GUIDELINES FOR YOUR VOTE – VOTE PRINCIPLES, PLATFORMS, NOT PEOPLE

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Many of you have asked for “guidelines for your vote” as two-kingdom, American citizens. Here are some reflections in that regard. As Christians, it is vital that we VOTE, but more importantly, we need to know what principles determine our vote. Biblically, there is a necessary differentiation between the work of the State and the work of the Church. Simply stated, the Church (and all “free-association societies) is the benevolence/benevolencing institution. The State is the coercive, law/order institution.

America is one country that has uniquely differentiated the Church and the State by limiting the State’s coercive power while protecting the freedoms of American citizens who were to be “religiously (faith) motivated, morally directed (see 10 commandments), and self-governing citizens” in virtuous pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness. That’s American citizenship. That’s why it is so unique among the governments of the world. In America, the government’s role is not to be the all-encompassing agent in/of our lives , but to undergird one’s God-given freedom so that we can be the morally accountable agents—faithful to God’s moral ordering of the world, free from government coercion or intimidation to the contrary—again, in virtuous pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness for ourselves and for the ones we love. My vote, then, will seek to affirm that limited view of government (Give to Caesar what is Caesars per Matthew 22) and that view of self-governing, biblically-moral directed citizenship that depends on faith, family, and Church for flourishing personally and communally.

To exercise one’s franchise well this year, I believe, one must ask this most basic question sincerely, “Should the government even be doing this or that?” Lost in all the rhetoric, PR, and name-calling is the question of whether government should be involved in marriage, whether government can replace fathers in the home, whether government has the right to determine/enforce definitions of “male” and “female,” whether government should ever sanction the taking of innocent life (abortion, infanticide, euthanasia), whether government should “take care of citizens who can take care of themselves,” whether government should determine curricula for all of education or just be limited to civics, whether government should create agencies that meddle in virtually every aspect of life or not. In 2024, I believe that the most important thing demanded of our vote, first and foremost, is the proper “role of government” in our lives, which is to “bear the sword against evil doers.” One party not only seeks to mitigate that notion by policy, but also sees government as the “secular” solution virtually to every other problem (equity for all) , while the other platform sees the government’s role more traditionally as the agent of law and order and as less intrusive, limited in its scope, undergirding equality before the law (equal access). Citizens need to look closely at the actions, the platforms, and the policies of each party with regard to the role of the state in our lives, not the rhetoric, attacks, or narratives.

Therefore, I believe that the Christian citizen should desire politicians and policies that properly differentiate the role of the State and the Church in our lives:

• favoring the limitation government’s coercive involvement in our lives to a clearly defined, healthy minimum (Matthew 22: “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”)

• favoring and promoting the sanctity and protection of innocent human life from conception to natural birth (The Fifth Commandment: “You should not murder.”)

• favoring also the fundamental authority of parents with their children in education (The Fourth Commandment: “Honor your father and your mother” [Ephesians 6:4ff].)

• incentivizing the institutional nature of marriage between one woman and one man for life and its necessary blessing for the culture (The Fourth Commandment: “Honor your father and your mother;” The Sixth Commandment: “You should not commit adultery.”)

• promoting law/order for all with equal justice under the law for safe committees for all; promoting property rights and self-defense for people who wish to create homes of safety, peace, and prosperity for one’s children and one’s neighborhoods (Romans 13: the main, limited role of government in our lives; the Seventh Commandment: “You shall not steal.”).

Christians vote for policies and platforms that honor the commands of the Scripture and the Scripture’s delineation and limitation of the role of government in our lives, freeing believers then to rise to the occasion of benevolently loving our neighbors in spirit and in truth, caring for those whom God brings into our lives, not as a government program but as a healthy relationship, a personal ministry or a broader ministry of our Church family.

Some things that I’ll be looking for in a candidate and their policies then….

• I am voting for strengthening Constitutional government and those who uphold it—PROTECTS RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.

