What if I Don’t Vote? A Biblical Discussion
Political season is in full swing and the presidential election is just around the corner. In just a few weeks we will finally experience a reprieve from the constant bombardment of the political world. This election seems to have drawn a bit of upheaval among the evangelical world. Many of the Reagan era evangelicals are sticking to the Republican Party platform and putting out full support for Trump while many, if not most of the Millennial evangelicals cannot stomach the idea of Trump being president and either are reluctantly supporting Clinton, voting third party, or are even in full support of Clinton. Much debate has been put forward about what vote would be counted as a morally good vote, after all, we must vote to what our conscience dictates.
Throughout American history, voting has been seen as a right and as a moral responsibility, but can we entertain the idea that not voting is morally okay as well? Before we go any further, there are a few things I’d like to address. 1. This post is from the perspective of a Christian and is addressed to Christians. If you are a non-Christian reading this, feel free to engage, but please know that my thoughts come specifically from a Christian point of view, 2. I encourage and desire thoughtful discussion about this topic, but will refuse to engage with and will remove any demeaning or belligerent comments, 3. My main goal is to challenge Christians to re-think what it means to be a Christian in the United States so please read this thoughtfully and prayerfully before tuning this out.
Alright, so here is an argument for why it is morally okay (and possibly even morally right) to not cast a vote in the election:
1. I am first and foremost a citizen of heaven, not a citizen of the United States.
This point for me almost seals the deal for me. While I am born and raised in the United States and am grateful for the freedoms that I have been given, there is no way that my U.S. Citizenship should define my faith. I am convicted that no matter what circumstances may come in my life, I am a follower of Christ. The United States government can call a full scale war against Christianity and it will not change that I am a child of God. My understanding of history shows me that I cannot pledge allegiance to any earthly kingdom because Christ’s kingdom is the only one that will remain in the end. So, while I take advantage of my U.S. Citizenship like Paul took advantage of his Roman Citizenship, I will always remain a citizen of God’s kingdom, and God’s kingdom only.
2. Looking at the example of Jesus, he did not seek to involve himself in anything political.
Observing the life of Jesus, we see that His focus was clear: to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10). Actually, understanding the life of Jesus in relation to Israel makes it resoundingly clear that he did not come to get involved with politics.
Jewish tradition viewed the coming Messiah as a political savior who would rescue Israel from foreign occupation and establish an earthly kingdom forever. Jesus blew all of those expectations out of the water when he came and died on the cross. He never intended to establish an earthly kingdom when he came. His desire was to defeat death and establish the Kingdom of Heaven, which will at some point establish full earthly reign, but not yet.
Not only that, but Jesus really only discussed government directly one time when he said “give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s” (Matt 22:21) which also points to Jesus’ hands off approach to government. Almost as if to say “don’t worry about earthly government, I have something much better for you to dwell on.” The Bible is clear that the kingdom of God is not going to be established through an earthly power.
3. Historically, when Christians have gained political power, the name of Jesus had been tarnished.
Some Christians want to vote in order to impose Christian morals on society and some would even hope to establish a “Christian” nation (and some even believe that we were once that, which I wholeheartedly disagree). Let’s just take a brief look at history and see if that is something we truly should be desiring from our government.
When the Church first started after Jesus’ ascension, Christians were almost universally persecuted, first by the Jews, then by the Romans. This persecution caused Christianity to spread throughout the nations! Christianity was growing at an exponential rate and the perception of Christians began to become more and more positive.
In the early 300’s AD, Constantine took over the Roman Empire and eventually established Rome as a “Christian” Empire. Do you know what happened next? Everyone who was an enemy of Rome, now rejected Christianity as well and the growth of Christianity stopped and even took a step back. “Christianity” then grew as the Roman Empire grew and every negative thing that the Empire did, was associated with Christianity. On top of that there was a power struggle between the church and government for hundreds and hundreds of years.
Eventually the church became so corrupt that there was a push for reformation, which brought about the Protestant movement. While the Protestant movement is still celebrated today among evangelicals, we should take a serious look at some of the ramification from it. Martin Luther, John Calvin, and other Reformers did not see a separation of Church and State and sought to have the church control the government, which resulted in a long drawn out time of “wars of religion” between Lutherans, Catholics, and others for political control. This ultimately led to the Enlightenment, a massive movement away from the church, and in a way, the birth of the United States.
Ever since, the Global influence of the Church has been expanding because there has been a move away from political and church ties to the pureness of the Gospel that was around during the early church. Bottom line is that I do not ever want the church to have political power, ever.
