Today, Americans go to vote for the person to fill the most powerful office in the world. Much has been said about the Christian vote, and how if Christians are concerned about the direction America is heading they should be voting for John McCain. I’ve been getting many, many e-mails on this topic – from right-wing religious organisations, from concerned Christians, and from other people who thought I might be interested (and I am, but I don’t agree).

If you’ve been reading this blog for a little while you’ll know that I voted here in Australia for the Liberal Party – in both houses – at last year’s federal election and at this year’s ACT Legislative Assembly election (the Liberal Party in Australia being the conservative party).

But for this election – if I was eligible to vote – I would be voting for Barack Obama. Yes, it’s a bit of a shift to the left.

My politics aren’t yet set in stone (I say yet, because as soon as they are, I plan to join an appropriate political party). I still need to do a lot of research on the differences between left and right politics. Many times I find myself in the centre. Sometimes I lean to the right, and sometimes I lean to the left. When I lean, I more often find myself leaning to the right – especially disagreeing with much of what the Labor Party does in Australia based on their industrial relations (unionism) and economic policies.

But to me – and my limited-compared-to-real-political-pundits’-understanding of politics – there is one big issue at the US election:

John McCain is too old, out of touch with where America (and much of the world) wants to head, and has shown very bad judgment in his short-term-political-interest-protecting choosing of Sarah Palin as his running mate.

Barack Obama on the other hand is younger, has some experience, and exudes confidence when he talks. He has surrounded himself with people more experienced than him – such as Joe Biden – and has managed to capture the attention of many, many followers. His leadership begs following, and he is bringing about change which in part is exciting. He also knows how to use e-mail.

But there’s a bigger issue behind all this, which I want to focus on. The e-mails I referred to above have focussed solely on moral issues and the protection of the Christian religion. None of which, I believe, are what we have been Biblically mandated to do.

Let me explain.

One of the e-mails I received the other day started like this:

This is from an attorney in Cincinnati, Ohio. He has a very strong faith in the Lord. Please read this and pray!

Unfortunately this turned me off from the start. Because someone claims to have a strong faith in the Lord, I should trust everything he says? Of course I’m not questioning his faith, but if someone expects me to agree with whatever they say just because they are a Christian, I am probably not going to be agreeing with them.

The e-mail continued:

I have never been one to read things circulated on the Internet, much less write them, so it is with no small reluctance that I do so now. However, the Lord has laid it heavily upon my heart to call His people to a day of prayer and fasting for the upcoming November 4 elections, and this provides an excellent medium to get the word out quickly to a large number of believers.

America stands at a crossroads, not just politically but also spiritually. The current election cycle is nothing less than a battle for the very soul of our country. The discerning among you already know this to be true. The deepening political polarization we have witnessed in the past few elections is merely a symptom of an ever-intensifying spiritual polarization, as the battle lines between the righteous and the wicked are drawn with increasing clarity. The stakes are enormous, whether politically, economically, morally or in terms of our physical security. We are about to step off in a direction that could very well lead to our destruction as a nation — and so many millions are blind to this reality.

As I observe popular attitudes and watch the public opinion polls , my heart grieves for our nation. We have abandoned the principles upon which our nation was founded, principles which in turn were anchored in the person and principles of God. The wicked grow ever more powerful and influential. Once respectable journalistic organizations have degenerated to little more than propaganda organs for the political left. Godly leaders who can rise up in defense of righteousness and our God-given liberties seem nowhere to be found. As a nation, we have cast God out of our thinking. The murder of the unborn is championed in the streets and in the courts. Homosexual “marriage” is trumpeted as a constitutional right and as the sign of a so-called progressive culture. Sexual immorality, drug abuse, violence, idolatry, pornography, and a host of other sins have overtaken us. As a nation we either justify these things or, at a minimum, turn a blind eye to them. And God’s people have certainly not been immune from these things.

