Unity in the Cross

I am convinced that the solution to America’s problems is not the Republican Party or the Democratic Party, but rather it is Jesus Christ and Him alone. Whenever the United States of America reveres God, it is a great country. Whenever it doesn’t, the country gets terribly nasty very quick. That being said, a citizen of any nation or civilization that is given the opportunity and right to vote, it becomes a responsibility for them to do so in a way that upholds core Christian values, or at the least, does not outright deny them. This article will be broken down into sections; in section 1 I will explain how and why Christian’s should vote for their leaders. Section 2 will break down the values and issues on each side of the political spectrum and how a Christian should examine them to come to a biblical conclusion. Lastly, section 3 will focus on the sovereignty of God, His attitude towards worldly leaders and how we as believers in God should respond to them.

Section 1

Throughout the history and throughout the world, it has not always been case that the inhabitants of a country or civilization got to freely elect their leaders into their positions of power. A little under 60% of countries with populations over 500,000 today are some sort of democracy. Which is a shift in a positive direction, as just within the past 50 years that number has skyrocketed; however, even among those nations there in many of them there is propaganda and agenda pushing that make it harder for good to prevail. What do I mean by good? To look at this objectively, I have to define some things. The American political system comes in pairs just as everything else. Have you ever wondered why that is? These pairs always come in pairs of opposites, in this case, the beliefs that constitute the Republican Party and the beliefs that constitute the Democratic Party. I believe there is a reason for this beyond the obvious that it is just easier that way. The devil often times sends errors into the world in these pairs of opposites and he influences us to spend more of our time thinking more which side is worse. The reason being is he relies on our extra dislike of one side to push us fully into the other. But do not be fooled! We must keep our eyes fixed on the main thing and allow ourselves to see past what is directly in front of us. Most notably in Ephesians 6 Scripture speaks on that our battle is not against flesh in blood but against rulers, authorities and the powers of the darkness within the spiritual world. We must know that we are not to set ourselves to 100% allegiance to one side and 100% neglect to the other. We are to do something much more radical than that. We are to stay fixed on Jesus Christ, who is the Way, the Truth, and Life itself. This means that we call evil where it lies, and stand for truth as much as we possibly can. True goodness is always being distorted and under constant attack, so we must cling to it dearly. As Christian’s we know we are aliens to this world, and we will not be here but a short time (more on that in section 3), but we must also know that we are to practice righteousness and not grow weary of doing good during our time on Earth.

Furthermore, our understanding of good can either impair and enhance our decision making on voting for which side we believe is “more good,” or which side we believe will make our lives better. We must ground our political views in Scripture and what God deems virtuous and good. We must look to the Cross of Jesus Christ and remind ourselves not to hate another side, for they also are one whom Jesus died for. God made all in His image, but we deeply distort it by following our own passions and self-interests. Thus, we must assume in these discussions that people on the other side really do believe there side is right, and we must not assume that they are automatically out to get you, even if they often are. Per Hanlon’s razor, we should never attribute to malice that of which can be adequately explained by ignorance or stupidity. Thinking like this will further the discussion to what really matters and exceed the fallacious arguments and negative assumptions. Our political views should be a mere reflection of what are morals and virtues are, and where our faith stands. Nowadays it is common to get that backwards, where our political views our molded first, consequently crafting our morals to whatever side we stand with the most.

It is important to note that neither side will hold to what is right in full. At times policies will end up being negative, and other times speeches will reveal faults in their character. We cannot assume any different, though. Being put in an authoritative role does not change the fact that we are all sinners and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Many times we judge them too much on their egregiousness. This does not mean at all we are be full fledged in agreeance with them, but to judge them, their policies and beliefs righteously and to respond with grace always.

Section 2

More coming.

Section 3

More coming.