Value Voting 2012

“God, give Your justice to the king and Your righteousness to the king’s son. He will judge Your people with righteousness and Your afflicted ones with justice. May the mountains bring prosperity to the people, and the hills, righteousness.  May he vindicate the afflicted among the people, help the poor, and crush the oppressor.” Psalms 72:1-4

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise Wisdom and instruction.” Proverbs 1:7

   What is values-based voting?  Values-based voting is simply choosing which issues, or concerns, you care the most about and voting on a candidate based on those issues.  A voter choosing this method of voting stands in direct contrast to party-based voting, or name-based voting which involve no work.   Sometimes it may take a lot of work in order to find differences between the candidates, but in this presidential election that is not the case. On most of the issues there are no similarities in the approach of the two candidates; they are standing as far apart as possible.  A line from President Obama’s acceptance speech explains our situation well, “On every issue, the choice you face won’t just be between two candidates or two parties. It will be a choice between two different paths for America. A choice between two fundamentally different visions for the future.”

   As Christians it is our responsibility as the salt of the world, to choose leaders who hold our views and values.  For a Christian to not vote is a failure to accept their responsibility to choose Godly Leaders.  Please search in your Bible and find out what God has to say, and then choose the candidate which most clearly follows those values.  The issues which are most a matter of conscience, morals, and religion are probably a definition of marriage, homosexuality, and abortion.  While some issues surrounding hate crimes, and equality have moral decisions also.  You can examine the party platforms/positions at their websites.    

   Do not take your opportunity to vote lightly.  Examine the issues, pray for direction, and read the Bible to see what it says on the issues.  For a prayer guide you can download, “40/40 prayer vigil for Spiritual Revival and National Renewal” from the SBC’s Ethics & Religious Liberties Commission website (http://erlc.com/) .  There are other resources available on the site also.  (The ERLC is the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention.)  We do not live in the days of the Davidic Covenant, where God blessed the nation if it had a Godly leader, but our president certainly influences the direction of the nation and its laws and policies.  Let’s seek to have a God fearing leader.