Lock the doors, close the blinds, and bring the pets inside, its election time. I don't think there is a more appropriate time to openly discuss leadership than when we choose who will be our Commander and Chief of this great country. But how should followers of Jesus approach government as a whole? There are primarily two Christian approaches to the "Church and State" issue. First, preach the gospel only and do not engage or become involved in the political process under the banner of belief that the Holy Spirit will convict the hearts of those who hold political positions of influence. Second, as Christians get involved in the political process and try to influence government with Biblical moral standards, it is vital to remember that our hearts are to be driven by the fulfillment of the Great Commission and this is to take precedence in life.
The first option treats government like the plague or some kind of disease that one must distance oneself from in order to live a pure and blameless life before the Lord. The second option is a bit more proactive and believes that to be salt and light as Jesus commanded, we are to engage this dark, dirty and dangerous world we live in so that we may influence it with Gods truth. If you have been around SLU for more than a nano-second then you can probably assume which option is supported. SLU does not believe that it is our policy to cower inside the church house with the lower lip quivering under the assumption that God will take care of those out there in that dark, dirty and dangerous world. Rather we are to influence society with the light of the gospel both in word and deed.
Maintaining a biblical worldview means that we do not allow our conscience to be deceived by slick phraseology that paints a warm, inviting and humanitarian view of abortion. At the end of the day after careful articulation of the pro-choice stance when an abortion has been performed a life has been killed. Christians are to vote for the candidate who fights through legislation to protect those who can't protect themselves.
While rhetoric has served to camouflage the carnage of abortion, it remains the painful killing of an innocent human being.
Hank Hanegraff, The Bible Answer Man
"For you formed my inward parts; you covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well my frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes say my substance, being yet unformed. And in your book they were all written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them." Psalm 139:13-16, NKJ
In recent decades the family has been attacked from all angles. Both men and women are abandoning post at alarming rates in search of happiness and a life free of responsibility. Part of the attack on the family is to redefine exactly what is the essential makeup of a family. Research tells that the breakdown of the nuclear family contributes to the breakdown not only on a moral level but an economic level as well. Webster now defines 'family' as a group of individuals living under one roof and usually under one head. A Biblical worldview causes one to vote for a candidate who sees the marriage of one man to one woman as a hill on which to die.
"Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge." Hebrews 13:4, NAS
The sins of our culture that seem to permeate our land like a flesh eating virus are all leading to one destructive end... the day when men have forgotten God.
In his Templeton Prize address Alexander Solzhenitsyn said: "Over half a century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of older people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: 'Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.'Since then I have spent well-nigh 50 years working on the history of our revolution; in the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies, and have already contributed eight volumes of my own toward the effort of clearing away the rubble left by the upheaval. But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous revolution that swallowed up some 60 million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: 'Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.'"
One of the great lessons of 301 is that if we forget where we came from we will inevitably forget where we are going. As believers, we must vote for the candidate who will contribute through their policies toward the accomplishment of the Great Commission and we must not check our biblical worldview and eternal perspective at the front door as we enter the voting booth.