4. In my personal belief, there is no high level politician that has not had to compromise their morals in order to get where they are.
This point is not based on any biblical beliefs, but just goes to the point that if you vote, you are voting for someone corrupt. You may not agree with my assessment, but I’ve long believed that when being a “politician” became a full career pursuit, that is when it became corrupt. People are no longer serving their country for the benefit of the people, they are now working for the country for their own personal gain. While you may make an argument that Trump is protected from that because he is independently wealthy, you must look at the rest of Trump’s life to make an assessment of his character.
I believe that considering all of these things that I can with clear conscience not cast a vote in this election or any other election to come. I do not believe that all Christians must come to this conclusion and in fact encourage any Christian to vote whose conscience requires that they do. I would merely like to challenge us to think about how our culture effects our beliefs and be willing to confront the idea that being American has anything to do with being a Christian.
Next I will address a few potential counter arguments:
1. The 21st Century is much different than the 1st Century and before, therefore we have a responsibility to vote because it is a privilege not given to others in history.
The United States is a fantastic human experiment and its significance in history cannot be understated. Our culture does leave us the responsibility to apply Biblical principals in a different kind of society and that task should not be taken lightly. In fact, I use this argument against those who think the church should look exactly like it did in Acts 2. There are a lot of cultural differences that must be accounted for when we think about how to apply the Bible in the 21st Century.
That being said, it is important to go back to the Biblical idea that God’s kingdom is not of this world and that one day God will establish his throne on earth… but it’s not going to be through the United States. Every nation that ever was, currently is, or ever will be will at some point cease to exist and I do not believe that my faith will be affected by the political power on earth during my time here.
2. God has used kings and rulers throughout history before, so why not try to influence who is our ruler?
In the Old Testament, God used the nation of Israel to spread his name to the world. The nation of Israel was established as a Theocracy – a kingdom ruled by God, through leaders that he appointed. This is an entirely different form of government than what we have today and Jesus made it clear when he did not seek to become an earthly king that this is no longer God’s method of action in the earth for today. Also, if you want to look back to when Israel wanted to dictate who was going to be her ruler, then that should give us pause when we want to influence who our leaders are.
The Bible also claims that all governing authorities are subject to God anyway (Romans 13:1), so whoever becomes the president of the United States will be somehow under God’s sovereign control.
3. We must protect our Christian rights.
This argument frustrates me more than any other. See my blog post titled “Unalienable Rights” for a more detailed reason. Here is a quote from it: “if you claim to be a Christian have you not surrendered your (supposed) right to your life? Jesus made it very clear in Matthew 16:24-25: “whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.” Romans tells us to submit our bodies as “living sacrifices” (12:2) and John says that there is no greater love than laying down your life. Brothers and Sisters, do not cling to your own life, sacrifice it for others and you will be granted the privilege of eternal life with Christ.”
Any rights that we are afforded have been given to us by our government, therefore they are not rights, but privileges. We can take advantage of them, but at what cost? The cost of showing love to lost? I will not accept that price and will gladly surrender my rights for the sake of the lost.
4. What about abortion and other important issues?
I am pro-life and it breaks my heart that millions of unborn babies are murdered. However, I am convinced that legislating Christian morality is a lose-lose proposition. I am not one that says “we cannot legislate morality” because moral legislation is essential to running a government (laws against murder, rape, etc.), however trying to force Christian morality on a country that isn’t “Christian” is only going to cause the church to be hated. Even if the country were to ban abortion in all 50 states, that won’t stop people from doing it and eventually the culture will change the law again.
I take a much different approach to change. Instead of fighting for and voting for legislation, why don’t we get off of our asses and do something to help those who are hurting? We can comfort women who have an unwanted pregnancy and offer a shoulder to cry on and a listening ear. Instead of judging people by our moral standards, we can treat them like Christ did them… as a child of God. Jesus never forced anybody to change, he let the Rich Young Ruler to walk away (Mark 10:17-31) and he told people to stop following him if his teaching was too difficult (John 6:60-71). Jesus example also shows us that true change comes when you treat someone with respect, like when he sat with the Samaritan woman at the well who by all accounts was culturally inferior, even to other Samaritans – but she brought the message to her entire town because Jesus took the time to sit with her and know her (John 4).
Let’s seek to change the country, but I believe that politics is the last place we should look to make a change. As a Christian, we should be caring for others more than we should be caring for ourselves.
