The following is guest post written by my wife Bethany:
In spite of my husband’s valiant attempt to get an answer to this question via Facebook, other than the vague “I think he will do a better job than McCain” or the ever popular redirection “Can you biblically defend voting for McCain?”, we still haven’t gotten a real answer. So I am now going to propose some theoretical answers, since it looks like I’ll have to guess.
Proposed Reason #1: “Obama wants to help the poor, the Republicans aren’t for the poor.”
First of all this is an ignorant comment. I don’t think any person with a heart is “against the poor.” The difference is how they go about it. Democrats see helping the poor as the responsibility of government, therefore they take your tax dollars to do so. Unfortunately, government programs are notoriously inefficient. If government were a corporation, it would have declared bankruptcy years ago. Obama has wonderful plans for new programs, but it will involve trillions of dollars in new spending that comes from … taxes. (And before you protest, if you are going to say that the money doesn’t come from taxes I would love to hear you explain where it does come from). I believe that helping the poor is the responsibility of the church, and that by voting politicians into office who promise to do it for us, we are giving ourselves a cop-out and abdicating our duties as Christians. That having been said, Republicans and John McCain also have plans to help the poor. They involve trying to create jobs, and allowing low and middle income parents more choices about where they can send their children to school. This is giving power to people to help themselves, not sucking them into a system whereby they become dependent on the government. The difference is that Republicans believe in funding the private sector and nonprofits to do the work, rather than using inefficient government programs. I would rather give my money to charities that I know do good work and whose yearly financial reports are available to the public. That way I can take personal responsibility. But for the government to take 20 (or 40, or 60%) of my paycheck and say they are using it to “help the poor” doesn’t seem equitable or efficient. I don’t know where the money is going, what it is being used for, or if any positive results are being produced. Unfortunately, Democrat policies to “help the poor” seem to produce the opposite. We now have generations of people living on welfare. The purpose of helping the poor is supposed to be that eventually they won’t have to be poor anymore, not that they will stay poor, and so will their children as long as we keep handing them their government checks every month. So while I understand the Christian desire to “Help the poor” I think that you are sadly mistaken if you believe that Obama’s grandiose polices to solve poverty in America are going to fix everything. If anything his ideas of “robbing the rich and giving to the poor” may have dangerous economic consequences, including failure of businesses, loss of jobs, lack of new jobs, less charitable giving (like it or not, most charities are funded by big ticket givers who make more than the infamous $250,000) and more people on the welfare roles.
Proposed Reason #2: “I’m against the war in Iraq.”
Great, congratulations. But that doesn’t have that much to do with Obama. He wasn’t in the Senate when the initial approval was given for President Bush to take our forces into Iraq. So he can tell us what he would do, but we don’t really know, because it’s not the same to look back now and say “I wouldn’t have supported the war.” Hindsight is 20/20. Both Obama and McCain say they will bring the troops home when Iraq is adequately stabilized. And you can quibble over what that means, but like it or not, we are there now. To leave the area without the country being more secure than when we entered would be irresponsible.
Proposed Reason #3: “I don’t like President Bush.”
Again, great, congratulations, but he’s not running. Don’t simply judge John McCain by the “Bush standard.” Do the research for yourself, find out what he actually stands for, don’t just assume that they are both the same. If after you have thoroughly researched all of the positions on both sides and you still like Obama better, then you probably fall into one of my other categories of reason. But don’t let your dislike for a second term sitting president keep you from making an informed decision in this election.
Proposed Reason #4: “I think that it’s important that a black man become president.”
Yes, I know, it sounds like a silly reason to me too. But seriously, there are Christians who feel that having a black president would provide some kind of symbolic reparation for slavery and assuage their guilt that Christians in the south participated in it. While I disagree with this, I can understand the desire. But I would argue that having a black man as president (or a black woman for that matter) is not as important as having the right man as president. There are several qualified black leaders who I would have been pleased to vote for as president. (We can debate whether or not Obama is qualified at another time.) Unfortunately, Barack Obama is not among them. I cannot vote for a man simply because of the color of his skin. Nor can I not vote for a man because of the color of his skin. As historic as the event would be, to vote for someone only because of his or her race, without considering their policies and experience would be foolhardy at best, racist at worst. So while I know Christians who hold this view are well-meaning, I think they may have missed the point.
