WWJD?

The BYU NewsNet published a fairly decent profile of Bennion Spencer on Friday. However, Spencer managed to shoot himself in the foot again with this ill-chosen comment.

Spencer said his solutions to contemporary issues are drawn from the teachings of Christ.

"For example, the beatitudes clearly tell us that we should have universal health care," he said

Now I have to admit my first reaction to that comment was pure snark. It was just too easy. After all there is nothing in Matthew 5 that says "blessed are those who are sick for they will have health care". Every condition that Matthew mentions in verses 3 thru 12 are spiritual conditions not physical ones...being poor in spirit for example. Matthew is Jesus' instruction to man on how to live a spiritual life in the world - in other words the ultimate WWJD moment. However, I realized that a snarky answer, while by far the easiest one, was the least productive one. Then I got a link to this column.

For most of America’s history there’s been a direct connection between patriotism and faith, probably because the US was founded as a Christian nation. We’ve always believed that God has watched over us, made us prosperous, and been on our side in the wars we’ve fought.

That connection began to unravel in the 1960’s, but it’s surprising the number of people who still believe that if seems to be good for the country, it must be right. This is true even among believers. According to recent Barna polls, 48% of those likely to vote in the coming election are born again Christians. That means they claim to have made a personal commitment to Jesus and believe they will go to heaven because they have confessed their sins and accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior. These same polls show that nearly half of them will vote for the candidate they think has the best plan for restoring America’s reputation in the world and managing the economic battles that lie ahead, rather than the one who they think will best uphold the Biblical principles they believe. So if only half the voters are believers, and half of them plan to use worldly standards in making their choice rather than Biblical ones, it follows that only 1 in every 4 voters will be exercising any spiritual discernment at all in casting their vote.

The other 3 are using standards like peace, financial security, tolerance, choice, and so on as their guidelines. They don’t realize that only God can restore peace and security to their lives, and tolerance and choice are just nice sounding words that really stand for rebellion against Him. By not considering His standards in casting their vote, they’re guaranteeing that He won’t be helping them get what they want.

The column starts with a quote from Isaiah 65:11-12 which is a good starting point. Our pastor this morning made a passing comment about the election by saying that Christians need to vote our world view. A Christian who lives (and votes) their world view should take several things into account but the most important would have to be putting the well being of the defenseless and voiceless (Pr. 31:8) ahead of their own well being. The ultimate in defenseless and voiceless would have to be the unborn. The poor fall into that category as well, but we have to take the actions of those who find themselves in dire straits. If that person is destitute because of poor lifestyle choices (using welfare checks to buy flat screen televisions or alcohol instead of food or health insurance) we can and should try to help them by helping them make good lifestyle choices. - not continue to subsidize poor choices. If we attempt to shield them from the consequences of their actions we are actually causing more harm than we are doing good. However, the unborn child has no voice and is not in a position to act in any manner - for good or for ill. For that reason alone, I find it hard to understand how ANY Christian can vote for a candidate that actively advocates the killing of those who are the most vulnerable and defenseless.

Caring for the poor needs to be done, I agree with Mr. Spencer there. However, we do not want to confuse caring for coveting. Caring involves giving from the heart. Coveting what the "rich" have and demanding that the rich "share the wealth" is not a "Christian world view". It is in direct conflict with the 10th Commandment - Thou shall not covet your neighbors house, wife or property! One thing that people forget is the three basic "rights" in the Constitution....the rights to LIFE, liberty and the PURSUIT of happiness. Happiness is not guaranteed - unlike the right to be born.....

The bottom line here is that Christians need to make sure that they do take their world view into account when they go into the voting booth on Tuesday. It is one of the most important things that we take into the voting booth and it is the one that Christians seem to ignore the most.