Now we stand ready to reap the fruits of our national godlessness. God sometimes judges sin by giving people over to the very things they desire and allowing the natural consequences to play out. Generalizations are often dangerous, but I think it is safe to say that generally the sins I mentioned are associated with the political left. It is my sincere conviction, and I have often said to those who will listen, that the leaders of the American left represent the force of evil in our political arena. Admittedly there are wicked and corrupt people on the right as well, but experience has shown that a conservative political ideology finds its roots, to large extent, in scriptural truth. Consequently, conservative politicians are generally (but certainly not always or completely) aligned with the Word of God. However, as the wicked gain the upper hand in the halls of power, all of us of whatever political leaning will experience the predictable consequences.

So where does that leave us? Current polls indicate that the left is in position to seize decisive control of our entire political system, including all three branches of government. They stand to take the White House , both houses of Congress and, by inevitable extension, the courts as well. If that happens, they will take the country hard to the left in a way from which I do not believe we will ever recover. Socialism, moral libertinism, contempt for the sanctity of life, and increasing efforts to stifle political dissent (and I would add, to silence biblically based “hate speech”) are sure to follow in short order. If God severely judged Israel for her wickedness, who are we to expect differently?

“If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

What can we do to prevent the unmaking of America from happening right before ou r eyes?

We can call upon the name of the Lord, who is rich in mercy and mighty to deliver His people. We can pray along with the psalmist that the designs of the wicked and the oppressors would be thwarted by the hand of God . We can pray that God would lift the evident blindness that has gripped our nation, and that He would grant widespread repentance. We can pray that only the most godly men and women would be elected to lead this nation, and that they would lead in righteousness. We can pray that such righteousness would again exalt our nation as we return to the Lord in humility and repentance. We can pray that, regardless of what happens on November 4, the people of God will manifest “the swe et aroma of the knowledge of Christ” in ever increasing measure.

To that end, I am asking every believer in Jesus Christ to set aside Monday, November 3 as a day of fasting and prayer . I would urge you to review the prayer of Daniel on behalf of his people in Dan. 9:3-19, and to pray that way for our nation. And finally, I would ask you to distribute this call to prayer as widely as possible so that the greatest number of people would lay hold of the throne of grace all at once. It may be that God will show mercy to America, that He will shed His grace on her once again. Thank you for joining with me in this effort.

D. Johnson

That was the e-mail in its entirety. I have hundreds of problems with it, but I’ll highlight a few.

The first one is that this attorney – and alot of the religious right – seems to be missing the safe and comfortable Christianity that America was founded on (Australia also). Well, the world is going left, and by standing our ground as Christians way over on the right, we’re not exactly going to achieve much. Complaining that the wicked are too powerful doesn’t do a thing (evil triumphs when good men do nothing), apart from engendering an even greater dislike in the world for Christians – and through it, Jesus Christ.

The e-mail mentions that “godly leaders are nowhere to be found”. I probably don’t agree with his definition of “godly” in this sense, but in the sense he’s referring to, they’re probably nowhere to be found because they’re all writing e-mails like this and holding prayer vigils. I’ve mentioned before a great quote I saw somewhere: “Pray like it depends on God, but act like it depends on you.” What is this guy – and the others who are writing these e-mails – doing to actually bring about change? There’s no point standing up and saying “it should be this way instead”. You have to gain respect before you gain the right to influence.

By the way, in this e-mail, mention is made of the Democrats standing for drug abuse and violence – among other sins. Huh? No powerful political party in the western world is for the increase of either!

The e-mail also states that the right is generally more aligned with the Word of God. This is the only part of the e-mail that I agree with, but yet I only partly agree with it. Conservative politicians are generally better aligned with the moral side of the gospel, but liberal politicians are generally better aligned with the social side of the gospel (eg. feeding the hungry and looking after the sick). So that means Christians should really be trapped between left and right.

But – what is our Biblical mandate? See the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25:31-46. Or the great commission in Matthew 28:18-20. Remember also that Jesus gave wine to drunk people as his first miracle on Earth (John 2) – uh-oh, where were his morals? Also, consider Paul’s comments in 1 Corinthians 9.

Is our mandate to try to align the world with Christian morals (the agenda of the religious right)? Or is it to get to know the people around us, to meet their physical and spiritual needs, and show them who Jesus Christ really was and still is?

Now there’s no prizes for guessing which of these viewpoints Jim holds, and in fact not only does he believe Christian involvement in politics is right, he is “amazed when Christians don’t get involved.”

