Empowering Faith-Driven Votes: Aligning Biblical Values with Civic Duty

Discover how the power of your vote can shape the future of our nation. Gain insights as we discuss the profound responsibility Christians have in political engagement, using biblical, historical, and constitutional perspectives. Learn how to discern and prioritize candidates based on key biblical principles, tackling crucial issues like religious liberty, the sanctity of life, and the family unit, all while separating personality from policy in choosing our leaders.

Unearth the biblical guidance that can inform your voting decisions, as we explore commandments and teachings that underscore the importance of capability, God-fearing nature, trustworthiness, and ethical behavior in leaders. From the significance of protecting innocent life to honoring Israel's covenant, we delve into themes that resonate with today's pressing social and political debates. By aligning our voting philosophy with biblical directives, we aim to make informed decisions that reflect both faith and values at the polls.

Engage in the crucial discussion about the impact of Christian voter turnout and the ripple effects it can have on governance and policy. Reflect on the alarming statistics showing low participation and the call to action for Christians to become active stewards in civil matters. This episode underscores that by voting our values, we not only fulfill a civic duty but also act as the "light" in societal darkness. Join us in embracing the opportunity to influence history and hear the words, "well done, good and faithful servant," as we continue to shape our nation one vote at a time.

Chapters

• 0:07 Voting Priorities in Faith and Culture
• 8:17 Biblical Guidance in Choosing Candidates
• 20:39 The Importance of Voting in America
• 26:16 Shaping History Through Voting

Transcript

Rick Green [00:00:07] Welcome to the intersection of faith and culture. The WallBuilders Show is taking on the hot topics of the day from a biblical, historical and constitutional perspective. And if you listened yesterday, we took on some of those hot topics with regard to elections and these election special programs. There's actually six of them in total, and they were actually designed as a television program. So if you want to see the video version of these, you can get that today at our website. Wallbuilders.com by ordering the thumb drive with all six of those election special episodes, be a great tool for you and your family. So check that out wallbuilders.com. I'm Rick Green, America's Constitution coach. We're going to jump right in with David and Tim Barton for this election special Episode. 

David Barton [00:00:43] Elections are a core foundation of our American government. And the early days political debates were held in theaters and lecture halls across America like this one, drawing large crowds from every corner of society. Now we engage with the candidates through TV screens and Twitter feeds, watching as the elections unfold. 

Tim Barton [00:01:01] The spotlight may be on the top contenders, but it's really about the people. Today, we're going to talk about our role and this important election process. 

David Barton [00:01:09] By understanding where elections came from and how they work. You can help determine who will be in the room when our nation's most important decisions are being made. Today's lawmakers are tomorrow's History shapers. I'm David Barton. 

Tim Barton [00:01:22] I'm Tim Barton. And this is elections. And looking at elections, one of the most obvious questions we should ask is who should I vote for? Everybody that runs for office is going to have their priorities that they promote and encourage you to vote for them based on those priorities. As Christians, we want to make sure that we're voting based on what the Bible says. But what if a candidate has a biblical position and another candidate has biblical positions? Well, then how do I know which candidate should vote for? If they're both biblical, how should we prioritize those biblical issues? And this is an interesting question as Christians, is what should be our voting priority? 

David Barton [00:02:02] Well, when you look at our voting priorities, part of it stems from our voting philosophy. So the first part of our philosophy is that God is the one who originated civil government. It is his institution. We're his stewards. There's a great parable that Jesus deals with this, and Luke, 19, or the Jesus tells the parable how the Master got a service together and says, Okay guys, I'm going to leave for a while. I'm leaving this in your hands. Shall I get back? And so he leaves. He comes back later, says, Aren't what you guys do was gone. And the first guy says, Well, master, here's what you gave me. I've multiplied it ten times. I've given ten times as much. Like, well done, good and faithful servant. The second guy comes and says, I've got five full, well done, good and faithful servant. Third one comes and says, You know, I didn't want to get involved with your stuff. I really didn't like you. I didn't think you were fair. I just I just didn't do anything with it. And the master gets really angry and says, You didn't do anything with what I left you. And it's interesting that he's the one who gets in trouble, who refused to get involved and refuse to take any stewardship. But the other part that's interesting is to the one who produced tenfold, to the one who produce five fold, Notice the reward. The master says, Well done, good and faithful servant, you've done tenfold. I'm going to make you a ruler over ten cities. The other one says, I'm going to make your ruler over five cities. my goodness. If I'm faithful to the Lord, he's going to place me in the civil government. Yes, he thinks highly of that institution. So you first have to have the attitude that I need to be involved in the civil arena because this is God's arena. I've got to be involved in this. 

