Is not Voting a sin even if there are not Good Candidates?

[bhsmte]

I read an tweet about a young man in southern california that said this:

"I just turned 18, and can legally vote for the first time....and all I get is Hillary or Trump."

Is not Voting a sin even if there are not Good Candidates?

This question comes up often,

I take the stance of Billy Graham's son Franklin Graham who says

"vote for the least heathen"

Recognizing no one is perfect does not get us out of our civic duty to God and Country both- to vote.

Now about sin.

There are sins of commission, or doing the wrong thing.

and sins of omission, which is NOT doing the right thing.

Both in the Bible.

sins of omission are found in the book of James:

James 4:17 (NKJV)
17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.​

Is voting a good thing?

Yes.

So then not doing it, is a sin of omission.

So we need to repent as a country of this sin.

Now a little thing that disturbs me.

Christians can be odd ducks.

1. they will prep for the worse.
2. they will bunker down for armageddon.
3. they will arm themselves to the teeth, against tyranny.

but when given a legal and proper way to battle the enemy (voting), they say....oh no, ...that's for the state, not the church!...the secular, not the sacred!

What does this tell the world about Christians?

Not very intelligent, the group is.

And I know, I ARE ONE.

Again, we need to repent and Follow God.

As with many other folks who perceive what sin is and what sin isn't; some would say yes and some would say no.

At the end of the day, who cares?

 

[grandvizier1006]

I'm with the OP. This is also my first presidential election. I feel like no matter who I vote for, it would be so awkward to explain to future generations. If Trump won and turned out to be horrible, I'd feel guilty about helping him become president. And I simply can't vote for Hilary. Gary Johnson seems so...meh.

 

[GeorgiaGuyinAtlanta]

That depends.

I think at this point our only moral obligation is towards damage control in some countries.

Rarely are there good candidates and even rarer are there candidates that a Christian could, without hesitation and reluctance, vote for, in my opinion.

It seems quite apparent in some cases people are Republican or Democrat before they're Christian and that is also what determines their vote. They're viewing politicians through a cultural and political lens instead of a Biblical one.

Just because someone is a Republican or Democrat doesn't mean they're good. Take this election cycle for example. Neither are examples of Christian conduct in my opinion and I wouldn't want to vote for either.

It's like being asked if we'd like our arm broken or our leg. Neither options are pleasant and I can't imagine being joyous about either request.

I don't believe it's a sin to note vote. At least not when both options are bad.

Trump is the most nationalistic candidate that we've had since Reagan. It's about time, given the globalist Bushes, Clinton, and Obama have about destroyed us as a nation.

I don't like some of the things that Trump has said, but he has a lot of good policy positions that people have been craving for many years.

Hillary is a much worse choice than Trump.

 

[Albion]

One thing that always strikes me is that all it takes is for a candidate to say he would try to have the laws of our country enforced, the Constitution abided by, and international matters not be conducted to the disadvantage of the USA...and he's made out to be xenophobic, a nationalist, an authoritarian, reminiscent of Hitler and Mussolini, and a racist.

In reality, those positions would have been considered Centrist and quite conventional by both Democrats and Republicans only one generation ago. Now, to loath your country and everything that it has ever done is said to be mainstream or moderate.

 

[createdtoworship]

Voting is not mentioned in the Bible. It is probably easier to err by voting than by not.

neither is drinking a soda, or eating pizza, or watching TV, or owning a car, or surfing the NET.

post is completely arbitrary.

 

[createdtoworship]

I agree, but even going in that direction one need not vote in every single race. When it comes to President one could choose to vote for a minor party candidate or not at all while voting for other offices and propositions.

Not voting sends a message that the person is simply lazy or does not care, going to vote and not voting for just one office says the choices for that office are all bad.

please see my last post, this idea is totally arbitrary.

 

[createdtoworship]

There is a thing called third party you know. Vote with your conscience and you conventions.
Evil triumphs when good man do nothing.
By doing nothing, you let evil triumphs.

you can split votes that's fine.

but if taking away votes will cause a greater heathen to take office, then your vote is worthless.

