POLITICS AND MORALITY
A few days ago a political candidate
for president said that he was in favor of abortion being legal right up until
the time of birth. Few are they who take
such an extreme position, and it is distressing to even ponder that a person so
lacking in character might be the leader of this nation. Do not misunderstand. A unique human being begins at conception,
and a Christian ought not ever support a candidate of any political party who
is in favor of it. But even those who
support abortion “rights” are not usually favorable toward it after the child
has lived five or six months in the womb.
Consider, for
example, Elizabeth, who was pregnant with John the baptizer, when Mary came to
visit. “And it happened, when
Can a child
experience joy in the womb? So say the
Scriptures. The word in the Greek used
of the baby in the womb is the same word that Luke the physician uses for the
baby out of the womb in Luke 2: 12 and 16.
Yet some argue that a woman pregnant for six months should have the
right to destroy that sentient being within her. Who can give a human being the right to
destroy another human being—particularly one who has never committed an offense
of any kind—one who is totally innocent?
Man does not have the right to do so; a doctor does not have such a
right, either. Even the mother does not possess any authority to commit such an
atrocity. Only God could make such a
determination, and He has not done so. Any
political candidate who advocates abortion is dangerous to the well-being of
this nation.
In the Old Testament, when Rebekah
conceived, she experienced some inner turmoil; she inquired of the Lord
concerning the problem.
And the Lord said to her:
“Two nations are in your womb, Two
peoples shall be separated from your body; One people shall be stronger than
the other, and the older shall serve the younger (Gen. 25:23).
The problem she
was experiencing was that “the children struggled together within her” (v.
22). The antagonism expressed against
each other before birth represented what would later occur between the descendants
of the two nations they would head:
The word
translated “children” in this verse is the same one used for “children” out of
the womb hundreds of times in the Old Testament. In fact it is the same word used in the
oft-repeated phrase, children of
Conclusions drawn
about abortion that ignore Biblical facts such as these are either carelessly
arrived at, or those who espouse such a view do not care what the Bible
says. How could anyone calling himself a
Christian support someone for the highest office in this land who was willfully
ignorant or just plain indifferent to Biblical morality!
How greatly has
this country changed from the time of our founding fathers and the respect they
showed to-ward the Word of God? Now we
are ashamed to have the Ten Commandments on display in a courthouse, the Bible
cannot be read in public schools, and lawyers cannot cite Scriptures in a trial
for fear that the case will be thrown out.
And we call this religious liberty? How do such awful things occur?
One problem has been that Christians
often fail to vote. Some have advanced
the notion that “Christians” should have nothing to do with politics—not even
to vote. They have reasoned that politics
is a secular and nasty business that religious people should stay away
from. The idea is that we should not
sully our hands and contaminate our thoughts with such matters. Okay, this view is tempting, but what is the
upshot of it? Perhaps a significant number
of voters stay home and do not vote for the candidate who might best uphold
Christian virtues.
Another problem
involves those who do espouse New Testament Christianity and who do vote. But they help elect the man who will fight
against the pro-life position. He will
also champion the homosexual agenda. On
what basis do they support such an ignoble person? They do so because he belongs to their
favorite political party. Is it right to
place a political group above Biblical morality?
Suppose a person
were asked to make recommendations about two individuals who had applied for a
job involving competence with handling money.
One of them is foul-mouthed, takes the Lord’s name in vain, drinks
alcohol often, and gambles. The other is
a very moral person who respects the Bible and tries to live a clean life. Now the first guy described has a great
personality, and most people really like him despite some of the
drawbacks. The second individual is
rather quiet, perhaps even a little aloof.
Would it be proper for a Christian to recommend the first man, or does
he not have an obligation to see that the second one is hired?
On a grander
scale, we want someone leading the nation who will respect the Bible and
promote public morality.
Those—regardless of party—who publicly flaunt their disagreement with
Biblical values should not be given serious consideration. If those professing to be religious would
vote the Scriptures instead of the party, more decent men would be in office.
Some do not think
that the person elected president matters, but his judicial appointments shape
our country for years to come. Eisenhower,
when asked if he had any disappointments about his two terms as president, said
one of his deepest regrets was appointing Earl Warren to the Supreme
Court. It was the
Religious Quackery
Another candidate
says he is religious and has “found Jesus” even though he supports both
abortion and homosexual marriages.
Right! Who do these politicians
think they are fooling? Sadly, a
profession of faith from a politician is sometimes sufficient to garner
votes—even when it is a meaningless profession.
No one who supports abortion knows enough Bible to be anything but
dangerous; the one who sup-ports homosexual marriage must deny the plain, obvious meaning of numerous passages
of Scripture.
God created man
and woman in the beginning. Jesus makes
a point of this fact when stating that divorce is unacceptable to God (except
for fornication) (Matt. 19:3-9). The
command God gave mankind was to be fruitful and multiply, which may explain why
He did not create two men or two women.
Jude cites
The punishment
God gave to
Determining for
whom to vote is an important and sometimes complicated decision; various considerations
must be weighed. Some may be intrigued
by foreign policy, the economy, infrastructure, immigration, safety, and so
on. None of these is unimportant, but if
a candidate does not respect human life or God’s institution of marriage, he
does not need to lead this nation. When
all else is said and done, it is still true that: “Righteousness exalts a
nation, but sin is a reproach to any people” (Pr. 14:34). Those who profess Christ should exercise
their voting rights toward that end.
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