Why? For the simple reason that there are many decisions made in politics which are for, as well as against, Christian values. Christians need to weigh in to the debate to ensure that our voice is heard and that our values are taken into account as well as those of secular society. We have just as much right to express our opinion as anyone else – no more, no less. Jim mentioned a few areas where Christians should be involved – abortion, foreign aid, euthanasia and homosexual adoption to name a few.

Jim also said we need to support our “champions on the high ground”. He spoke of one of our senators who he approached one day to congratulate him for going against his party’s line on a particular issue. The senator was appreciative of Jim’s gesture and said “You know, all I usually get from Christians is hate mail. Whenever my party does something wrong, I get hate mail.” We need to support Christians in parliament rather than chastise them!

When getting involved in politics though, it’s important not to get caught up in the issues and thus lose sight of the goals. For example, when it comes to abortion the goal is to give everyone the right to live, and some go too far – there have been 41 bombings of abortion clinics in the United States in the last 20 years. (Man gets 40yrs for abortion bombing attempt, NEWS.com.au, 20th October 2007)

The people who were behind these bombings probably aren’t Christians, but it serves as an example of getting caught up so much in an aim – in this case, ensuring unborn babies were given the right to live – that they’re risking taking away exactly the same right – the right to life – from mothers (and ironically, the baby in the process). When it comes to Christian involvement in politics, our goal should not be to impose our views on everyone else and turn Australia into a theocracy – that’s going to achieve nothing but hostility. Our goal should be to ensure that Biblical principles are adhered to where they matter the most.

Homosexual adoption is an example – I don’t think it should be allowed, because it is depriving the child of a proper upbringing with a mother and a father performing very unique roles. But, I don’t think we should campaign for Biblical principles just for the sake of it – such as if we spoke out against publicly taking God’s name in vein. I’m not saying that taking God’s name in vein doesn’t matter – it matters alot to me and although I must admit I almost don’t notice the “conservative dosings” anymore, if I can call them that, I wince whenever I hear tirades of abuse in Jesus’ name.

But, this is a free country and people really can say what they like. I don’t think God wants us to get involved in issues like this because it really is up to each person what they do, and they’re not harming the defenceless. What I’m getting at, is as Jim said, there’s the “don’t legislate your morality on me” mindset. We need to “pick and choose our fights”. We should limit our involvement on some issues – the “trivial” ones, again if I can call it that – to emphasise our involvement on others.

I guess there’s multiple stages of involvement in politics. There is of course the stage that Jim and the ACL is at – the lobbying stage. The influential stage. And on the other end of the spectrum there’s people who are impartial – who don’t get involved at all. Lobbying isn’t for everyone. But I believe that everyone needs to be involved in politics to some extent – not just Christians, everyone. The decisions made by the political parties influence your life and the lives of those around you. We’re not all called to lobby and take a public stand for issues – and we can’t all do it anyway – but I think we all have to take time out to look at what is on offer, and vote for the party that best fits our beliefs and that we believe will make the best leaders for our country. We need to be involved in politics at least to the point where we can say “I’m voting Liberal because Howard and Costello know how to run our economy” or “I’m voting Labor because they’re going to provide educational IT funding for families”.

For me personally the biggest issue is the leaders. Who do I agree with the most? Who do I trust? Who do I want running my country? We all should be involved – so that we can make our vote count.

What does a business gain by pursuing legal action? Well, money of course. They’re either looking for damages or protecting their profits. In business it all comes down to money. But the decision to sue for damages over a controversial issue is one that has to be very carefully thought out – otherwise the act of suing may cause you more damages than what the act you’re suing for did in the first place.

That’s business though. For a church, should money be the sole driver of the way you conduct yourselves? No! The church is called to reach out to society, to go beyond the walls of the church and proclaim the gospel to the nations.

The church in general (but particularly Hillsong) already has a reputation for wanting money. And like any ministry, money is needed to fund it. But this reputation, in my experience, is part of the reason that non-church goers don’t go to church. Let me put that another way, the way that it should be thought of: because churches have a reputation of wanting money, secular society as a whole ignores Christianity like it’s a cult. Let’s not care that people don’t go to our churches. We should be caring that they are not seeing the truth of the gospel because of the way we are acting!!

