Questions on the Christian in the Public Square

A while back I asked if anyone had any topics they would like to have blogged about. One of the topics was the Christian in the Public Square. All right, so that wasn't how it was really said. I was asked about the way a Christian should approach things going on in the world of politics, especially with the elections coming up.

Understand that I am not going to tell you how to vote. You will not hear me using my position as pastor to make a statement that you should do this or should do that. I do believe in keeping the two kingdoms separate (the kingdom of state and the kingdom of church). Yet at the same time, there are times when topics and issues cross the boundary between the two and as a Christian and as a pastor, I do have to speak up and let my voice be heard.

If you are looking for a place to go where you could find resources while dealing with some of the issues that we are facing in this election (and not just this election, but in elections in the years past as well as in the ongoing political sphere), you could go to www.lcms.org and do a search there. I also would recommend going to www.lcms.org/lifelibrary and you would find some great resources on the two kingdoms as well as many other important issues.

What issues are important? I am sure that you can make a list of important issues for you as you approach this election. what are important to me? Life issues - abortion and euthanasia top those lists. Health care - and the imposition of the government on religious organizations to provide birth control to women despite their theological and spiritual reasons to not provide said birth control. Support of traditional marriage between one man and one woman - not same sex marriage or partnerships, etc.

Why are these important to me? Because they are important to God. He is pro-life. I can hear the outcry right now that God wouldn't want anyone that is less than perfect born in this world. The problem with that statement is that no one is born perfect - sinful, yes, More than that, physically we all have ailments and imperfections. Why is it that one person can decide whose imperfection is worth having and another is not. The child with Downs Syndrome is just as valuable and special to God as the person who seems "healthy" and "normal." I see no reason to argue for abortion just in case of rape or incest as abortions done for those reasons are less than 1%. The tests done by doctors on the unborn child are in order to give the parents the opportunity to abort the child if it carries a gene or a defect that they don't want to hassle with in their lives. Really? Who made you God to decide that the child with a defect is less than human or less than worth having around. We are called to speak up for the unborn, for those who cannot speak for themselves. My voice says "NO" to abortion and to those who support abortion as a viable option to life.

Same sex marriage - really? God did not create us to have sexual relations with those of the same sex - period. It is wrong and an abomination to God. To say that just because I have feelings of "love" for a person of the same sex means I should be able to "marry" that person and live in harmony, doesn't change what the Lord has said. Those who support same sex marriage do not get my vote nor do they get the blessing of God. How can I say that? It is because God Himself has spoken on this issue. If you don't like it, too bad. You aren't the Creator of the universe or the Maker of the rules. Then again, when you throw out creation and accept evolution, then you don't need to answer to a Creator. But evolution itself speaks against same-sex relationships. They would have failed to "evolve." Same sex relationships would have ended after one generation according to evolution. Both Creation and evolution speak against same sex relationships. What does that leave - people in their sinful, self-centered desires, doing what they want and leaving behind the wisdom of God and the wonder of biology.  "No" is my vote to those who support same sex relationships.

Can I be any clearer on these issues? I am sure that some might find me far right, too dogmatic and very unloving. That's all right with me. Those on the other side are doing their absolute best (or worst) to impose their dogma on me and upon other Christians, and they have no qualms about doing so. I am forced to "accept" abortion because it is the law of the land - even if it against the law of God. I am having homosexuality forced down my throat by the media and there is no apology. Nor do I apologize for standing firm on the teaching of the Lord.

Am I telling you how to vote? No. I am saying what I will vote on the issues that I see before me. I am saying what God's Word has said all along. You are welcome to vote your conscience. My prayer is that the conscience of the majority of the voters in the USA will not be so calloused and immune to the Word of the Lord.