Election Time

image from here

This post is for my children.

Kids, today mommy and daddy vote for our next President.  In America, we (effectively) have a two-party system, meaning one of the two main candidates will almost certainly win.  This election's choices, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, are largely despised and distrusted, respectively.  Thus, many people feel this is a 'lesser of two evils' election, whereby you choose the candidate you dislike less, rather than one you like.  A wave of breathtaking rationalizations have resulted from this mindset, and the hardest part (for us) is watching it all unfold.  But let's take this back to the basics and see what we can determine.

What do we need a leader to do?
Here I quote heavily from Storied Leadership and my review of it.  We know what a leader is to do based on what the Bible says about us and the world.  The Christian Gospel can be summarized as 'Creation, Fall, Redemption;'  in a nutshell, "perfection distorted and restored."  This story is the foundation from which leadership happens.  Specifically, from the Creation mandate (Genesis 1:28) and Jesus' teaching (Matthew 20:25-28), leaders are to be loving lords.  We rule over creation, but with a servant mentality.

The loving lord is the one who protects the limits and draws out the possibilities.  She is able to consider the potential of her subject and nurture it toward maturity.  The loving lord leads the created order into the way it is meant to be . . . loving lordship seeks to bring out the fullness of something for the common good and for the benefit of the thing itself.

Said another way, "We are called to lead the nascent creation from potentiality into actuality."  To
"Guard and till.  Preserve and cultivate."  But it's not just about this.  Because of the Fall, "All has been distorted."  Thus, "Our role as image bearers is also the work of reconciliation."  That can mean we're called to fix in addition to creating.  So, we are called to be "cultivators and restorers."

Ultimately, we "define leadership as a collaborative effort that influences positive purposeful changes."  The goal of leaders is to make "the world more like the Kingdom as God intended it to be."  Things will never be perfect, but we should be neither cynics (who ignore the restorative work of God) nor naïve optimists (who ignore the Fall).  So leaders do what they can.


Thoughts for voting as a Christian

Are any candidates today in line with what we need a leader to do?  The dilemma is that no candidate (or party) fully aligns with the Gospel.  People generally vote based on both platform (of the party) and character (of the candidate).  Both platforms and character are in question here:
- Each party's platforms contains some beliefs that align with what is right, and some that oppose it.
- The character of each main candidate is in question.
How should we then vote?  I won't give you an answer, but will provide some thoughts.

Abhor what is evil
The "lesser of two evils" mindset is flawed.  We should never choose evil, nor be overcome by it, but overcome evil with good (see Romans 12:9-21).  If you think a candidate is evil, don't vote for him or her.  Period.

Be consistent
When deciding, hold candidates to the same standard and do not show partiality for any reason (see Romans 2:6-11 or James 2:1-9).  Too often, people excuse the words and actions of their own party members and condemn 'outsiders.'  Don't fall into this trap.

Be realistic
There are no perfect candidates because there are no perfect people- everyone sins (see Romans 3:10-11), and our leaders are no different.  But there are good and bad rulers (see Proverbs 29:2).  Thinking through what was presented above, think about which candidate(s) are the most likely to nurture, cultivate, and reconcile the nation.

Beware false prophets
Some are easily led astray by words.  Remember that people (including even political candidates) are recognized by their fruits- not by their words.  Some who claim to align themselves with the Gospel may be far from it (see Matthew 7:15-23).

These thoughts may lead you to a third party candidate- one which will almost certainly lose.  But so what?  Our hope is in the Lord, not the President (see Psalm 130:7).  We shouldn't compromise our beliefs or go against our conscience (see Acts 24:16).

I'll end with this.  Regardless of today's outcome, we should . . .

1. Submit to (and pray for) the government
• Unless we are prohibited from doing right or compelled to do wrong, we should submit to earthly authority and pray for them, hoping for a peaceful and quiet life (see 1 Peter 2:13-17 and 1 Timothy 1-2).
2. Remember that the Lord is in control
• God is sovereign; nothing can happen outside of His control.  Christ is preeminent (see Colossians 1:15-17); our God does what He pleases (see Psalm 115:2-3).  Even kings obey (see Proverbs 21:1).
• I think we sometimes put too much faith in the state.  Ever since Constantine, Church and state have been intertwined to varying degrees, and some (like Susan Wise Bauer in The History of the Medieval World*) argue that this has caused problems for both.  I see it here in America: some think that victory for a certain candidate will spell doom for us.  I think we have perhaps unreasonable expectations about the role of the state.  

*see chapter 1 of that book