The Rule of Law
The United States was founded by people who believed in the rule of law. Many of them believed that the God of the Bible is the ultimate law-giver and that he has ordained that all people, kings or presidents, are to be subject to his law. This perspective influenced the founders to include checks and balances within the formation of the government to protect against anyone standing above the law. The Constitution, reasonably and faithfully interpreted, was to be the final authority.
Since it was formulated, this commitment to the rule of law has been at risk–and never more than it is now. I believe our American society has been uninstructed in the value of the rule of law and there is mounting evidence that many people want to trust generous, intelligent, charismatic leaders to make policies that will benefit them even if the rule of law is neglected.
Christianity and the United States
The United States is not and never has been a “Christian nation.” For it to be that, I think would mean that the Word of God would be unashamedly acknowledged as the ultimate authority; all, or the over-whelming majority, of the leaders would be born-again Christians; and slavery would have been out-lawed in the Constitution. Nevertheless, America has benefited immensely from its Christian influences and has been blessed as a “Christianized” nation. However, we are rapidly losing that Christian influence.
Voting Power
The election on Tuesday is an opportunity for ordinary citizens to vote for their leaders. When we vote for someone, we are giving them power to carry out their policies; if we know their policies are against the clear moral standards of God’s Word and yet we vote to give them power to carry out those policies, we are complicit in their evil.
Although economic policies do have moral principles behind them and do have moral implications, one man does not have the power to change the financial structure of our nation single-handedly and there is not one clear-cut, biblical economic policy.
However, the president does have the power to affect profoundly for generations the moral and legal standards for the sanctity of human life and of the definition of marriage. Judicial appointments are critical in these issues as the courts rule on the constitutionality of our laws; we need men and women who believe in the rule of law and the fundamental principles of God’s moral code.
The Voting Church
Our goal as the church of the King of Kings is to exalt him before all people by bringing the good news by all means at our disposal to the people in our community. Our goal as pilgrims temporarily residing in a land not our final home, is to make this place as livable as we can, as reflective of God’s truth as we can and as gospel-friendly as we can.
I’m voting for people I think will slow the slide of the de-Christianizing of our culture. I’m voting for people who I think believe in the rule of law, who respect the moral code of the Word of God, who respect life (born and unborn), who respect the institution of marriage as God ordained from the beginning as between one man and one woman.