• I am voting for the freedom to worship and those who honor the essentialness of the Church in the culture—BECAUSE IT IS OUR FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHT AND RESPONSIBILITY.

• I am voting for a Supreme Court that applies the Constitution in its original intent, rather than legislating from the bench—AGAIN PROTECTS OUR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS BEFORE THE LAW EQUALLY. FUNDAMENTAL TRUTHS NEVER CHANGE.

• I am voting for the sanctity of life from conception to birth and after. LIFE IS THE WHOLE POINT OF ALL OF THIS WHEN IT COMES RIGHT DOWN TO IT.

• I am voting for my children and grandchildren to be able to choose their own path in life, including how and where their children are educated.—PARENTAL AUTHORITY (FOURTH COMMANDMENT), PARENTAL CHOICE, EDUCATIONAL FREEDOM FOR ALL.

• I am voting for those who give the Church and its people the religious freedom and legal protection to honor the biblical view of sexual identity and practice, and the biblical view of marriage in teaching, preaching, and modeling for life—RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.

• I am voting for a strong and viable military as an essential role of the government to protect its citizenship from enemies foreign and domestic—ROMANS 13 DESCRIBES THE MAIN ROLE OF GOVERNMENT.

• I am voting for our borders to be open to everyone who enters under our rules of law and closed to everyone who would circumvent or ignore the law—LAW AND ORDER IN THE COUNTRY, MAIN PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT.

• I am voting to teach history, with all of its warts, not erase it or revise it—TRUTH, CONTEXT, SPEAK THE TRUTH IN LOVE.

• I am voting for those who know the essential role that biblical principles and the Judeo/Christian worldview played in our founding . . . especially the Founders’ awareness of the total depravity of humanity that led to the wisdom of limiting government and setting the individual, motivated and directed by his or her faith, to be free in community for others—WHAT MAKES AMERICA UNIQUE, TO BE CHERISHED.

Finally, in this election cycle, there is one thing that I am surely voting against. Amidst all the talk of “Christian Nationalism,” there is a movement that is truly bewitching the Church. It is the notion of a “benevolent, statist” government as a “Christian thing” for which to vote. While conservative Christians argue for the moral purposes and limitations of government, progressive Christians and politicians have literally identified the Gospel with politics and policy. Therefore,

• I am voting against socialism and statism in all of its forms (especially noting its propensity towards secularism and even atheism) BECAUSE, IN PRINCIPLE, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A BENEVOLENT, COERCIVE STATE. There are benevolent people, benevolent societies, benevolent churches . . . never benevolent, taxing, arresting, right-trampling governmental organizations.

As Americans, we’ve lived in freedom so long that we’ve forgotten that freedom can be lost very quickly and not easily reclaimed. Books like Live not by Lies, warn of the “secular-statist” future that contradicts the present day benevolence political rhetoric. A recent article states this even more succinctly. Yoe Suarez, a political exile from Cuba writes in his article, “Cuba’s Corrupt Twist of Christianity,” saying:

Christians are called to be the conscience of their time, to bring eternal principles to society where a republic can be built. So, if a regime wants to undermine a strong republic, it must undermine those who are willing to sustain it. The regime needs to conflate spiritual joy with political joy(emphasis mine). By subverting the position of those who believe in justice and free elections, the regime achieves political power by eroding the social fabric.

Sharing the same faith is the glue that keeps society cohesive. ……Therefore, what totalitarianism has proposed substitutes for these elements (of faith). For God, the state; for the messiah, the leader; for faith, ideology; for the community, mass organizations; for rituals, acts of revolutionary reaffirmation…….Totalitarianism is a twist of Christianity, a corrupt and worldly copy that seeks power for men.

In the seven years that I’ve been in Washington, I have witnessed one party seeking government solutions for virtually every issue, weaponizing political issues, politicizing conscience issues, demonizing dissent, especially dissent from the Church. The other party often rightly stands against such things, though, at times too sheepishly and tepidly. Such is the political context for our vote.

