You Can't be a Christian and Vote for...
I see it in some form over and over on social media… “You can’t be a Christian and vote for ______________ (the opposition candidate). “If you vote for _______________ you hate black people, Hispanics, Asians and all other minorities.” “If you vote for ______________ you hate babies and America and hard work.”
I see some of you agonizing over the “right Christian” vote. I want to help you.
There isn’t one.
That’s sure to upset a lot of people!
But it is true. Neither candidate and neither party offer the opportunity for a Christian vote, at least not in the sense that their platform is a Christian platform. At best we can only select something from either platform that may be remotely recognizable to our Christian beliefs. For some that is the abortion issue. For some it is an immigration issue, how we treat the sojourner among us. But a single issue stance that aligns with our Christianity, when so many other stances do not, does not make our vote for a candidate the “right Christian” vote.
So the fact is we are always choosing what we perceive as the lesser of two evils. What we perceive as the lesser of two evils is generally based on our personal opinions and personal values, rather than on what God values and even instructs. And this is not Christian at all! For example, one might say that candidate A is for abortion and God is opposed to abortion therefore candidate A cannot be the Christian vote. Another would say that candidate B is mean in his talk and treatment of others, that he is degrading and dehumanizing, arrogant and dismissive therefore voting for candidate B as our president could not be Christian. Thus we are told, you cannot be Christian and vote for candidate ____.
God likely despises the platforms and behaviors of both candidates as neither candidate seems to seek to ‘Love the Lord your God with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his mind.’ Nor does either candidate seek to ‘Love his neighbor as himself’ (Matthew 22:36-40).
If this is true and neither candidate nor party is truly a Christian representative, then it is impossible to cast a “Christian” vote. No single candidate or party is deserving of being classified as the “right Christian” vote.
What then are we to do as Christians?
Here is where I hope to be helpful!
Vote your conscience. You don’t have to call it “Christian” to vote in an election. Vote your conscience as the Christian you are. Recognize that you are voting for broken humans in a broken system. Vote for the person you feel most represents your values and morals.
Let your friends and family vote their conscience. If it is true that at best we are voting for the lesser of evils, remember that in God’s eyes evil is evil and neither is good! You don’t need to argue your friends to your side of the lesser evil. A vote for _____________ isn’t a vote for Satan!
Trust God. Daniel wrote this of God:
“Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his.
21 He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others.
He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.” (Daniel 2)
In Athens, the apostle Paul said to the great philosophers,
“24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands” (Acts 17).
It is God who raises up kings and nations and God who brings them down. This sovereign God is powerful and able but he is also good, kind, merciful, long suffering and gracious. He is always for our good (even in the midst of suffering). Trust the election to him. He’s got it.Whatever you do, do it by faith. Hebrews 11:6 says that without faith it is impossible to please God. What does this mean when voting?
It means that you trust God in your vote. It means you believe that it is God who raises up nations and God who brings them down. It means that your hope in the future isn’t in Biden or Trump, Republican or Democrat - it is in him! And especially it is in His son, Jesus who redeems us from sin and who is the only right and rightful King, Jesus who will one day return to fix what no president can.
So let me summarize…
Vote your conscience. Neither candidate nor platform is the clear Christian choice, at best they are the lesser of evils.
Stop arguing on social media and with your family and friends. It makes you look faithless.
Rest in the God who raises up nations and brings them down, the same God who loves you enough to send his son.
Finally, don’t vote “Christian,” live Christian! Love God. Love people. Do justice and righteousness. Proclaim Jesus, the true King. Rest in God’s sovereignty and goodness. Hope in Jesus.
