Thoughts I Think I'm Thinking About Our Nation

The war situation is not improving, Afghanistan is not taking responsibility, and troops are not coming home--the promise to end the war was empty. A jumbo jet would have blown up over our nation if not for the terrorist's incompetence--the promise of their ability to protect out country was empty. The nation's debt continues to sky rocket. The economy is not better--the promise of economic prowess was empty. The two major parties are not working together--the promise of being bigger than one party and being a uniter was empty.

Meanwhile, the values foundation of our country is shifting right before our eyes. federal judges who reject God's definition of marriage and who don't feel responsible for the protection of the unborn are being appointed and confirmed. Mothers can more easily order their unborn killed. The homosexual agenda is passing legal action through DC at a dizzying rate. Gov't is expanding faster than gov't can keep up with--the opposite of the biblical concept of the personal responsibility of each person for their actions and livelihood. And I could go on.

This is the reason I urge Christians to be values voters and not issues voters. The war was an issue under Bush and now under Obama. National debt was an issue under Bush and now under Obama. The economy was an issue under Bush and now under Obama. Partisanship was an issue under Bush and now under Obama. Issues are not party based. Issues are bigger than any one party. Yet, each campaign season, Christ followers get swept up in the issues and can't separate them from biblical values.

Values matter much more than a persons positions on issues. Let me show you why. Positions change because a presidential candidate can't know what it takes to sit in the big chair until they do it. It's one thing to sit in a Chicago office and conclude one has the solutions to the war, it's another to sit in the Oval Office and realize one didn't have a full understanding of the war. Thus our president has shifted his position considerably on how to handle the war. In fact, his current handling of the war looks an awfully lot like his predecessor's. I don't hold that against our president in any way . . . how could he have known how to handle the war without knowing what was going on. Nonetheless, his position has changed radically from the one on which he campaigned and claimed was a mandate from the American people. Positions change when a person is elected to the Oval Office. Thus, electing a candidate based on the issues is like predicting the future direction of shifting winds.

On the other hand, what can tell you a lot about a person is their values. If a man with lots of power (and thus has women throwing themselves at him) has been faithful to his wife for twenty or more years, what does that tell you about his self control and integrity? If a woman is willing to let unborn children and half born children be killed, what does that tell you about her? And the examples of values as indicators are endless.

So, as the fall campaign season heats up, I pray Christ followers everywhere will have the discernment to separate issues from values and then vote based on a candidate's values. If you are a values based voter, you will be mocked by many who will consider you intellectually anemic, but you won't be the issues voter trying to help our country by betting on shifting winds. Vote the values of God's Word in enough elections and our country will get back on track.
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