voting...

I had a great conversation with a friend today which touched on the subject of voting. Here's my question that springs from the conversation...As a Christ-follower, what's my responsibility as I cast my vote?

If my highest loyalty is to Jesus and the kingdom that he is establishing, then my voting should reflect that, right? There are two directions to go here...

1) I vote in such a way that biblical principles become law. Many people talk about America as a Christian nation (I'm not sure I buy that, even though it is a nation founded with biblical principles). My voting can help bring about that reality...sort of. But this falls short in that America does not have as its highest goal the glory of Christ. Even if laws are biblical, they do not point people to Jesus.

2) I vote in such a way as to promote the "darkening" of culture, if you will. A light shines brighter in the dark, right? Therefore, there is more opportunity for the Church to be the Church in a culture that is clearly antagonistic towards Jesus and his principles.

An example of this can be found in laws that prevented businesses from being open on Sunday. This was an attempt to legislate observance of the Sabbath. Did those laws point people toward Jesus? Not really. Instead, that created an antagonism between the established church, with its church culture, and the rest of the culture. Eventually, those laws were taken off the books. Now, any business is allowed to be open on Sunday.

I have friends who own a restaurant in town. In order to honor Christ, they have chosen to close Sundays. When customers push them to be open, they have an opportunity to express their love for Jesus as the reason that they close on Sundays. Their light shines pretty brightly. However, if the law stated that they couldn't be open, the light shines a bit more dimly.

I don't think I'm prepared to back the most repulsive candidate (and some people think that I already do!) for the sake of this idea. But it does give me reason to stop and think a bit.

What governs the way I vote or the way I think about important civic issues?

hmmm,

M@