Election Commentary - Part 2

(continued from the October edition of St. John’s Messenger) …The second scriptural idea which would help guide our decisions regarding elected leaders can be found in Peter’s answer when placed on trial for preaching about Jesus, “We must obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29 ESV) Applied to the election of national leaders, this reminds us that when God has spoken through Scripture on a certain topic, then we as Christians adhere to the Biblical position on that question, regardless of what the trends of public opinion say on the matter.

Sometimes the concept of electing godly leaders is abused in such a way that Christians try to work through the political process to impose a certain code of morality on the nation, mistakenly believing that if we can just enact the right laws regulating bad behavior that we can build the perfect nation and earn God’s blessing. This is not the appropriate application of the idea of obedience to God over man. We do not elect godly leaders in an attempt to impose a moral code on society or even to build a “Christian nation.” We elect godly leaders in order to have a safe and orderly nation where we are free to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus. Voting responsibly is part of our vocation as citizens and of our duty as Christians to defend our neighbor (such as defending our unborn neighbors by opposing abortion).

One place where this is especially carried out is in a candidate’s stance on religious freedom. The First Amendment to our nation’s constitution prohibits both the establishment of a particular religion by the government (often called the separation of church and state), but it also guarantees that the government may not infringe on the people’s right to exercise their religion (freedom of religion). Additionally, it protects the right of United States citizens to freedom of speech.

However, these freedoms have recently been endangered. There are two basic opinions on how to interpret the constitution. One holds that we must read the constitution in light of what its authors intended when they wrote it. The other holds that we are free to redefine the meaning of the constitution in light of current cultural opinions. In two countries which have similar constitutional guarantees to freedom of speech and religion, Christian pastors have recently been punished for teaching certain doctrines from the Bible. In Canada, pastors are being fined tens of thousands of dollars, without the benefit of an attorney or a trial, just for reading certain chapters of the Bible (Romans 1, Leviticus 18 & 20) They consider this to be “hate-speech” and punishable by law similar to yelling “fire” in a crowded theatre or inciting a riot. In Sweden (where the state-church is even Lutheran) similar actions to those of the Canadian pastors have been punished with jail sentences.

Depending on who is appointing our nation’s judges, courts in the U.S. could rule similarly to those in Canada and Sweden, making it very important that Christians examine the ideology of those running for office and choose carefully between the candidates.

[Pastor's article from St. John's Messenger newsletter November 2008]