Politics

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Don't vote for God.

With the election upon us, many Christians will be pulling levers,
poking chads, or staring blankly at a list of names trying to find
the smallest evil. If God were on the ballot, would you vote for him?
Should you?

"Who is on the Lord's side," Moses once asked of a mob. Sides were
taken and the golden calf won. A second election a short time later
had the opposite outcome, since absentee ballots from hell couldn't
be counted.

Should you think about that election before pushing the Bush lever or
opting for the Anybody but Bush one?

Jesus once said, "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's."

Is casting a vote doing the will of God or just "rendering?"

I love the vision of a big, bad, tough Christian punching out evil's
lights, but reading scripture always throws a kink in my Hollywood
style daydreams. Heck, if Hollywood had written the story, there
would have been snake stew for dinner in the garden of Eden and
politicians never would have been invented.

Power and choice.

God had the power to bring the original rebellion to a screeching
halt before it ever got started, but he didn't use it. He left man
with the choice. Satan offered Jesus the power to rule the world
without having to go through that unpleasant crucifixion thing, but
Jesus passed. Down through the ages, whenever the church had the
power to force its will on the people, un-Christian things started
happening. It makes me wonder if men's seeking to do God's will by
first acquiring power jibes with scripture.

A man can't accept Jesus at the point of a sword any more than a
nation can be Christian. God doesn't work with elected
representatives; he works with individuals, one on one, up close and
personal.

Just as the point of a sword can't change what's in a man's heart,
the ultimate legal sword being wielded around this country, the
Federal Government, can't alter your responsibility to your brother.
Just because Caesar steals half your paycheck with promises to
help "the poor," doesn't relieve you of your Christian duty to do the
real work of easing their suffering. It would be nice if Washington's
phony charity didn't suck up so much of the country's wealth, but
saying, "that's the government's job" is a cop-out, and you know it.

So why shouldn't you vote for God? Because he isn't a politician. He
doesn't pass laws with built-in weasel clauses. He doesn't absolve
you from responsibility if you grease his palms or let you off the
hook if you're a good talker. He simply lets you know what's right
and wrong, and leaves you with the choice to save yourself or not.

How does this help us in the election? It doesn't. No matter what
some spin-doctor says, God hasn't taken sides. If he had, you'd know
it. You can't vote for God on Election Day, you have to cast that
ballot every day.

So, as the Democrats say, vote early and often. And on November 2nd,
root for your favorite team just like you do on any other sport.

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