Posted on 10/30/2014 1:04:56 PM PDT by Kaslin
In polite society, you’re not supposed to talk about politics, sex, or religion. Sorry, but this column will discuss all three, directly or indirectly.
In America, we get the kind of government we deserve. Is this the best we can do?
There certainly is a big divide in how we approach politics, even among well-meaning Christians.
I was asked to speak at our church recently, and the title was given to me: “To vote or not to vote?” Are you serious? How can we not vote? We’re in such a mess because we haven’t been voting our values. I believe voting is imperative for the follower of Jesus.
Jesus said that we are to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s (Mark 12:17). Surely, included in rendering unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s would include voting.
It’s our duty to cast a ballot. It’s also our privilege. I know a man personally who risked his life with six other Cubans to flee the communist island. They rowed for 48 long hours in a rickety row boat with a hole in it. One of them had to bail out the water all the time. After a while, their fingers were bleeding, but they finally made it to the Bahamas.
My Cuban friend is glad to be an American and is a patriot. He wouldn’t think of not voting.
Historically, Christians in America applied their faith to virtually every sphere of life, including politics. While the founding fathers were not all Christians, the vast majority of them were, and virtually all of them had a biblical worldview. As historian Donald S. Lutz said of the founding fathers (even the unorthodox amongst them), “they knew the Bible down to their fingertips.”
So, for example, they divided power, since they knew man is sinful. James Madison, one of the key architects of the Constitution, noted: "All men having power ought not to be trusted." This is a biblical perspective. Sometimes people complain that the Constitution limits the amount of power any one single branch may have. That was by design---lest we have tyranny from one man or from an oligarchy.
When we vote biblical values, we obey what the Lord would have us do. Jesus is not on the ballot, so ultimately we are voting for a sinner. But the question is, Where do those sinners stand on key issues?
Too often, Christians seem to be waiting for the perfect candidates and can’t bring themselves to vote for someone with many (but not all) right views. We need to vote for the available candidates with the best views, rather than waiting for the perfect candidate who’s not coming.
There are some Christians who are so upset with the current crop of politicians that they may sit this election out. But their non-vote is a vote---a vote for someone with whom they probably would disagree vehemently.
There are many lesser known candidates and amendments that will likely be on the ballot. It behooves us to learn a Christian perspective on these, before we go and vote.
Where do the candidates stand on abortion? On traditional marriage? On religious freedom? On fiscal responsibility? On educational issues? All of these are addressed by the Bible.
Speaking of fiscal responsibility, Proverbs 13:22 says, “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children.” Yet today, as one person has said: “Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren.” I agree with that sentiment.
Who said it? Senator Barack Obama in 2006. Too bad as president, he has racked up a bill that seems beyond the reach of even our grandchildren to pay off.
In this country, which had such a godly foundation, we currently have the opportunity to vote our biblical values. But if we continue to lose our freedoms and fall prey to tyrannical government, ultimately, we will only have ourselves to blame.
My long-time pastor, the late D. James Kennedy, Ph.D. said this about Christians and politics in general: “I remember 20 years ago, a Christian said to me, ‘You don’t really believe that Christians should get active in politics do you?’ And I said, with tongue in cheek, ‘Why, of course not, we ought to leave it to the atheists, otherwise, we wouldn’t have anything to complain about. And we’d really rather complain than do something, wouldn’t we?’”
Look at the mess we’re in because many Christians have neglected this duty. Five Houston pastors were having their communications subpoenaed by the mayor because they had spoken out against the bill allowing a man to use the ladies’ room! Their emails and text messages had been demanded, to see what they have said anything against this bill.
Commenting on that case initiated by the lesbian mayor of our nation’s 4th largest city, in his Mike Huckabee News (10/19/14), he comments: “Why has this happened? It’s mainly because good church going Christians don’t vote and don’t care.”
It is a privilege to vote. It is our Christian duty to vote. So vote your biblical values. If enough evangelicals and conservative Catholics showed up and voted biblical values, we could carry this election---and virtually every election. Our nation’s founders pledged their lives, their fortunes, and the sacred honor to give us our freedom. The least we could do is vote---and vote our values.
Proverbs 4:14-16
Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evildoers. Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn from it and go on your way. For they cannot rest until they do evil; they are robbed of sleep till they make someone stumble.
GASP!!!
Sacrilege. Heretic. You dare speak against the Holy St. Sarah of Wasila?
IBTZ.
/s
(lolol. There is still a huge number of FReepers - living in the past - who worship the ground she walks on. I liked to participate in the many recent Palin Family Brawl threads just to see them spin that drunken mess into a positive. Quite amusing.)
How do you figure that?? Post 125 was in direct reply to your post 124.
You know what, nevermind, I get it - no pinging you in reply to whatever you post.
