A Christian’s Guide To Voting In Polarising Elections
From Kamala calling Trump a Fascist to Elon Musk declaring this could be the last US election if the Democrats win, the polarising rhetoric from both sides has been unprecedented.
But it’s not just divisive rhetoric from US politicians and their supporters that’s raising the emotional temperature past boiling point. Many commentators argue this is the most important US election in our lifetime. Unsurprisingly, the stakes seem high for many voters, both Republicans and Democrats.
It’s a polarising election.
While American Christians are the ones voting now, many Christians worldwide also vote in contentious elections.
And in polarising times like ours, how do Christians keep their perspective? How can Christians stay calm and godly as they approach their vote?
Here are some thoughts:
1) Politicians may make good leaders, but they make terrible Messiahs. Only Jesus can save the world.
2) The Political process, while necessary, has little to do with how God is saving the world.
3) The fate of the Kingdom of God does not depend upon political contests.
4) Don't be naive: nearly all political parties are more interested in Christian votes than Christian values. If Christian values lose votes, they'll probably ditch them (e.g., the Republican party's new stance on abortion).
5) The bottom line for political parties is power. And the bottom line for Christians is love. And therein lies the rub.
6) If your political passion makes it hard for you to love your neighbour as yourself, you need to turn it down a notch.
7) Your task is to bring the salt of Christian civility to an ugly and acrimonious political process.
8) To dismember the body of Christ over politics is a grievous sin (c.f. 1 Cor 3).
9) Exercise your liberty to vote your conscience and your conviction, while accepting that other Christians will do the same and vote differently to you.
10) It's more important for your soul to be filled with love than for your political team to win the game.
11) We should have a high regard for whoever wins the election, while not being uncritical of their use of power.
12) More important than winning political arguments is welcoming Christians who think differently from you (Rom 14).
13) Avoid the twin pitfalls of idealism - thinking that politics can do more than it can - and cynicism - thinking that politics is useless. Both dishonour the God who raises governments up for our temporal good.
14) Your ultimate security does not come from your party winning power, but from Jesus having defeated sin and death for you.
15) The winner of the election may or may not be according to your will, but whoever is elected is always according to God’s will (Rom 13:1).
16) You are responsible before God to use your vote well, to his glory, and for the good of others.
17) God commands you to pray for whoever wins – whether they're your preferred candidate or not.
18) Rather than ask why people on the other side are acting so irresponsibly, ask what you can do to be calm and godly during and after the election.
19) Don’t place a vote for your side until you can articulate the reason(s) why someone would vote for the other side. (Bonus points if you can do this more articulately than the other side’s supporters).
(With much thanks to Brian Zahnd and his ‘Christian Voter’s Guide’, from whom I borrowed many of the above points).
Photos: Courtesy By Lawrence Jackson - https://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/vice-president-harris/ (direct download), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=103324295, and Gage Skidmore.