Okay, so here's an issue that I have been wrestling with for some time. As a Christian living in the USA, where I'm given the freedom to vote, am I under obligation to vote? Or to put it another way, is it a sin to abstain from voting in political elections?
So where did this come from? When I was in high school I was a very outspoken Republican. In fact, when I recently reconnected with an old high school "sparing" mate on Facebook, she asked if I still listened to Rush Limbaugh. As a Christian who doesn't want anything to hinder my testimony about the good news of Jesus, my response was ouch! You see in college I realized that not only aren't political issues black and white but they also unnecessarily take away from my Christian testimony. So I went from politically conservative to apathetic.
As I have thought about this issue over the years I have come to the conclusion that being a Christian isn't about being a Republican, Democrat or any other political party for that matter. Being a Christian is about having a saving relationship with Jesus Christ by grace through faith. However, this doesn't help me address the issue of how to vote.
Voting seems to come down to moral issues and the obvious number one being abortion. Should Christians be one issue voters? Aren't there other political issues that are also moral? If there are, how should these affect a Christian's vote? Is there one that trumps all the rest? If not, how do you decide when none of the few political options available uphold all the issues?
Another related question is, should you decide the same way for all elections? Should I think about my vote for president the same way as for local city council? Does it matter what views the local city council have on abortion or war?
And for that matter, should a Christian vote at all? (Now I know I am going to ruffle some feathers) If there is no candidate that completely upholds all relevant moral issues then wouldn't a vote for any candidate be sinful in that you'd be supporting some immorality?
It seems there are two Christian camps these days. On the one hand you have the pro-life camp which votes based solely on the abortion issue. On the other hand you have those who argue that there are other moral issues to consider (e.g. war, poverty and the environment).
Maybe the whole voting issue for Christian falls under the category of Christian freedom. That if it's a sin for you to vote one way or the other (or at all) then it's a sin to you (Rom 14:23).
What are you thoughts? I am eager to hear biblical wisdom on this issue. Also, if you know of resources that address these concerns I'd be interested in those as well. Thanks.
By God's Grace, Jeff
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Overdue
No I'm not talking about a library book (my wife is the town librarian so I never have to pay late fees). Rather, I'm talking about my complete lack of blog posts over the past couple weeks. I could make excuses, like that I had family in town, but it mainly boils down to not having anything pressing to blog about and not trying hard enough to come up with something.
With that said I wanted to start out this posting with the mentioning of a perculiar college sport in North Dakota: rodeo! Yes that's right, at some of the colleges in ND (and I presume in other similar states) you can actually letter in rodeo. Here I thought it was bad that I could letter in speech and debate in high school (and yes I did have a BMOC letterman jacket!). I wonder if colleges give out rodeo scholarships to promising high school seniors. It reminds me of a funny Brian Regan joke (if you've never heard him before check him out!) in which he considers if doctors ever go about procedures like rodeo cowboys. That's 4.5 seconds on the belly button tie, a new state record!
Last Friday I had my licensing council. In the Evangelical Free Church pastors are first licensed and then within a couple years go through the ordination process. I think of licensing as a probationary ordination. Basically I had to submit a 20 page paper outlining my theological agreement with the EFCA statement of faith. Then I met with two others pastors from the area who asked me questions about my paper. Although there were some areas that came up in which I could devote some more time thinking through, they approved me for licensing. So my info was forwarded on to the national office for final approval.
To round out this post I thought I'd mention a few books that I've read recently. A friend recommended the book "Moneyball" which is a look at the Oakland A's front office and especially in how their GM, Billy Bean, has developed a new way of looking at baseball that helps smaller market teams compete with the big boys. Instead of going after the free agents with tons of homeruns and runs batted in, Beane prefers guys with high on-base percentage. Instead of drafting expensive and risky high school ballplayers, Beans goes after lesser scouted college players with a high obp who he can acquire at a fraction of the price.
I also re-read John Grisham's "Playing for Pizza". It's about Italian football and in particular an aging back-up NFL QB who has one last chance for glory...playing for Parma, Italy. Of the redeeming qualities in this book is the concept of loyalty. The main character has received very little loyalty from NFL teams during his career and so while playing in Italy and an opportunity for a better position comes available, will he remain loyal or bolt for the door?
Finally, I recently picked up Collin Hansen's book "Young, Restless and Reformed." Collin was a journalism student at Northwestern and after college began working for Christianity Today. During his time at CT he wrote one of the most talked about articles in a long time on the resurgence of reformed theology among a younger generation of Christians. And no doubt because of its large success, he was asked to turn it into a book. Collin's writing has a very similar feel to Lee Strobel's journalistic writings "Case for Faith" and "Case for Christ". He does a great job painting a well-rounded picture of where this resurgence has come from and how far reaching it has gone. I find it interesting that the two major streams right now among 20-30 something Christians seem to be reformed theology and the emergent church.