SUMMARY – What principles will guide my vote? Principles that are Pro-life, Pro-Institution of marriage, Pro-educational choice, Pro-religious liberty, Pro-limited government, Pro-originalist justices to maintain the proper balance of power between the executive, judicial, and legislative branches. Why? So that we can live in peace and proclaim the Gospel/the whole counsel of God without government fear or coercion to the contrary . . . SO THAT ALL MIGHT HEAR AND COME TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH, SALVATION IN CHRIST ALONE!

HEAR AND COME TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH, SALVATION IN CHRIST ALONE!

The Rev. Dr. Gregory Seltz is the executive director of the Lutheran Center for Religious Liberty.

In Matthew 22, Jesus differentiates our allegiance to the “things of Caesar” as distinct from our allegiance to God. Romans 13 clarifies the limited role of the realm of Caesar to the punishment of overt evildoers with biblical morality, especially as stated in the 10 commandments, as the curbing, authoritative use of any just law. The Bible teaches that such standards are universal to Caesar, to citizens, to all people (see Romans 2:13-15’s discussion of conscience). In America, the constitutional limitation of government made citizens the “Caesar” of their own lives. Therefore, God has preserving work for “Caesar” to do, even if it is not “salvation work,” which is morally directed by and held accountable to His Ten Commandments.

And, one needs to note, that the founders were keenly aware that such virtue was related to the limiting and direction authority of religion and morality, especially the morality of the Bible. John Adams reflected this view of the founders when he wrote in a letter to his wife, Abigail, January 27, 1795, “Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other”. That morality was not some generic morality, but one founded on the biblical worldview and natural law.

The Founders also believed in another biblical teaching, namely, the sinfulness of humanity. In Federalist LI, James Madison reminds us that government is needed because of this when he says, “But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary.” But, the rest of the American experiment then severely limits government because of that same teaching because tyranny is best averted when power is diffused through as many (sinful) people as possible, with religion and freedom the correctors and motivators of the American populace, not the heavy hand of government.

The notion that the government “grants” the right of marriage to men and women, therefore, it must be extended to all people…such an argument is fallacious, since the government doesn’t “grant rights” in the first place. In the constitutional relationship of government to the relationship of a man and a woman, the government has seen fit to “limit the rights of men and women,” demanding that they sign a contract called marriage. Why? Because that relationship is the only one that inherently can have “new” citizens by their union, and, for the sake of peace and tranquility, the government doesn’t want to raise those children. So, the question should be, “What’s the government’s correct, limited role in marriage . . . Not, government should grant the right of marriage to all?”

See Romans 13:4, 1 Peter 2:14

It should be noted that this view of government is an extension of the Marxist view of government that contradicts founding principles such as the inherent dignity of all people, the sinful depravity of all people, the notion that our unalienable rights come from God and not from the State, the right to bear arms, to own property, and the ultimate notion that the America constitution was indeed created for a moral and religious people. As John Adams wrote, on October 11, 1798, to the Massachusetts Militia, “Because We have no Government armed with Power capable of contending with human Passions unbridled by morality and Religion. Avarice, Ambition, Revenge or Gallantry, would break the strongest Cords of our Constitution as a Whale goes through a Net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

Not only does Jesus argue against this, differentiating the saving work of the Church (the singular voice of the Gospel) from the State, Christians misread and wrongfully conflate Matthew 25’s moral call to “do to the least of these my brethren,” and Acts 4’s early Church practice of “having all in common” with the coercive power of the government, when it is clearly the moral response to one’s grace relationship to God in Jesus Christ, ALONE.

https://relevantmagazine.com/current/why-matthew-25-became-the-rallying-cry-for-christians-on-the-left/

https://www.amazon.com/Live-Not-Lies-Christian-Dissidents/dp/0593087399

https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/09/05/the-cuban-state-as-false-religion-part-1/