People used to talk about who they would vote for.
More and more, we seem to hear about who they would not vote for.
But I have to ask, what exactly is accomplished by not voting for someone?
Let’s say we have two candidates – A and Z.
Candidate A is from the party you would normally vote for. However, Candidate A has a stance on one issue that you refuse to support.
Candidate Z is from the party you would not normally vote for. Not surprisingly, Candidate Z takes a position on many issues that are in opposition to your views.
That one issue – let’s call it Issue #7 – with Candidate A caused you to not vote for that person.
Therefore – you choose not to vote at all.
Some people think this is the only option. They can’t support someone in favor of Issue #7 – so they won’t vote at all.
But – what have you accomplished by choosing not to vote at all?
What about the very real possibility that Candidate Z wins?
This happens because you are not alone in your opposition to Issue #7.
You’ve told others not to vote for that person either.
So – not wanting to vote for Candidate Z either – they also choose not to vote.
People supporting Candidate Z have no such problems voting for that person.
They, in fact, are in total agreement with the stand that both candidates took on Issue #7.
But they also like the stand taken by Candidate Z on Issues #1-6 as well.
If you haven’t figured it out yet – you are in opposition to Candidate Z’s stand on Issues #1-6.
So – you and those like you have just essentially voted in Candidate Z – who you totally disagree with – because so many of you decided that you couldn’t vote for Candidate A because of A’s stand on one of the 7 Issues.
Again – what exactly do you think you’ve accomplished?
Especially if the Issue’s have things to do with your religious beliefs?
Is it really better that – by not voting – someone you totally disagree with wins, as opposed to someone you mostly agree with?
Any Biblical references to this dilemma?
The Old Testament
Well – let’s go back to Moses. Originally, Moses was the one and only judge – because he was the one who would determine God’s will for all the people’s disputes.
Ex 18:5 Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, together with Moses’ sons and wife, came to him in the desert, where he was camped near the mountain of God. 6 Jethro had sent word to him, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons.”
Ex 18:7 So Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him. They greeted each other and then went into the tent. 8 Moses told his father-in-law about everything the LORD had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel’s sake and about all the hardships they had met along the way and how the LORD had saved them.
Ex 18:9 Jethro was delighted to hear about all the good things the LORD had done for Israel in rescuing them from the hand of the Egyptians. 10 He said, “Praise be to the LORD, who rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and of Pharaoh, and who rescued the people from the hand of the Egyptians. 11 Now I know that the LORD is greater than all other gods, for he did this to those who had treated Israel arrogantly.” 12 Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and other sacrifices to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law in the presence of God.
Ex 18:13 The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening. 14 When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, “What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?”
Ex 18:15 Moses answered him, “Because the people come to me to seek God’s will. 16 Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God’s decrees and laws.”
Ex 18:17 Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good. 18 You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. 19 Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him. 20 Teach them the decrees and laws, and show them the way to live and the duties they are to perform. 21 But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. 22 Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. 23 If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.”
Ex 18:24 Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said. 25 He chose capable men from all Israel and made them leaders of the people, officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. 26 They served as judges for the people at all times. The difficult cases they brought to Moses, but the simple ones they decided themselves.
After the discussion with Jethro, we see that Moses appointed other judges for the simple matters.
So the people went from a man (Moses) called by God to deliver His people, as the only judge – to having multiple judges. But all of the judges were to be of a certain character –
21 But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens.
As early as Deuteronomy, we read this –
The King
Dt 17:14 When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,” 15 be sure to appoint over you the king the LORD your God chooses. He must be from among your own brothers. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not a brother Israelite. 16 The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the LORD has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.” 17 He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.
Dt 17:18 When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the priests, who are Levites. 19 It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees 20 and not consider himself better than his brothers and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.
Already, there’s notice that the people are going to ask for a king. Not their original King – God – but a human king. Because they want to be like everyone else.
But God tells them the kind of person they should have as king. Look at that list. Then look what they actually got. Then look at we we actually have.
We see the following sequence in Judges Chapter 8 –
Jdg 8:22 The Israelites said to Gideon, “Rule over us—you, your son and your grandson—because you have saved us out of the hand of Midian.”
Jdg 8:23 But Gideon told them, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The LORD will rule over you.”
What do you know. Gideon said God should rule over the people, so he refused to be their king – in favor of The King.
