What do you think when you hear that a pastor does not vote?
I am not talking about the extreme of telling his congregation who to vote for. I am not even talking about the pastor talking about faith and politics or cultural issues.
I am saying that my pastor hates politics and probably does not even vote. I have some really bad feelings about it. Yes, politicians are corrupt. Yes, no politician is perfect or represents Christ.
But to not even vote? Not to mention, along with this, that he never really brings up cultural issues to the pulpit. I guess he thinks that he is there to preach the Gospel and that is all.
Again, I have very mixed feelings about this. I like him as a person. I think he preaches well sometimes. He just is missing some things I don't think a pastor should be missing.
I'm with you on this All Becomes New, but with some explanation warranted.
I frequently find educated people, including my own family members, who never vote, generally offering two excuses: either they don't care or they claim that all politicians are crooked.
First, I think anyone who cares about others should care about what's going on in the world around them, be it their community, city, state, country, or world. As a Christian who's commanded to love others, we need to care, and that means voting for godly leaders and laws that affect the lives of people and society at large.
To suggest as some do, that Christians are not to get involved in politics or cultural battles because it's not our job to confront worldly issues is not only unbiblical, but immoral in my view. Should I not intervene if I see a child being kidnapped, an elderly person being mugged, or a lady being raped in my presence? Should I not raise my hand to vote yay or nay on killing innocent unborn babies, undermining school childrens' gender identities, or funding public library transvestite shows for kids? How about having a say in whether school children are taught Biblical creation or secular evolution? The issues are never ending and they're shaped entirely by peoples' voting. Should we then have only secular people vote since Christians should only be concerned about heavenly things? Given that view, we would have lost America's Christian heritage long ago and be headed even faster to a Deadwood movie or communist society. God forbid we reject the Christian beliefs and Biblical moral values that our Founding Fathers Providentially established for us. To not vote against the secular forces encroaching constantly upon our nation is to side with Satan, and to not vote for those representatives and laws that best serve a godly society is to do the same. It's an indefensible position.
Second, no matter how bad one politician is, I never find them being equally bad in the same ways. I think Trump vs Clinton demonstrated this well in 2016, with each having their serious flaws but equally valued plusses. Thus, we choose the candidates that best represent our values, even if they are lacking in character.
Given this, that every Christian should vote on social issues that affect the lives of people, should a pastor vote? Obviously yes - because he should care about others as God commands, and even more so, set an example to his congregation. Should a pastor preach on political and cultural issues? I think so, because the track record of Christian and Catholic voting suggests that it's badly needed. Unfortunately, few have the courage to speak out over controversial issues that cause divisiveness or may offend some people. Such is the reality of our relativist, politically correct, social culture today, even within the church.
