How much does God care about the election happening in two days?
Does he care enough to spend billions of dollars on advertising?
Does he care enough to spend millions of man (and woman) hours organizing and strategizing?
Does he care enough to see perhaps the fiercest division in four years that Americans experience between one another?
I'm not suggesting God doesn't care (though I could be wrong), but I'm willing to go out on a limb and suggest that we care more that He does.
I'm not suggesting you should not vote (though I'm open to certain situations where people feel that is the right move), but I am suggesting that if you decide to vote, that it is the least amount of involvement possible to be a participating citizen. We treat voting as if it is such a big deal, whereas it seems to me that we vote every day by what we value, what we spend money on, what we give money too, what we say to and about our neighbors. Maybe instead of just voting for the pro-environment candidate, I could challenge you that after you cast your vote on Tuesday, you could spend that evening learning to go green, recycle and pollute less? Maybe instead of just voting for the anti-abortion, I could challenge you after you cast your vote on Tuesday to find a crisis pregnancy center to which you could donate $25 or $50 a month and 5 hours a week of your time.
It seems to me that if everyone who voted (which is typically in the upper 40's of percent) spent significant time and energy living out the values they vote for, we would have a revolution on our hands. Imagine if on Tuesday, half the nation left their respective polling places and vowed to live differently. What might that mean?
It seems to me that God is much more concerned with how we live and who we are becoming than he is with how we vote.
Lord, start with me.
Sunday, November 02, 2008
A Question...
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4 comments:
Nick, I think you have this just right, and it could be extended to our lives in churches, too, especially when it comes to stewardship and tithing campaigns. In many ways, voting is as passive as simply "going to church." It doesn't mean anything without action outside of attendance or casting a vote.
[plug]I'll have more to say about how much God does or doesn't care in my first column on the Burnside Writers blog this coming Saturday. [/plug] ;)
good stuff!
The notion of God caring is not as simple as it seems. When people care about something, they focus resources on what they care about. I don't just mean money but attention, time, energy, enthusiasm, all the resources we have that by their very nature are limited. So when we care we also exclude from our care other things of less value.
Imagine a being, however, with infinite non-material resources. Such a being could devote the most meticulous attention to everything. I believe this to be true of God. He does not devote material resources to an election for two reasons: they are limited, and his policy is to work through people. What I expect, therefore, is that he shows his care by prompting those who trust him to get involved. Just as he shows his care for people's souls by commissioning his disciples to spread the good news of his intervention, so he shows his care for everything in the human dimension by involving his people.
Even if god existed, I don't think he would be interested in politics. If god was political, then god would obviously be wrong. Right?
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