? All laws legislate morality, the thing is whose morality is being enacted. 

By not voting, you run the risk of jeopardizing the well-being of your community if the person elected does not serve to love, care and protect and enact policies that are detrimental to them. 

By not voting, you are allowing people who do not hold a biblical worldview to dictate which candidates get into office and will be in control of things that will have an impact on your everyday living and even your ability to share the Gospel. It would be very unloving to stay silent and allow such a thing to happen.   

Perhaps some of you are thinking, “But what if they cheat?”, “My vote won’t count anyway.” Even if the voting system is flawed and even if cheating is something that tends to occur, it is still better to vote. If more followers of Christ get involved and turn out to vote, then they can’t cheat. 

2.  Candidates Are Fallible and Will Fail You

We tend to forget that humans are extremely flawed and sometimes believe they are better than we are. Perhaps people are more sceptical now than before, but there is this desire to look for a leader who will save us from this mess. Someone who will have all the answers and will do what they say they will do. 

Some people put a lot of their hope and trust that the 45th president would win the 2020 election and keep evil at bay. When he lost, many of his supporters were distraught and thought all was lost. 

Pastor Jack from Calvary Chapel Chino Hills was interviewed by a Fox news Anker about his thoughts on the results. They asked him what the church was going to do now that Trump had lost the election. He pointed out that the early church survived Nero, who was notorious for persecuting and slaughtering Christians, and that the church will be okay, even if things get bad. This is the attitude that we need to have. 

God allows certain rulers to be in power for a period of time. Followers of Christ are instructed to submit to their authorities (Romans 13:1-7), whether they are good or bad. This is extremely difficult to do when the person in charge disregards God and legislates unbiblical law values that negatively impact the lives of their citizens. 

Christians are to pray and bless their leaders. They are to obey the laws that every citizen has to abide by, for example: 

• Pay the taxes that are due
• Do not murder
• Do not steal
• Look both ways before crossing the road
• Stop at a red light
• Never drive a car without having a license. 

With that said, submitting to authorities does not mean we have to submit when they violate God’s commands. The apostles and apostle Paul preached in the name of Jesus Christ when they were instructed not to by the legal authorities of their time. They were punished for it and sentenced to death, but it did not stop them. They were called to carry out the Great Commission by Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 9:1-31) and if they had stayed silent, we would not have the Bible, and science, art and education wouldn’t have developed as rapidly as they did.  

As we know from history and Scripture (Genesis 4 onwards), the human heart is not inherently good, despite our efforts to try to do the right thing. No human should be put on such a high pedestal, as they cannot fulfil God’s role. Only He can. 

3. Voting On Names and Parties Alone Will Cost You

All too often, people have focused on the letter beside the name (R and D in the case of the U.S.) and the character of the person. In this cycle, it seems that people are more aware of not going down this way, but there are some who still do not take the time to find and analyze both candidates and vote for one to spite the other. 

This proved to be very costly in 2020 and people suffered because of this. Knowing what your candidate stands for is crucial and easy to find out through their policies. They reveal a lot about the candidate, such as what they believe and what their priorities are, which ties into their character to a certain extent. 

Now, not all policies are perfect nor are they implemented properly. Nevertheless, they are important and we need to do our due diligence to find out what kind of policies the candidates are proposing and to find out their true implications. 

Watching the debates (which you can probably find on YouTube) will give you even more of an idea of what the candidates are like. They have a chance to explain more about their policies and you can see in real-time how the person reacts and behaves. 

Of course in a debate people will tend to be aggressive and try to put their opponents down, but how they do so will be very revealing. Do they question their opponents’ policies or attack their character? Do they constantly criticize their opponent or do they answer the questions asked? Do they focus on things they care about or do they show that they listen to their voters? 

Most of all, followers of Christ should be very prayerful before they cast their votes. After all, the Lord is the One who really decides who will be in office or not. He has the power to raise up kings and tear them down (Daniel 2:21).

References

• Person of Interest: Why Jesus Still Matters in a World That Rejects the Bible by J. Warner Wallace https://www.amazon.com/Person-Interest-Jesus-Matters-Rejects-ebook/dp/B08NHXN7G7