Tim Barton [00:03:30] Yeah, I want in. God honors faithfulness by giving you a political position. Political office. First of all, I don't know that that's how I'd really like God to honor my faith. Well, that's right. Like maybe let's choose something else. It's just interesting that that was not viewed as a punishment that was viewed as an honor. I'm going to honor you by putting you there. And the Bible gives so many examples of the way government should operate and and how really Christians should view some of this thought and philosophy. Proverbs 1434 says that righteousness is what exalts a nation, knowing that righteousness exalts a nation. And by the way, does it as soon as reproach to any people? So having maybe leaders who promote sinful behavior that's going to be really damaging is really bad for us. But righteousness is what exalts a nation. What's interesting about righteousness is righteousness is not limited to or dictated by someone's personality. And a lot of times we think, that's not a nice person. They're not righteous. Well, except the Bible doesn't judge just based on what someone says. In fact, there's a story that Jesus told about two sides. A man had two sons and the father said, Hey, I need you to go. And I needed you to take care of this thing at home. And one son said, Father, I will do it. But he never went. One son said, Dad, I don't have time. I can't do it. But he has a conviction change of heart and decides he's going to go in. And he does. And then Jesus asked a crowd, Which one of these really did the will of the Father? And he said, Well, the one who did what he was supposed to do, notice the one who did the right thing wasn't the one who said the right thing. And this matters because it's not just what someone says. It's their policy. It's not personality, it's policy. And when we look at righteousness exalting a nation, it's just interesting. The way we view things today is we determine righteousness based on the external personality of someone, not just the policy of what they support. 

David Barton [00:05:14] Yeah, righteousness is measured in the Bible, but public policy. In other words, have you created a public policy God can bless? If it's righteous, he can bless it. The whole nation is exalted. If it's a policy he can bless, it's a policy that violates his principles. He's not going to bless it. And it doesn't matter how many times you say God bless America, he's not going to bless policies that violate his principles. And so policy, you have to measure actions. As you said, it's not words. It's not where the candidate says the right thing. What's their policy? What will their actions be? Will they create policies God can bless the how do you know what God's going to bless? It's interesting when you go back to Israel, because Israel and their history, by the time they got to Egypt, they were in slavery for hundred years. God brings them out with great power. And we know what happened with the ten plagues and ten huge miracles gets them across the Red Sea. It gets them out in the middle of the desert and there's nobody chasing them because Pharaoh has been wiped out. But he's got them out here and they've been thinking like slaves for 400 years. And he says, okay, guys, I'm going to make a nation out of you. Now, here's what you need to know. You don't have a clue how to govern. You've never done it before. You don't even know how to think about this. I'm going to tell you everything about it. And he goes there and gives some 613 laws, and those laws govern everything any nation will ever need. They govern laws on education. They govern laws on marriage and morality. There's laws. On economics. There's laws on immigration, you name it, it's all there. So, well, let me point out. 

Tim Barton [00:06:37] So that means that the Bible covers every imaginable topic we could think of the Bible covers. So if we're looking at politics and saying, well, where should I stand on these issues? Well, you know, is the Bible either has a direct command or gives direct guidance that can be applied to that issue. Every single topic you can name, you can find guidance on in the Bible. So the first thing I would take from that is the Bible does give direction Now again, with us talking about how do we how do we have righteousness in a nation? It's easier to have righteousness from having godly leaders. That would be important because hopefully godly leaders are going to promote godliness and righteousness. We want godly leaders. But how do we get godly leaders? And this is where having even the priorities of knowing what should we vote for? What should I look for in this godly leader? This is where it gets interesting to me in the Old Testament, because from the 613 commands, God then boiled down and said, There's a few priorities we need to make sure our are going to be a key focus for you of all of these commands. 