 

[createdtoworship]

How is that established? Not from the Bible, I think.

how is it established that it's evil?

answer that question, then we can discuss this question.

 

[createdtoworship]

Math..?Is it? Or is it just distraction?I'm not a fan of cut and paste.
We haven't established voting is good either.
Moreover, it is of the world, not of God.

"Good"
God is good, Love is good.
The Law of Christ is Agape.

Evil people take office because we let them.

how is this hard to understand?

 

[bhsmte]

Evil people take office because we let them.

how is this hard to understand?

Do you solely get to determine who is evil?

 

[createdtoworship]

Mark Twain is said to have said:
"If voting made any difference they wouldn't let us do it."

Politicians are known for not keeping their promises too.

what they don't let us do it contribute more than a few thousand to an election, unless it's a super pac.

so they are limiting donations to the masses.

which is good and bad,

if the masses are evil, then the votes are likewise evil.

and an evil ruler reigns.

 

[createdtoworship]

I don't consider not voting to be a sin, but OTOH, if you don't vote, you are implicitly saying that you're OK with whoever wins. Unfortunately, a lot of people don't vote and then act outraged at what happens.

Good post.

so you agree that Voting is good.

so the not doing it would be sin....

agreed?

 

[aieyiamfu]

neither is drinking a soda, or eating pizza, or watching TV, or owning a car, or surfing the NET.

post is completely arbitrary.

Nothing arbitrary about it, it was a relevant reply to the thread. The things you mentioned however....

 

[aieyiamfu]

what they don't let us do it contribute more than a few thousand to an election, unless it's a super pac.

so they are limiting donations to the masses.

which is good and bad,

if the masses are evil, then the votes are likewise evil.

and an evil ruler reigns.

Weather you vote or not an evil ruler will reign, everybody running is evil, with that mentality by voting you ally yourself with evil.

 

[Albion]

Good post.

so you agree that Voting is good.

so the not doing it would be sin....

agreed?

That doesn't even make sense, gradyll. If something is good, that doesn't make NOT doing it be evil. If pruning my flowers is good for various reasons, that doesn't necessarily mean that leaving them alone is a sin.

 

[Robert Palase]

Weather you vote or not an evil ruler will reign, everybody running is evil, with that mentality by voting you ally yourself with evil.

That's a crock, if you feel like that then don't vote, the only one who will know you didn't vote will be you.

 

[essentialsaltes]

how is it established that it's evil?

answer that question, then we can discuss this question.

I dunno that it establishes that it's evil. The whole concept of democracy and voting was just foreign to the writers of the Bible. It pretty much assumes people will be ruled by Kings or Emperors.

1 Peter 2
Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, 14 or to governors, who are sent by him ...

Nothing about picking your own governors, or submitting to the emperor of your own choice.

So are you using your human system of morality to determine that voting is good?

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

...

.......
if the masses are evil, then the votes are likewise evil.and an evil ruler reigns.

There - you do understand after all !

Weather you vote or not an evil ruler will reign, everybody running is evil, with that mentality by voting you ally yourself with evil.

Yes. Confirmed in Scripture. If you support a corrupt system..... .... if you trust the flesh ..... and so on.....

So are you using your human system of morality to determine that voting is good?

That's how it started, yes.
That's how they keep it going too, yes.

 

[aieyiamfu]

That's a crock, if you feel like that then don't vote, the only one who will know you didn't vote will be you.

I do not understand the relevance of that to my comment.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

I do not understand the relevance of that to my comment.

From what I've seen all my life, and here, people vote because of some social admiration attached to the supposed moral superiority that society falsely attaches to voting.
To them then, in that case,
they are actually ashamed if people find out that they didn't vote,
and
hence may project that same feeling of shame on others who know better
if those 'others' don't vote.
Kind of like feeling embarrassed for someone else on stage if they stumble.