Lastly . . .
Proposed Reason #5: “I think that Barack Obama is the only person who can bring the country together and fix our problems. He’s a great speaker and he gives me hope.”
I would like to believe that no Christian’s decision is this shallow, but I know that Christians are human like everyone else, which means we can be influenced. When you have pretty much every news channel and website promoting Obama like he’s the reincarnation of the Messiah, it can be hard to separate ourselves from that and think logically. Sometimes it’s easier to do what we think everyone else is doing (notice I said what we THINK everyone else is doing. Never forget that almost no media outlet is giving you an unbiased version of any event). But we need to be willing to do the extra work to actually learn about the person we cast our votes for. As far as Barack Obama being a good speaker, this is not a reason to vote any man, no matter what he thinks, into office. Hitler was a good public speaker. I’ve read that Nero and several of the other rulers of Rome were as well. Crowds cheered at the words of Mussolini and Stalin. But that doesn’t make them good men or good leaders. Keep that in mind.
However, as a Christian I am in a unique position, one that I thought, until recently, was shared by other Christians. I already know the Messiah, his name is Jesus Christ. He is the one I depend on, not my government, regardless of who is in power. My family and I have been in difficult financial circumstances before, and I’m sure that we will be again. But NEVER have I seen the government as the source of my help. The church, perhaps. Jesus Christ, always. So regardless of who you decide to vote for, try to keep that in mind. Our problems are not going to be fixed by the government no matter how well managed that government is. All big changes in life require a change of heart, something no politician can provide us. Jesus is our only source of hope. Preach his words, not those of Barack Obama (or John McCain). The only banner we should be able to completely unite under should be that of Christ. I will vote for John McCain. But he is just a man. I believe he is a good man in many ways, in others I think he is flawed and has failings. I think he will be a good leader in many ways, in others I think he will be mistaken and make errors in judgment. But he is not, nor could he ever come close to being, my Savior. That role belongs to Jesus Christ alone. I think what I find most disturbing about the explanations I hear of support for Obama is how people cling to him as the only hope for our nation. JESUS IS THE ONLY HOPE! That doesn’t change, not matter how good things are, how bad things get or what political party is in charge. If you decide to support Barack Obama, I disagree with you. But, we are blessed to live in a nation where we are allowed to have our own opinions and vote based on those opinions. And in four years we get to vote again. However, I will ask you to try and keep perspective. If you want to change to world, try doing it with the love of Jesus to your neighbor rather than just in a voting booth. If each of us would take seriously our biblical mandates as individuals we would make a much larger impact than the government could or should anyway.
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Try tithing. I know this idea has fallen out of favor and some even call it controversial, but I read a statistic recently that if all Christians tithed (which for those Christians who are unfamiliar with the concept, tithing is giving 10% of your income to God’s service via the church you attend), there would be enough money to end world poverty. Not that I feel that unrestricted monetary handouts are the best way to end world poverty, but that concept is staggering. First of all, the bible commands us to. Second of all, the church is the tool God designed to care for the poor and the hurting. If the church were properly funded, if only with every Christian’s tithe, our potential to help humanity and spread the gospel with actions and not just words, would be amazing. And that’s not even including the alms and love offerings given above and beyond tithes.
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Pray for our leaders, regardless of whether you like them or not. I know this can be difficult. But believe God can soften even the hardest heart and the Holy Spirit can influence even the most jaded politician. So pray that God will touch the heart of whomever our next president is, and help him to use his influence for good.
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Get involved in your own communities. Give to charities, or volunteer. Run for school board or the local city council. Do something, don’t just wish that someone else would.
Regardless of who you choose to vote for, no vote cast for any candidate abdicates you of your Christian responsibilities. How you choose to fulfill those responsibilites is up to you.
Verse of the Day