David Barton [00:07:30] Yeah. God calls Moses up on the mountain. I've given you all of these laws, all these commands, but here's my top ten. And it's interesting. Moses later describes the Ten Commandments as the tenor of God's law. And ten for me is like the backbone, the heart, the soul, the guts. In other words, of all these 613 laws, here's my top ten. So God has made ten areas a priority category. And so when you look at public policy, it can be things like environmental issues or welfare helping the poor. It can be all sorts of things. But God still said, yeah, I dealt with all that, but here's my top ten. And so when we come to voting, as important as these other issues may be to us, we got to remember what God's top ten are and vote accordingly. And he gives us great guidance in those Ten Commandments on what issues should be priority and public policy. 

Tim Barton [00:08:17] Yeah, when you look at the Ten Commandments, the first Four Commandments deal with our relationship with God, and arguably we would say that's where we kind of get the idea of religious liberty. As you go down to the next six, it's our relationship with humans. And among those in relationship with humans, one of the commands we see is you should not murder. Well, when you look at the word murder and in Hebrew, it actually talks about shedding innocent blood. This is a distinction that God wasn't always against killing. Right. God honored David for killing Goliath. That was a really good moment in David's history. But God was against shedding innocent blood is why King David got in trouble when he murdered Uriah after the affair with Bathsheba. God is always against murder. Murderers shedding innocent blood. Well, if we think about cultural application, where areas in culture today that sheds innocent blood, I think you would have to talk about abortion is being one of those primary issues because that sheds innocent blood and and knowing what the Bible says, that that God formed us in our mother's womb, that God values that life. That would be an issue that certainly would we could argue made God top ten because it's shedding innocent blood and God wants to protect life. Also in the Ten Commandments, it talks about honoring your father and mother, which gives you the idea of what a family unit should look like and and don't commit adultery because we don't want to destroy that marriage, that family unit. So God's interested in marriage. God's interested in family. God wants to protect life. God cares about religious liberty, us being able to acknowledge him. This is all just from the Ten Commandments. And so if we acknowledge that God covers a variety of issues in the Bible and he does, and God cares about many things, but he starts with a priority saying, hey, let's let's, let's look at life, let's look a religious liberty. Let's look at marriage and family. Those are things that are pretty high on God's list and. 

David Barton [00:09:49] Also high on God's list. He says In the very first covenant he makes back with Abraham. Abraham, you're going to have a nation, and whoever curses that nation, I'm going to curse whoever blessed that nation I'm going to bless. So it's really important how we deal with the nation of Israel. If we don't take the right stand on Israel, God will take the right stand with us regardless of which nation it happens to be taking the good a wrong stand. So Israel is really important. And the other thing is, when God is trying to restore Israel after they've had a real down time under King Menashe, a really, really bad king, God's talking to Isaiah and says, I'm going to restore the nation. Here's how I'm going to do it. I'm going to give you judges like you had at the beginning. I'm gonna give you attorneys like you had the first, and then you'll be called the Righteous Nation. Isaiah 1:26 So God says the righteousness of your land is determined by the type of judges you have. And if you look so many of our bad public policy issues didn't come from legislatures, they came from judges. And so if I'm looking at election, I'm going to say, okay, what kind of judges will I get from this person? Will they be Godfrey judges that will give the right decisions that God can bless. What's the position of this person on Israel? Are they for gas and what's the position of this person on religious liberties, on abortion and on marriage? Marriage is a man and a woman. Traditional sexuality. Those are in God's top issues. Now, other issues may be important to you, and that's great. But when it comes time to look at candidates, although there's a lot of issues we may care deeply about immigration or environment or welfare when it comes time to choose a candidate, remember the priorities that God himself has put on those issues and then look at the other issues below that. 

Tim Barton [00:11:18] Yeah. And when it comes to voting someone in the office, whether it's your district representative or the next president of the United States, you want to identify some key qualities in your candidate. Let's take a look at what you should consider when you choose. 