What sort of damages could Hillsong sustain from Today Tonight’s “stories”? It could well turn a few more people off church. Others would see it as frivolous reporting and, ignoring it, stick to what they already thought about church. Hillsong may lose a few members, and thus a few extra donations into the offering. But because this is a controversial issue – and I’d say the majority of the members of society are not on Hillsong’s side – litigating against Today Tonight would fuel a storm of criticism against Hillsong and the church in general, resulting in even more and more people turning away from the idea of church.

But remember, church is not the point here. We should not be caring about getting more members in our churches. And many churches don’t. But many churches do. If Hillsong decides to sue, they’ll be showing the rest of the Christian population – and in fact, every single person in this world – that they care more about money (i.e. getting members) than they do about proclaiming the gospel. And because that would put them in direct contradiction to the Bible, it’s a sticky situation.

Hillsong, we’re supposed to be reaching out to society, not turning them against us. As Brennen Manning said, “The greatest single cause of atheism today is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door and deny Him with their lifestyle. That’s what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.” Don’t cause an unbelieving world to deny Jesus because of the way you conduct business. Imagine what you’d have to answer to on Judgement Day.

Hillsong, please don’t sue, for the love of mankind.

– Hillsong church may sue over Idol vote-rigging claims, The Daily Telegraph, Saturday 13th October 2007

If you don’t know who you’re voting for yet, I suggest checking out NEWS.com.au’s Vote-a-matic – tagged ‘yes, your computer can tell you how to vote’. It’s an interactive quiz on a range of hot topics including the environment, the economy, family values, health, education and a few more. I found it to be quite accurate – at least with my answers anyway. And the videos from the leaders at the end are quite good also – tailored to you depending on your answers.

On another completely different but slightly related topic, the St. Thomas More Forum is on again here in Canberra next Wednesday with the topic this time ‘Christian Involvement in Politics – Right or Wrong?’. Jim Wallace, Managing Director of the Australian Christian Lobby will be presenting the night. A flyer is available here – if you’re a Christian who is wondering whether involvement in politics is in line with biblical principles, or if the issue of the separation of church and state is one dear to you, it might be worth going along.

I might need to write about something other than politics soon…

However put him in front of a news camera where the audience wouldn’t be too keen on a Christian, and it goes a little like this:

“Mr Rudd, do you believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God?”
“Well, I’m a, um, I’m a, a person who attends church regularly.”

- ‘Rudd’s warning’, SBS World News Australia, Friday 28th September 2007 (webstream)

Now as Christians we don’t demand a leader that has a personal relationship with Jesus, but we (and the rest of Australia) expect honesty. This is just another example of Rudd’s people pleasing campaign to office. As conservative columnist Andrew Bolt says: “This ‘Kevin Rudd’ will say just what you want, but may in fact be nothing like the real Rudd, who’s now playing him and will take over after the election. … Who knows what the real Rudd behind this finely spun mask will really do once he’s won power and steps out from behind?” - Who is the real “Kevin Rudd”, Herald Sun opinion, Friday 5th October 2007

It’s all spin to get him into office. But, as Peter Stokes from Salt Shakers succinctly puts it: “unlike politics, in Christianity the answer should come from the heart”. - Catch the Fire Ministries blog, Thursday 4th October 2007

Many Christians were going to vote Rudd simply because he has been portrayed as more “Christian” than John Howard. But I think we can safely assume one of two things. Rudd either isn’t a Christian, or he’s ashamed of it. For any Christian voting for Rudd because of his faith, this should now take that out of the equation. Which leaves the rest of his conflicting, people pleasing statements to mull over.

Fellow Christians, don’t be fooled by Rudd’s façade.

John Howard’s Speech (103 MB)
Question Time with John Howard (57 MB)
Kevin Rudd’s Speech (96 MB)
Question Time with Kevin Rudd (36 MB)

On Friday morning I also read a few online writeups from the mainstream media, and this one from news.com.au, reported by someone who attended the webcast at Hillsong, was the best out of those I found.