To Vote or Not to Vote
That is the question.
Today my wife and I did our civic duty and voted after work. Over the years, we've turned voting into a date night. Every time we vote, we follow it up with dinner at a favorite restaurant as a reward for the effort.
This time, something new occurred to me. What did Jesus say about voting? For that matter, what does the Bible say? It turns out that neither Jesus nor the Bible mentions voting specifically.
That makes sense, because there were no elections like ours back then. In America, the first elected lawmaking body was the Virginia House of Burgesses at Jamestown, which met for the first time on July 30, 1619. That was more than 1,500 years after Jesus walked the earth.
Scripture does speak to how God's people should relate to governing authorities, even though it never mentions voting:
"Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good." (Titus 3:1)
"Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established." (Romans 13:1)
My wife and I are Christians, and we believe voting is part of fulfilling both our civic and our Christian duty. We both feel we should choose leaders whose values are similar to ours. When I ask other Christians whether they plan to vote, I'm sometimes surprised to hear them say no.
I was shocked to read that a study by the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University, led by researcher George Barna, projected that about 41 million born-again Christians, including 32 million who regularly attend church, would not vote in the 2024 election.
According to that study, the top reasons people of faith gave for not voting were:
It makes me wonder what this country would look like with 41 million more votes for governors, senators, members of Congress, and other leaders who share our Christian values.
Would we be better off?
Today my wife and I did our civic duty and voted after work. Over the years, we've turned voting into a date night. Every time we vote, we follow it up with dinner at a favorite restaurant as a reward for the effort.
This time, something new occurred to me. What did Jesus say about voting? For that matter, what does the Bible say? It turns out that neither Jesus nor the Bible mentions voting specifically.
That makes sense, because there were no elections like ours back then. In America, the first elected lawmaking body was the Virginia House of Burgesses at Jamestown, which met for the first time on July 30, 1619. That was more than 1,500 years after Jesus walked the earth.
Scripture does speak to how God's people should relate to governing authorities, even though it never mentions voting:
"Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good." (Titus 3:1)
"Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established." (Romans 13:1)
My wife and I are Christians, and we believe voting is part of fulfilling both our civic and our Christian duty. We both feel we should choose leaders whose values are similar to ours. When I ask other Christians whether they plan to vote, I'm sometimes surprised to hear them say no.
I was shocked to read that a study by the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University, led by researcher George Barna, projected that about 41 million born-again Christians, including 32 million who regularly attend church, would not vote in the 2024 election.
According to that study, the top reasons people of faith gave for not voting were:
- Lack of interest in politics and elections (68%)
- Dislike of all the major candidates (57%)
- A belief that none of the candidates reflected their most important views (55%)
- A sense that one vote would not make a difference (52%)
- A feeling that the election had become too controversial (50%)
It makes me wonder what this country would look like with 41 million more votes for governors, senators, members of Congress, and other leaders who share our Christian values.
Would we be better off?
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