Speaker [00:11:34] What should you consider when choosing a candidate? The party. Their personality. Eloquent speeches, Great debates. Whoever has the most signs littering the lawns. Lots of people vote based on these things. But as Christians, it is our responsibility to know who we are putting into these important positions of power. Every election is a chance to choose who will frame America's present policies as well as what its futures will be. So what kind of candidate should we choose? Let's go to the Bible for guidance on this. In Exodus 1821, we're told. Select capable men from among the people, God fearing, trustworthy men who are averse to dishonest, gain, appoint them over the people as leaders. So the first qualification is that the candidate is capable. Is there a proven record of strong leadership and wise decision making? The past is usually the best indicator of how a candidate will perform in the future. The second qualification is God fearing. Ideally, we should choose a person of faith. A candidate's faith plays a big role in how he or she makes decisions on important issues, fights against injustice, and speaks up for the marginalized. So ask yourself, is God this candidate's final authority? If the candidate is God fearing and capable, then you're on the right track to choosing a good candidate. The third biblical trait is trustworthy. We want to choose someone who is honest. This should be a foundational prerequisite for every leader. Are they truthful? Can you trust their word? Then they may be the right candidate. The fourth is that they are ethical. What the Bible describes as hating, dishonest gain. You want to choose someone who will not be swayed by bribes, dirty politics, special perks or power. What are the moral principles guiding this candidate's actions? Your elected officials have thousands of choices in a given term, but you only get to choose once. So use this simple four step grid for electing good leaders and choose wisely. 

Tim Barton [00:13:28] And looking at voting priorities. We want to make sure that as we vote, we are voting based on what the Bible says. Because because everybody has the issues that they care about. We have certain little things that are that this is what matters to me. And it's great that we have issues that we care about. And probably God puts things on our heart so that their burdens us will pray for them. We can evolve to make a difference. We just want to make sure as we're choosing leaders that we're not well by our thoughts, our desires and our emotions over what the Bible says. And and the Bible is pretty clear and giving us guidance of of where righteousness comes from or maybe what the Bible says about how we prioritize the issues. It's easy for us to get caught up on what we want and sometimes miss what God might want or what the Bible says. 

David Barton [00:14:06] This a great example of this is Civil war. President Abraham Lincoln was in the White House and for him, President Lincoln makes it really clear that the Civil War was really a righteousness issue for him. He didn't see any way that God could bless slavery. And as long as we had it, he didn't think God was going to bless America. So a second inaugural that covers that and there's an account of him being in the White House with a bunch of ministers. And as he's walking to the White House, he heard some ministers talking. And one of the minister said to the other, I really hope God is on our side in the war. Lincoln heard that stopped, turn around, went back, said, not me. He says, I don't want God be on my side. I want to be on God's side. And this and that's really what we want to do when we vote. We don't want to just choose sides and say, God bless what I've chosen. We want to choose according to God's standards and God's priorities. And that really is part of our stewardship. And voting is elevating what's important to him. 

Tim Barton [00:14:53] So what should people do to actually get involved now? 

David Barton [00:14:56] Well, we've talked a lot about voting priorities, but how do you actually get involved? What practical steps can we take to make a difference to the election process? Check this out. 

Break [00:15:04]  

