TO VOTE OR NOT TO VOTE

by Jim Hodges

According to some recent research by George Barna, fewer evangelicals will vote in this presidential election than in 2012. Many citizens, including Christians, are disgruntled with the two candidates seeking the highest office in the land. Christians especially feel let down since there were several candidates running this election cycle who shared their values (for example: Huckabee, Walker, Carson, Cruz, Fiorina). The projection is many Christians will sit this one out and stay home on November 8.

With respect to those who claim that voting this time would be a violation of their conscience, I offer a perspective for their consideration. First of all, in most elections, our choice is to select the “lesser of two evils.” There are no perfect candidates. It seems there are few if any candidates in both political parties who put America first and their careers second.

Let me share a scenario which may help us in deciding to vote or not. If you could remove the two candidates who are seeking the presidency and not replace them with any new candidates, you would then have only thing to vote for, i.e., the platform of both the Republicans and the Democrats. Which one would you prefer? To me, the answer is clear! If you do not want to vote for the person, vote the platform.

If you have not read it yet, I strongly recommend going to www.dutchsheets.org and reading his article, “What Should Christians Consider When Deciding Whom To Vote For?”

In Philippians 3:20, the apostle writes: “For our citizenship is in heaven… .” Paul was a citizen of heaven and a citizen of Rome. Both gave him rights and responsibilities. Our citizenship in heaven in no way dismisses us from our responsibilities as citizens of our beloved nation. The word, citizenship, can be translated as “commonwealth” or “colony.” The root word in the original language is polis. The full word is polituma. The rudimentary application of this verse is: Heaven has policies and earth’s policies should align with them! Followers of Christ are called to “colonize” the earth with the policies of the Kingdom of God.

Advancing together,
Jim Hodges, Founder and President
Federation of Ministers and Churches International 
www.fmci.org