What does the Bible say about political involvement?
The Bible tells us to live for the Lord wholeheartedly and that everything we have, including our money and our bodies, is His; we have been temporarily delegated control over these thing. It also recognizes that we live among people who aren't Christians, some who are pretenders, and people hostile to Christianity. We are to live moral and virtuous lives, including caring for the poor and protecting against evil.
When the Bible was written, there was no government structure like ours, with a Constitutionally-limited secular federal government of three equal branches representing a union of secular states, all being of laws rather than men, with democratically elected representatives from an electorate of men and women regardless of ethnicity, religion, creed, education, or class. In the Bible, a benevolent dictatorship, with Jesus Christ as Lord, is presented as our ultimate destination, inhabited by the redeemed and glorified. Until Jesus appears again and we have the New Heaven and New Earth, we have to deal with each other as fallen mortals.
Our Founding Fathers were heavily influenced by the Bible and history. They knew that people are fallen, that government power had to be limited, and that a system that involves separation of powers and checks and balances was needed.
Unfortunately, over the course of our Union's history, more and more power has shifted to the federal government, especially the federal judiciary, which has, in some cases, become activist. The bigger the government, the smaller the citizen. However, with certain limits and exceptions, each citizen still has the right to vote, the freedom to run for elected office and to support campaigns with our time, talent, and treasure.
Should Christians vote? And if so, should they only vote for people who are apparently Christians with a lifetime of outstanding, moral behavior and unassailable character?
