Following Jesus in the Voting Booth
Feature: By Tom Loghry
Early in the year, I assumed the presidential election would dominate the headlines and narrative of 2020. For the present season, though, the election has been removed from our attention in unprecedented fashion. These times are altogether extraordinary, as the world has never so collectively shuttered all social and economic life to this degree and duration to fight a virus. The political landscape has been seismically altered. It feels impossible to look beyond this.
We must look far enough to consider the kingdom of God.
We certainly cannot look past the current crisis, but I do think we must look beyond it. Our horizons must be extended to consider the kingdom of God. States of emergency like the present have the tendency to make us short-sighted, which is to say that we lose perspective. There are few things more dangerous than for Christians to lose perspective. When we lose sight of God’s purpose and plan, we are left only with the ability to wring our hands. If we are the storywriters, then by George we have to get the story right! We must elect so-and-so or the story will go all wrong – such-and-such policy must be instituted or else all will be lost! If only King Herod and Pontius Pilate had been virtuous leaders, we could have made real progress in the first century A.D!.
Political leaders are important but they do not determine the fate of humanity.
You likely see my point, but perhaps you don’t like it. Either that or you misunderstand it. It is not my intention to say that political leaders are not worth critical commentary. John the Baptist had a word or two to say about King Herod’s immoral lifestyle (spoiler: he loses his head for said commentary), even if his father had renovated the temple for the Jews. Our political leaders are important – they guide peoples and nations in the way they should go, explicitly and implicitly, just as fathers and mothers guide their children. Even so, they do not determine the fate of humanity, nor even the fate of any human individual. Likewise, neither does your vote. The kingdom of God is a monarchy and there is only one King. He sits at the right hand of God the Father “until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet” (Heb. 10:13, ESV).
We have political responsibility and our decisions matter.
In the present age, we find ourselves participating in an earthly democracy. Most of us did not choose this – we were born into it. American citizenship carries with it many benefits, but it comes also with the burden of political responsibility. Theoretically, we are a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” This places American Christians in a curious position. Unlike many Christians throughout the ages and throughout the world, we are not merely subjects of the governing authorities. In that context, the apostle Paul’s words in Romans 13:1-2 are quite straight forward:
“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.”
Submission is all that is required, except in anything that defies divine commission or command, as is indicated elsewhere in Scripture. And yet in America, “we the people” form a critical part of the governing apparatus. It is we who bestow authority upon those we elect. As Christians, we understand that this democratic authority likewise derives from God. Like any king or queen of years gone by, the American citizenry has been chosen for this hour as much as any president or senator to carry authority. We are burdened with political responsibility.
To this extent then, our electoral decisions matter, not because the fate of the world rests upon our decisions, but because we bear the responsibility of aligning this earthly government in which we participate with the values of the kingdom of God. Regardless of our prospects of success, this responsibility remains. There is a limit to this responsibility, broadly considered. While some among us may find further occupation in government or organized advocacy, the basic responsibility I refer to will typically find its limit at the ballot box and informal demonstrations of support for just causes.
We choose executives and representatives to be decision makers.
While voters will occasionally vote on specific line items, in general, we are voting for executives and representatives who will be making the decisions. In their service, there will be times when these civil servants are forced to make less-than-ideal decisions to produce the greatest amount of justice in the face of unfriendly political realities. They will be forced to make unhappy compromises.
In recent years, this logic has been widely embraced among Christians in making electoral decisions. When both candidates have stood significantly out of line with the values of the kingdom of God, we have resorted to becoming moral actuaries. And when we have done this, our math has not led us to the same answer.
In the voting booth, we must be idealistic.
Fundamentally, we have lost sight of our responsibility as citizens of a democratic republic. In the structure of our government, the responsibility of the people is to ensure that our ideals are represented in the halls of power. When we enter the voting booth, we must be idealistic. In service to our ideals, civil servants must engage in some pragmatic compromises. However, when we adopt such pragmatism in the voting booth, every one of our ideals becomes swiftly hollowed out in the name of political expediency. Whatever victories we enjoyed become momentary, devoid of meaning, having been carried forward only by the fickle winds of brute political power. Such is the nature of compromise upon compromise.
Our responsibility is to vote our ideals, not to engage in pragmatic politicking. Accordingly, any candidate who is at odds with the ideals of the kingdom of God ought to be roundly rejected by the Christian citizen. Every such candidate should be rejected until one is found who sufficiently aligns with those ideals. When all other things are equal, the chance of electoral victory should also figure into our decision making – but it should be the last thing to be considered. Pursuing victory at all costs is to betray our trust in God. It is to follow the ancient Israelites in their ill-conceived strategies for security, a tendency thoroughly criticized throughout the Old Testament.
Practically speaking, this means that when I look at my ballot, I should be ready to vote for a third-party candidate, especially if neither the Republican or Democrat candidate sufficiently aligns with the ideals of the kingdom of God. Moreover, I should be ready to write in a candidate if none of the candidates presented are satisfactory. This effectively becomes a form of civil protest, which is a proper resort if the mere odds of victory between candidates is the only criteria that remains.
Finding a candidate who aligns with kingdom ideals is difficult.
Admittedly, determining if a candidate sufficiently aligns with the ideals of the kingdom can be difficult. Ideally, the candidate would be a Christian. However, this is not necessary, nor does church membership automatically align a candidate with God’s kingdom. More importantly, a candidate ought to align with God’s exhortation to Judah and Jerusalem in the book of Isaiah when he said to “… do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause” (Isa. 1:17). Likewise, we should think a candidate ought to align with Paul’s description of rulers in Romans 13:3 when he says, “For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad.” Drawing from the Sermon on the Mount, it would also seem fair to say that a candidate ought to be meek, merciful, pure in heart and a peace-maker (Matt. 5:5-9).
We have already found our king, so take heart.
It would be dangerous to go further in my description, since I would then have you looking for the Messiah we have already found. We must remember that we have already found him when we go to the voting booths this November. We have found our King – his name is Jesus, and our citizenship belongs properly in his kingdom. The present age remains and we have an earthly responsibility for this American government, but it is a responsibility framed by the values and anticipation of the kingdom of God. We will not find Jesus in the voting booth, but we can follow him there.
Do not be afraid to make electoral decisions that may look pointless and ineffective in the eyes of the world.
Do not be afraid to make electoral decisions that may look pointless and ineffective in the eyes of the world. Understand the limits of your responsibilities and the all-encompassing providence of God. He is working his will out in this world. Do not sell your birthright for the paltry pottage of political security or the delusion of inaugurating a utopian regime. See beyond the horizon of the present moment. Act in allegiance with the kingdom, even when it leads to a cross.
Tom Loghry, “Following Jesus in the Voting Booth,” The Advent Christian Witness, Summer 2020