This question came up yesterday with a group of ministers I meet with occasionally. I told them that I do not talk about it (of course I am talking about it right now). There were others that thought we should educate people on the voting record of individuals.
Here are the reasons I stay away from it:
1. I believe we (Christ followers) should put more effort into the mission of the church. The reality is we spend an enormous amount of time and resources to fight political issues. In doing so we are asking people to make a decision to vote a certain way. The response we should be asking for from people is a response to give their life to Jesus. What would happen if the Christian community spent the same time and resources trying to connect people to Jesus? Would it make a difference in the kingdom? Would it make a difference in how people lived their moral lives?
2. We push people away from the kingdom with our holier than thou attitude. We approach morality in a very judgemental way. We are seen by others as the religious leaders who drug the woman caught in adultery out into the streets to be stoned. Jesus never condoned her behavior. He called it sin and told her to stop living that lifestyle. But His approach was one of grace and mercy, while teaching each of us that we are not perfect either.
3. God is more concerned with those who are lost and how to reach them than how we vote. It is almost like we live our Christianity through our political affiliation. We look at God as if he would be Republican or a Democrat. The reality is there are problems on both sides of the isle, some may be bigger problems than others (and depending on your affiliation you just thought of the other parties problems rather than your parties problems). I think God would look at both parties with disdain.
4. The issue is divisive in the church. The enemy uses politics to divide the kingdom. People have become more passionate about their political affiliation than their passion for the kingdom and it gets in the way of "seeking the kingdom first." It is even difficult today to bring up issues that deal with morality in the church without people thinking about their political side. If you speak against same sex marriages or abortion, you must be a republican. If you talk about social justice and taking care of the environment you must be a democrat. No, I am a follower of Christ that is more passionate about the kingdom of God than winning in the game of politics.
2 comments:
If I am not mistaken, wouldn't there also be ramifications from the IRS if political issues are pursued from the pulpit. It might have something to do with tax exempt status. Also, like you said, there are plenty of other things that should be discussed, anyway.
If we look at the facts, the human reason for crucifying Jesus may have been because He would not take sides in the politics of the time. The Jews who celebrated his entry into Jerusalem as king of the Jews, turned against Him before Pilate because he didn't take the side of the Jews against the Romans, which was the two political parties of that time.
When pushed on taxation by Rome, Jesus didn't take the side of the religious leaders of the time or the Romans.
Maybe we should learn from His example again.
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