Speaker [00:16:08] The civil arena can be an intimidating place, but the more informed you are, the more empowered you will be to get involved. Voting is not just a right, it's a responsibility. As Christians, we are called to steward the nation God has placed us in. But stewardship starts long before you head to the polls. First, remember this. Choose principles over party. Look at what the Bible says about education, life, economics, marriage, family, immigration, religious liberty. And then choose the party and the candidates that best mirror those values principles over party. Second, it's important to support the good, quality candidates running for public office. Although the candidate who stands for godly values may often be bullied, belittled, attacked or ignored by the media. This is not an insurmountable problem. A candidate can overcome the media with a strong grass roots team lifting him up. So when you find a good candidate, get involved, offer whatever financial support you can. Volunteer some of your time, even if it's only an hour to voice and show your support for those candidates in the community. Vote at all primaries and main elections. Call or write his or her office to let them know that you support what they're doing. Unfortunately, too few Christians communicate directly with those elected to represent them. Politicians are constantly making decisions that will affect your city, state and country, and a well written letter or email can have more impact than you can imagine. Third, once you have become active as an individual, it may be time to leave community change. Yes, you gather others who believe as you do and start a local group in your community. Effective change most often comes through well-organized and well led groups that represent a body of the electorate. Finally, pray become active in praying for leaders and officials at all levels as instructed in first Timothy two verses one through four. Pray for elected officials issues, court cases and potential candidates. There is power in prayer. As a founding father, John Hancock wisely challenged Christian citizens in his day. I urge you, by all that is dear, by all that is honorable, by all that is sacred. Not only that you pray, but that you act. Do all four of these action steps and you can shape the future of your city, state and nation. It's time to put your influence to work through election season and beyond. 

Tim Barton [00:18:25] This is something that certainly the Bible gives a lot of indication about the significance of our involvement. Where we know Jesus talked off the top many parables about stewardship, where there was a master and he left and people were in charge. And stewardship is important in God's kingdom and knowing that stewardship is important. I find it interesting when Jesus said that you need to be careful what you say because you will have to account for every idle word you speak on Judgment Day. That's kind of a terrifying thought. Every idle word. I mean, we know also Proverbs says that words are many. Sin is not absent. So you want to be careful what you speak. But here's what I want to point out. If we're going to be judged for idle words, imagine how much we will be measured for our actions because of words or how important. What about our actions? And not only are our actions important, sometimes are our inactivity or lack of actions becomes equally important, because if we didn't do so that we're supposed to do, we're going to be in trouble when that time comes. And the Bible is very clear. We're supposed to be involved doing something. 

David Barton [00:19:25] Yeah, the Bible really teaches that. Well, in the book of Genesis and Genesis is the creation story. Everything begins there. And so you have the first six days of creation and you've got the line, the dog, the waters above and the waters below and the fish and the animals and everything, and the genesis to fire. The Scripture says that God looked and saw that he had no one to tend his garden. And so we see the creation of Adam. And in Genesis 215, Adam was put there to tend his garden. So why was man created to take care of God's stuff. That's why he put us here. Stewards and one of the institutions that he created, he created a government before he created the church. I mean, this is an early institution, right? Genesis nine He put us here to take care of his stuff. And that's a mandate we have, which includes and the civil right as well. 

Tim Barton [00:20:11] Yeah, it's interesting to think about that, that the reason God created man was not merely for the relationship aspect. We think so much that, well, we're just here to have relationship with God. Well, that is true. There's no doubt about it. But God didn't need just more people to sing worship to him. He had thousands or millions. Billions, I don't know, angels. There's lots of them. That's why I know there's a lot of angels. He didn't need more people to sing songs to him. But what the Bible says is he wanted somebody to take care of this incredible thing he made. And it reminds me even of what we talked about in Luke 19, where Jesus taught the parable and there was a master who left and and told all of the servants, You're in charge until I return. What's interesting, if you read the Gospels, as so often before Jesus taught a parable, he said, The kingdom of heaven is just like this. And then he tells this story of earthly relation of how things work. But he said, the kingdom of heaven is like this. If the kingdom of heaven is like the master who went out of town. And then he came back one. And said, okay, all servants, you are in charge of all that I have while you're gone. Now tell me what you did with it. That sounds like Jesus saying this is. This is what it is for us. Jesus was here. He left. One day he's going to return and we're going to have to give an account for everything we did or did not do. And one of the things that God has entrusted to us as Americans, and this is where America is unique compared to many nations of the world, is we have the ability to vote, to choose godly leaders to be a part of the process. One day we're going to have to give an account for the stewardship. And God says, What did you do with that vote I gave you? We're going to have to say, well, I voted for this guy and that might be good or might be bad, but I would be terrified to say, Well, master, I knew you were a hard man and you reap where you have and so on, and you gather what you have and scattered. So I just buried in the ground. I know what happened for that servant, and it wasn't good. And to me, that's the challenge as Christians, why we have to be involved in the process. 