It’s so very enlightening to to read how party loyalists and the fearful will always blame principled Conservatives who decide to withhold their vote or cast it for someone other than the GOP Establishment, as the REASON we have a MarxoFascist Oligarchy now running the country.
They ignore more than half the population who are slaves to the government who WANT what we now have and vote for it. They ignore the facts of their own party being complicit in the agenda that has taken us to this post-Constitutional tyranny we now have, as usual - they will blame principled Conservatives who did not betray their principles to vote for the status quo.
The fact that few to none of you will admit to is this: the government now ruling us is a reflection of the majority of the population and the culture that was surrendered to the hedonist Left some time ago.
Votes are not going to change what we have become as a nation. Votes are not going to stop tyranny coming out of Washington. Washington will not reform itself, neither will it allow itself to be reformed by any civil means.
Yet the blame is going to be put upon those of principle who refuse to cast a ballot for the Establishment. In this, you and the Left are allies against a common enemy.
Try. OK? Things have reached the point that if you don't vote, those MOST opposed to Biblical principles will prevail. The Two-Party System requires that a Christian often must choose The Lesser of Two Evils; or cause everyone to suffer a greater evil as a consequence.
There is no "neutral."
Revelation 3:15 - 16:
15: I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16: So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
We have discovered that amongst the loudest "Conservatives" bitterly complaining at the bar the day after disappointing elections (like the one where I lost for school board), a substantial number not only did not vote, but are apt to be un-registered, or improperly registered. And these malcontents know that I will drive them, get them those dratted absentee ballots, and even take them to the library to register! Maybe the drinking water 'round here?
I did once win as JP, and as a selectman; These victories despite my son being a zoning officer who made an old friend (now an intractable enemy) dig up his septic tank (a buried '47 Cadillac Sedan).
I will be there next week, in person, to vote. I am totally opposed to absentee ballots, advance voting, electronic voting, motor voting, and registration as a secondary effect of registering for government programs. I am personally going to line Maine roads with devices* to way-lay those damned Massholes who somehow manage to bus in illegal voters to queer every election in Southern Maine.
* disguised as Moose.
It wouldn’t surprise me if your comments are fairly accurate.
One would hope the folks who come to the forum and realize the stakes involved, would vote. Even then, I’m sure some folks don’t.
As for the absentee ballots, advance voting, electronic voting, motor voting, and registration as a secondary effect of registering for government programs, I’m with you.
If a person cares, they’ll vote. If they don’t, I don’t want them voting.
No one in my family is voting for anyone this year because we were not invited. Just exactly who do these Palins think they are? A brawl without us? A frickin' oxymoron!
BTW, that's the last damn time we give any one of'em a lift to Wal-Mart.
Doughty, democracy is actually the tyranny of the ignorant. So of course, we want the ignorant voting for us because the other guy may get them to vote for him! The trick is to get them to vote, that is fulfill their obligation as citizens, without cutting them a government check!
BTW, The ancient Greeks had a word for people who didn't or wouldn't vote:
Not a party loyalist and will not allow you to define the term. A principled conservative since the days I passed out campaign stuff door to door for Barry Goldwater in my youth. But neither am I a fool. Sit out if you wish but that makes you the true ally of the left. Unless we have a seat at the table, we have nothing. Romney was about last on my list, but had Romney been elected, I would have been the first one out in the street and marching on Washington to put his feet to the fire.
I am waiting for someone to dare answer the question -— would a principled conservative have sided with the Soviets in WWII to defeat the greater threat? The answer from someone with principles would be a resounding NO. But that would have destroyed the United States.
A certain religion or religions does not believe in having a doctor treat a child, even at the risk of the child’s life. Sure, they kept their principles. But they have a dead child.
A pacificist has the belief that he could not kill someone. So after a home invasion, getting the bad guy’s weapon, and having the ability to stop the threat, he does not stop the threat. He kept his principles but has a dead family.
At various points in our lives, their are compromises. Only a fool will not see the right time to make them. I have very little respect for the GOP establishment. But if Obama and his party are not stopped now, I fear for our nation’s survival.
Did the United States make the right decision in WWII to ally itselv with the Soviets in order to stop the Nazis? Please answer that question with a yes or no, not a proverb. The Soviets were the greatest mass murderers of the 20th Century. How could we do that? Tick tock, tick tock........waiting.
Thanks Kenny Bunk. Your comments made sense. I sometimes think we over-emphasize voting, because ignorant voters will screw things up.
I don’t object to your explanation. I think the Greeks had it right.
Gee, I don’t know Doug. Maybe the America that has murdered 60,000,000 unborn and embraced homosexuality and rejected God would be in better shape today if we didn’t continue to cooperate with the lesser evil and instead followed God’s word.