Without getting into the details too much – suffice it to say that there was a long history of “good” and “bad” kings.
But none would ever measure up to The King.
The King whom the people rejected.
But what of Christians?
Some Jews in the time of Jesus – as well as those who would come to be called Christians – wanted Jesus to be their king.
But Jesus wanted to be their King.
Not unlike what Gideon told them. The King should be God – not a human king.
We can see Jesus making a statement to that effect in this sequence –
Paying Taxes to Caesar
Mt 22:15 Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. 16 They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are. 17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
Mt 22:18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, “Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?”
Mt 22:21 “Caesar’s,” they replied.
Then he said to them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
Mt 22:22 When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.
But then the people would reject Jesus – just as they rejected God in the Old Testament –
Jesus Before Pilate
Mt 27:11 Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
“Yes, it is as you say,” Jesus replied.
Mt 27:12 When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. 13 Then Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?” 14 But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor.
Mt 27:15 Now it was the governor’s custom at the Feast to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. 16 At that time they had a notorious prisoner, called Barabbas. 17 So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” 18 For he knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him.
Mt 27:19 While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.”
Mt 27:20 But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.
Mt 27:21 “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor.
“Barabbas,” they answered.
Mt 27:22 “What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?” Pilate asked.
They all answered, “Crucify him!”
Mt 27:23 “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.
But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”
Mt 27:24 When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!”
Mt 27:25 All the people answered, “Let his blood be on us and on our children!”
Mt 27:26 Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.
What about Muslims?
For Muslims, their first leader was the Prophet Muhammad.
After him, there was deadly disagreement about who was to be the successor. That led to deadly disagreements between the various sects of Islam. Those deadly disagreements continue to this very day.
One thing that is different though – can be seen when Muslims live in democratic / secular countries. Originally, Islam was to be a Theocracy – where the same leader was to be head of both the religion and the political laws of government. Where Muslims reside in non-theocratic countries – there is a separation between the two. For instance – Muslims in this country can vote for their political leaders.
So where are we?
In a country where we can all vote – there is essentially freedom (to some extent) to choose both political and religious leaders.
Yes – both.
Religious leaders
We exercise our freedom to choose religious leaders by choosing where we go to church / temple / synagogue / mosque. Depending on which denomination / sect we choose to be part of – there are high level leaders of the “church” – where I define church with its original meaning as a group of people. We further choose our “local” religious leaders by choosing which individual church / temple / synagogue / mosque we attend. Not that we totally get to choose from literally anyone – but we do have some choices. And unless we do not go to church at all – we are, in essence, “voting” with our feet by attending the church of our choice.
I have to ask – how many of you chose to attend no church at all because of one person’s stand on one issue?
And if you did – do you realize that you have effectively rejected God – because of that one person’s choice?
After all – God wants us to be part of His “church”.
While we may disagree on which church is really His – I’m not aware of any church that advocates a membership limit of 1 person.
How are we to spread God’s Word – be His light on earth – tell others about His forgiveness and mercy – in a church of one?
How many of you are willing to reject God because of someone else’s stand on one issue?
Political leaders
And yet – on the political side, too many of us are willing to do exactly that.
There are certain things that all three religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – have in common. One of them is the first 5 books of the Old Testament. Regardless of the name used to identify those 5 books – they all share those very books.
And – within those books, if you remember – we read –
Ex 18:21 But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens.
Again regardless of which of the three religions we’re talking about here you choose to be a member of – This is a directive from God.
We are to do those things.
At the time it was Moses making those choices.
Now – it’s us.
God didn’t say anything along the lines of –
If you can’t find the perfect candidate, then you just won’t have a leader. And I’m OK with that.
After all – no leader is better than an imperfect leader.
No – God never said that.
In fact – God knows perfectly well that the perfect leader will never be found among humans.
In fact, four times we read verses similar to this one –
Jdg 21:25 In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.
He knows that we’ve rejected the perfect leader – Him.
But He clearly wouldn’t be happy with what happens when there’s no leader at all!
He wants us to choose the best leaders that we can – knowing full well they won’t be perfect.
In fact – if we are waiting for the Perfect Leader – we have to wait until He returns.
So I ask again –
one final time –
exactly what are you accomplishing by not voting at all, if you don’t have the perfect leader to vote for?