David Barton [00:22:01] Yeah, we have to be involved. The objective is righteousness exalts a nation, but the only way you get righteousness and this system is by righteous policies. And the best way to get righteous policies is to elect righteous leaders. And the way you elect righteous leaders is by righteous people voting for righteous leaders who will do righteous policies that God can bless. It comes back to us more than it does our political officials. We're the stewards. 

Tim Barton [00:22:27] So looking at elections in general, there's a lot involved in the process and a lot involved when people decide they want to run for office and maybe one day God's going to lead you to get involved in the process, maybe you're going to run for office, you're going to be on the school board, you're going to be in the city council. Maybe one day you're going to be a state rep or congressman. A center president of United States would be awesome. We know that God calls people to get involved in the process, both to vote answer on US elected officials. There's a lot involved in that process. And in the midst of all these conversations we've been having. One of the things that hopefully is becoming apparent and evident is that in the midst of American culture, we've seen a lot of darkness begin to spread throughout much of American culture. And the reason darkness spreads is because there's an absence of light. And one of the crazy things, as we look at culture around us, we hear so often where people say, we're just so bad, there's so much darkness, there's so many problems. And every time I hear someone talk about the darkness of culture, the sin in culture, I remember what Jesus said in Matthew five, The solution of darkness always is light. If you walk in a dark room and you're nervous, what do you do? You turn on the light. Well, what did Jesus say? We were We are the light of the world. As we look at culture around us, we have to recognize we are the solution. For every problem we see in culture, God is calling us to get involved, to make a difference. And right now is our time. We need to be good stewards. We need to get involved in the process promoting righteousness, having the right voting priorities that at the end we can. Once you're well done, good and faithful servant. 

Speaker [00:23:59] Does your vote count? Let's take a look at the numbers. Only about 1 in 4 American adults vote to choose their federal and state legislators and their governors in non-presidential elections. 2.6% is all it took for a landslide win in a recent mayoral race in America's second largest city, where less than 10% of adults voted. Only three out of four Americans registered a vote. Four out of ten choose not to vote for the president. Thus, four out of every ten adults who are qualified to participate in the process voluntarily refused to do so. 5% of eligible voters elected the mayor of Dallas, Texas, in a recent election. Only 5%. And that's in a city with a population greater than ten separate states. In the U.S., only six out of every ten registered voters actually bother to vote in presidential elections. This makes it possible for our nation's president to be selected by less than one third of the population. Seven out of every eight eligible voters do not vote for their governors, senators and representatives. Hard to believe, but a non-presidential elections. Only about 1 in 4 American adults vote to choose these elected officials. And since only a majority of that one fourth is necessary to select the winners, those numbers add up. Which brings me to number nine. Nine out of ten U.S. citizens, 18 or older, have the right to vote. And yet tens of millions of Christians are not even registered to vote. At the end of the day, the votes that count are the votes that get cast. And yet 90 million eligible voters did not vote in the last presidential elections. That's 90 million Americans who decided their vote didn't count. So what will you decide? Does your vote count? 

Tim Barton [00:25:41] A big election is approaching and some major decisions are about to be made. Voting is one of our most important rights and responsibilities as US citizens. And this next election will ultimately determine who makes the calls and all the issues that you and I care the most about. And this upcoming election, your voice and your vote counts. 

David Barton [00:25:58] The president who takes office will have the opportunity to make some major decisions this term that will impact generations to come. The one third of the Senate we vote in office. This election will determine just how far that next president can go in making those decisions. And all of the House of Representatives seats will be up for grabs. So this is a year to show up and vote your values. 

Tim Barton [00:26:19] We have a chance to shape history one vote at a time. Are folks out of. 

Rick Green [00:26:25] Time for today you can get today's entire program as well as yesterday's. And over the last few weeks, we've shared some other election specials with you, all of those in the original video format. So the full television episode available right wallbuilders.com. Check out that thumb drive where you can get the entire series. Thanks so much for listening today to The WallBuilders Show.