Please pray for Harmony as she's at a library conference in Bismarck this week. Please pray for me to get over a cold that I've had for the last couple days before Sunday.
By God's Grace, Jeff
With that said I wanted to start out this posting with the mentioning of a perculiar college sport in North Dakota: rodeo! Yes that's right, at some of the colleges in ND (and I presume in other similar states) you can actually letter in rodeo. Here I thought it was bad that I could letter in speech and debate in high school (and yes I did have a BMOC letterman jacket!). I wonder if colleges give out rodeo scholarships to promising high school seniors. It reminds me of a funny Brian Regan joke (if you've never heard him before check him out!) in which he considers if doctors ever go about procedures like rodeo cowboys. That's 4.5 seconds on the belly button tie, a new state record!
Last Friday I had my licensing council. In the Evangelical Free Church pastors are first licensed and then within a couple years go through the ordination process. I think of licensing as a probationary ordination. Basically I had to submit a 20 page paper outlining my theological agreement with the EFCA statement of faith. Then I met with two others pastors from the area who asked me questions about my paper. Although there were some areas that came up in which I could devote some more time thinking through, they approved me for licensing. So my info was forwarded on to the national office for final approval.
To round out this post I thought I'd mention a few books that I've read recently. A friend recommended the book "Moneyball" which is a look at the Oakland A's front office and especially in how their GM, Billy Bean, has developed a new way of looking at baseball that helps smaller market teams compete with the big boys. Instead of going after the free agents with tons of homeruns and runs batted in, Beane prefers guys with high on-base percentage. Instead of drafting expensive and risky high school ballplayers, Beans goes after lesser scouted college players with a high obp who he can acquire at a fraction of the price.
I also re-read John Grisham's "Playing for Pizza". It's about Italian football and in particular an aging back-up NFL QB who has one last chance for glory...playing for Parma, Italy. Of the redeeming qualities in this book is the concept of loyalty. The main character has received very little loyalty from NFL teams during his career and so while playing in Italy and an opportunity for a better position comes available, will he remain loyal or bolt for the door?
Finally, I recently picked up Collin Hansen's book "Young, Restless and Reformed." Collin was a journalism student at Northwestern and after college began working for Christianity Today. During his time at CT he wrote one of the most talked about articles in a long time on the resurgence of reformed theology among a younger generation of Christians. And no doubt because of its large success, he was asked to turn it into a book. Collin's writing has a very similar feel to Lee Strobel's journalistic writings "Case for Faith" and "Case for Christ". He does a great job painting a well-rounded picture of where this resurgence has come from and how far reaching it has gone. I find it interesting that the two major streams right now among 20-30 something Christians seem to be reformed theology and the emergent church.
Please pray for Harmony as she's at a library conference in Bismarck this week. Please pray for me to get over a cold that I've had for the last couple days before Sunday.
By God's Grace, Jeff
God's Kingdom: Powerful, Priceless & Permanent
On Sunday I preached on Matthew 13:24-52 in which Jesus uses three pairs of parables to teach about God's kingdom. The title for the sermon is "God's kingdom: Powerful, Priceless and Permanent." If you'd like to listen to the sermon audio, click here.
By God's Grace, Jeff
By God's Grace, Jeff
What you DO with what you HEAR is what MATTERS
For some reason this sermon didn't upload the first time I tried so sorry for the delay in getting this posted on the blog. Two Sundays ago I preached on Matthew 13:1-23 and the sermon was entitled "what you do with what you hear is what matters." This is the passage where Jesus gives the parable of the sower and also explains why He teaches in parables. If you'd like to listen to the sermon you can do so by clicking here.
By God's Grace, Jeff
By God's Grace, Jeff
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Not Your Will but God's
This Sunday I preached on Matthew 12:38-50 in which a group of Pharisees and Teachers of the Law demand Jesus to perform a miraculous wonder in their presence and Jesus' family demands His attention. The title and main point of the sermon was "Not Your Will but God's". Too often we demand that our will be done instead of humbly submitting to God's perfect will for us. If you'd like to listen to the sermon in its entirety, click here.
By God's Grace, Jeff
By God's Grace, Jeff
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Words Reveal the Heart
What's the differeence between "think before you speak" and "consider what your words say about your heart?" The first line, which many of us no doubt heard numerous times from our parents growing up doesn't get at the source of our words. What we say doesn't come out of nowhere but reflects the condition of our hearts. So instead of encouraging people to repress their sinful words we should instead encourage them to think about what the words they do speak say about where they're at with God. This was the gist of my sermon this Sunday from Matthew 12:22-37 entitled "Words Reveal the Heart." If you'd like to hear more, click here.
By God's Grace, Jeff
By God's Grace, Jeff
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