How to Vote

Big mid-term election this coming week and I wanted to write a series of posts about politics, but this pneumonia has drained me. So time is short and I thought I should just tell people how to vote so that we get the right people in office.

First, I'm assuming you'll vote. I'm not feeling well enough to make a sustained argument for anything right now, but at Five Oaks we talk all the time about bringing Christ to every arena of life. Society is one of those arenas. Voting is one of the basic ways followers of Christ bring him into everyday life in a democracy. I hear all the reasons some people want to sit out this one (or any other election) and frankly their reasons betray ignorance. Ignorance of how our government works and ignorance about the true impact government can have on our society. In a nutshell, you'll never get most of what you want from your politicians (that's just not how it works) and your politicians are not saviors. So if you've considered sitting this one out, get a civics education, read your Bible and get your sorry behind to the booth.

With that out of the way, let me just cut to the chase and tell you how to vote next week.

• Get informed on the issues.
• Get informed on the candidates.
• Grow in a knowledge of God and allow his Word to shape your world-view more and more as you grow in your faith.
• Bring biblical values to the voting booth. Everyone else is going to vote their values, so you should too. 

That's it. That's how to vote. I'm Henry Williams, and I approved this message.

Comments

[David Gafford]

Henry, do you have any good suggestions on where we might find a good information source on the positions of the candidates for this upcoming election? Being new to the area, i'm not sure where to get my info...and there might be a few others out there with the same question. How do we get informed?

By the way, i'm thrilled that you approved that message. So many times I ask myself, "Who approved that?" It keeps me up at night.

[Henry]

David: Great question, but I'm afraid I can't help you. I don't know what voter's guides cover the broadest range of issues and are truly non-partisan. I'm sure there are some out there, but most that I've seen have a particular and somewhat narrow agenda that aligns with the Democratic or Republican party platforms. Nothing wrong with that, per se. But I'd rather not promote any of these particular party platforms in my position as a pastor. As an individual citizen, that's another matter.