We HAD full seats at the table once upon a time. That got Conservatives nothing but contempt from those who want us GONE from the table.
The GOP Ruling Class went full Statist and got us to where we are today….BEGGING for scraps as they pretend to serve our interests while making deals with and enabling the MarxoFascist agenda to be firmly entrenched.
Romney was about last on my list, but had Romney been elected, I would have been the first one out in the street and marching on Washington to put his feet to the fire.
All you would have ended up with would be tired feet. Apparently you have not figured out that the Ruling Class does not listen to us anymore, and indeed hold us in contempt. You are living in a 30 year-old fantasy that no longer exists.
I am waiting for someone to dare answer the question -— would a principled conservative have sided with the Soviets in WWII to defeat the greater threat?
Ridiculously flawed allegory.
We did not have decades of contempt from the Soviets towards us. We did not have them declare defacto war on us in advance of WWII. We did not experience attacks and subterfuge via that declaration and suffering one form of treachery and betrayal after another for decades IN ADVANCE of WWII.
We weren't Charlie Brown playing football with a Soviet Lucy for decades before today.
Put that in your allegory then ask if it is wisdom to side with the Soviets against the Nazis - knowing that as soon as the Nazis were defeated, our own destruction was assured by the very 'ally' we partnered with, because the Soviets themselves were happy to impose their version of Socialism on us.
A certain religion or religions does not believe in having a doctor treat a child, even at the risk of the child’s life. Sure, they kept their principles. But they have a dead child.
So you would make yourself an arbiter of what principles are acceptable or not. I see.
At various points in our lives, their are compromises.
We keep getting told this same crap statement election cycle after election cycle and still the nation goes over the cliff. At some point, if principles have ANY value whatsoever, one must stop compromise. There is no compromise with sin according to God - and yet, we are being lectured that it is a greater sin if we do not compromise with sin, in the name of stopping greater evil.
Jesus told us plainly that Satan cannot cast out Satan - yet many GOP faithful would convince us that Jesus was wrong. They instead tell us that the time to cast out a Demon is in the primaries, but if the Demon is on the general ballot in November with an 'R' after his name, it is our righteous duty to vote for him in order to 'stop Satan'.
If Obama and his party are not stopped now, I fear for our nation’s survival.
Get this through your head right now - we cannot stop Obama or this Marxist juggernaut by the ballot box or by civil means, PERIOD. We are too far gone for that now.
You are deceiving yourself and/or have a fatal case of Normalcy Bias if you still think the Constitution and the Rule of Law is still upheld in Washington.
You don’t know? Unbelievable. You don’t know if you would have made the Soviets an ally in WW II to defeat the Nazis. Please sit it out and don’t vote.
In the meanwhile, voting by “Christians” and whether it is good or not on if they sit out the election, depends on which denomination, because different denominations have different effects on the vote.
I guess I should have included on the end of that the fact that I do not miss a chance to vote. I have even voted for the lesser evil in the past. That is, however, becoming less likely in the future.
Is someone else using your name to post here?
Okay, it's time to nip this idiotic false premise in the bud for what it is - a non-sequitur.
In WWII we shared a common enemy against the Nazis and the Soviets were already fighting for their lives against Hitler's invasion. An alliance was a no-brainer since the Soviets were already engaged in combat against the same enemy we had.
The GOP Establishment Leadership has refused to engage the Democrat enemy in combat. The GOP leadership has taken away our weapons to be used in combat even to the point of violating the Constitution and their oaths.
Instead they have gone to war an have employed snipers to attempt to take out Cruz and Lee and Paul every time they DID engage in combat against the enemy.
The GOP leadership does not consider the Democrats, Obama or their ideology to be an 'enemy'. They instead have told us they seek only to 'modify' those things we consider to be evil, or they tell us that those things are 'here to stay'. Unlike the Soviets, the GOP leadership has continuously refused to engage the enemy and instead have gone to war and subterfuge against those of us who DO see Obama and his ideology as an enemy.
You cannot have an alliance to defeat a 'greater evil' when your own leadership has sided with the enemy to kill you in your sleep and either hand you over to the enemy or join the enemy in killing you.
Your Soviet allegory sucks and is a non-sequitur to the question of where or not Christians should support the GOP Ruling Class.
With 20-20 hindsight, that is an interesting decision. Hitler is credited with killing 11-15 million. Stalin is credited with about 60 million. It was a hard, but necessary choice to make. In a country where the system of government has been corrupted as badly as this one has been, it is also sometimes easy to wonder what difference your one vote will make. One of the most serious problems we seem to have now is the number of low information voters on both sides who have said, “My side, right or wrong” for so long that they have not seen the two sides become faces of the same coin. There are times when there is no one worth your vote on the ballot, especially as the Dims are weighting the system so that you get to choose between two Democrats in more and more states.
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