(180) S9E23 C&G: Voting <Replay #36>
Podcast |
The Fourth Way
Publisher |
The Fourth Way
Media Type |
audio
Podknife tags |
Christianity, 
Philosophy, 
Religion & Spirituality, 
Society & Culture
Categories Via RSS |
Religion & Spirituality, 
Society & Culture
Publication Date |
May 14, 2022
Episode Duration |
01:35:15

As Christians in the U.S. start thinking about voting for a commander in chief this fall, I thought I'd throw out an unpopular option for everyone to chew on. I've done a significant amount of reflection on politics, voting, and Kingdom living over the past few years, and I have concluded that the option of abstention is something that needs to be on the table for Christians. It may not be something you do in this election, or any future election, but it needs to be a tool you have available to you and one you can respect others using. In this podcast episode I lay out that case for this option, but if you want the summary and don't want to listen to a ninety minute episode, I'll summarize below. 

https://thefourthway.transistor.fm/episodes/se2-abstention-from-political-idolatry

1. Many Christians view what James calls true religion as optional (helping orphans, widows, etc), as few Christians judge others for not doing these things. Only people who are "called" to those things are required to do them. Few people in our churches adopt, volunteer at the food pantry, etc. We view those things as optional, and understand if congregants don't have the time to participate. However, many view voting as morally necessary and the responsible thing to do.  This mismatch of moral obligations seems to me to be political idolatry. How is it that orphans and widows are optional, while voting is obligatory?  The state has replaced the church as the Christian ethic in American Evangelical society, which is why a vote every four years is lauded more vocally than doing the hard work of consistent community interaction and love. 

2. When all candidates and/or platforms require our own moral compromises or implicit support of evil, the testimony of Christ should be prioritized and our salt/light to the world maintained over any action which promises perceived effectiveness.  When all options are evil (a threshold we may disagree on), a holy example is only maintained through our abstention from evil and subsequent faith in God to accomplish his means through the church. As Daniel resigned himself to prayer, Moses's mother resigned her son to a basket, and Jesus resigned himself to a cross - God may bring us to a moment where following him means throwing off seeming effectiveness and simply resting in God's promise to sovereignly control history not through our subversion of his means, but through our clinging to him and his holy will over human wisdom, methodology, and power..

God's express and implied will for our lives is holiness and a growing conformity to Christ. If all political parties and/or candidates require moral compromise, abstention is important to maintain moral holiness in our avoidance of evil. It is only through holy distinction (being salt and light) that incarnation is possible and meaningful. Had Jesus met us where we were, but not maintained his holy distinction from us, his incarnation would have been meaningless because he would have condescended without providing us a hope for our ascension. Christ may have met the prostitutes and tax collectors where they were (literally at their place of work or in their homes), but his maintained holiness and distinctiveness was what gave them hope that they were and could be more. Likewise, the church is to be distinct in our incarnation - being in the world, but not being of it and compromising for it. Without that holy distinction, we are not depicting Christ and have no hope of which to tell the world. Without a two-fold incarnation (condescension and holy distinctiveness), the message of the gospel is unintelligible, disingenuous, and worthless. 

  3. Even if all candidates and parties are morally acceptable, abstention can be important to avoid personal political idolatry. There are many actions which can be good which are made morally wrong or unwise for someone with certain struggles/proclivities. Those who struggle with pride in regard to their musical ability may refuse to join the praise team at church.While praising God and serving the church are good, good things can be corrupting influences or temptations for some individuals. Even if any particular election has a viable candidate for Christians, it may be personally necessary for an individual to abstain from voting in order to abstain fr...

This episode looks at how our political idolatry has caused us to remove a vital moral option from our repertoire - abstention in voting. We explore how abstention compares to the biblical call of justice in our lives, as well as looking at how abstention can actually shape the social and political landscape.

As Christians in the U.S. start thinking about voting for a commander in chief this fall, I thought I'd throw out an unpopular option for everyone to chew on. I've done a significant amount of reflection on politics, voting, and Kingdom living over the past few years, and I have concluded that the option of abstention is something that needs to be on the table for Christians. It may not be something you do in this election, or any future election, but it needs to be a tool you have available to you and one you can respect others using. In this podcast episode I lay out that case for this option, but if you want the summary and don't want to listen to a ninety minute episode, I'll summarize below. 

https://thefourthway.transistor.fm/episodes/se2-abstention-from-political-idolatry

1. Many Christians view what James calls true religion as optional (helping orphans, widows, etc), as few Christians judge others for not doing these things. Only people who are "called" to those things are required to do them. Few people in our churches adopt, volunteer at the food pantry, etc. We view those things as optional, and understand if congregants don't have the time to participate. However, many view voting as morally necessary and the responsible thing to do.  This mismatch of moral obligations seems to me to be political idolatry. How is it that orphans and widows are optional, while voting is obligatory?  The state has replaced the church as the Christian ethic in American Evangelical society, which is why a vote every four years is lauded more vocally than doing the hard work of consistent community interaction and love. 

2. When all candidates and/or platforms require our own moral compromises or implicit support of evil, the testimony of Christ should be prioritized and our salt/light to the world maintained over any action which promises perceived effectiveness.  When all options are evil (a threshold we may disagree on), a holy example is only maintained through our abstention from evil and subsequent faith in God to accomplish his means through the church. As Daniel resigned himself to prayer, Moses's mother resigned her son to a basket, and Jesus resigned himself to a cross - God may bring us to a moment where following him means throwing off seeming effectiveness and simply resting in God's promise to sovereignly control history not through our subversion of his means, but through our clinging to him and his holy will over human wisdom, methodology, and power..

God's express and implied will for our lives is holiness and a growing conformity to Christ. If all political parties and/or candidates require moral compromise, abstention is important to maintain moral holiness in our avoidance of evil. It is only through holy distinction (being salt and light) that incarnation is possible and meaningful. Had Jesus met us where we were, but not maintained his holy distinction from us, his incarnation would have been meaningless because he would have condescended without providing us a hope for our ascension. Christ may have met the prostitutes and tax collectors where they were (literally at their place of work or in their homes), but his maintained holiness and distinctiveness was what gave them hope that they were and could be more. Likewise, the church is to be distinct in our incarnation - being in the world, but not being of it and compromising for it. Without that holy distinction, we are not depicting Christ and have no hope of which to tell the world. Without a two-fold incarnation (condescension and holy distinctiveness), the message of the gospel is unintelligible, disingenuous, and worthless. 

  3. Even if all candidates and parties are morally acceptable, abstention can be important to avoid personal political idolatry. There are many actions which can be good which are made morally wrong or unwise for someone with certain struggles/proclivities. Those who struggle with pride in regard to their musical ability may refuse to join the praise team at church.While praising God and serving the church are good, good things can be corrupting influences or temptations for some individuals. Even if any particular election has a viable candidate for Christians, it may be personally necessary for an individual to abstain from voting in order to abstain fr...

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