Saving Christianity by your vote

Can Christians preserve their values by electing the right people? by J. Tayler Smith

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J. Tayler Smith

My name is J. Tayler Smith. I am from the province of Alberta in Canada. For essentially all my life, I have been a Christian and a follower of Jesus Christ. For over a decade, I have made a personal effort to study the Bible and Christian history and to understand how the world works from several perspectives. These efforts were to grow my faith, but on occasion, I have also led Bible studies and prayer events and preached what I learned to small crowds. In recent years, I’ve considered taking what I’ve learned and studied and making an online outlet. After talking with a few of my close friends who had launched a church several years ago, I felt it was time to make this online idea a reality.

The fight against Christian values

Over my lifetime, I’ve found Christians in Canada and the United States increasingly lamenting what they describe as a loss of Christian values in these countries. Many evangelical Christians more often describe their governments, politicians, school boards, media, and other institutions as actively opposing Christianity. They speak of them in a way that suggests these organizations need to be stopped and put in check. This kind of talk, and actions that come with it, all appear to have a specific goal: preserving Christianity in these nations.

I agree that Canada and the United States are moving farther away from what are described as Christian values and the Christian faith. Over the years, I’ve seen Christians increasingly rally around figures, leaders, institutions, and political parties who they believe will uphold these values and reinforce the Christian faith across these nations. This engagement has the appearance of saving Christianity from becoming obsolete or vilified in these nations, thereby saving Canada and the United States from damnation. Those who support these efforts describe their support for the Kingdom of God with great pride. However, Christians need to recall that Jesus’ kingdom, our faith, is not of this world and cannot be gained or lost through earthly means.

God’s kingdom is not of this world

In high school, I took one year of auto-mechanics to learn how to fix my future vehicle for a fraction of the cost I would otherwise pay through a mechanic. I have put these skills to great use over the years, but more recently, I found I needed to change the light bulb for a headlight. I went and bought a light, opened the vehicle hood, and found where I needed to change the bulb. I had done this task before and remembered that I needed to twist and pull out the light bulb socket so that I could then replace the bulb. I was twisting the socket, but nothing happened. I tried yanking, but nothing moved. I looked at the manual, watched YouTube videos, and tried using a wrench to pry it open with all my might. But nothing happened. Finally, after nearly an hour since popping the hood, I looked closely at the socket again and had an epiphany. I had been pulling on the wrong thing. I found the socket I was supposed to remove and applied pressure, and it popped out instantly - no tools were required. I changed the bulb in less than a minute. Even after my education, previous experience, and research, I found I had been simply trying to replace a lightbulb the wrong way. Perhaps we Christians have been doing likewise when preserving Christianity in Canada and the United States.

2,000 years ago, where Israel and Palestine are now, John and his brother gave up their fishing careers to join Jesus Christ's mission to reveal God’s true nature. John helped Jesus in this effort for three years before Jesus was crucified on the cross. Three days later, God raised Jesus from the dead, and John personally spent time with the resurrected Christ before Jesus was taken up into heaven by God. John came to know that Jesus died in the place of humankind and rose again so all who accept Jesus as their ruler and believe in his resurrection, could be free from doing wrong and gain a personal relationship with God.

About 50 years after these events, John, in his old age, wrote Jesus’ story in what we today call the Gospel of John in the Bible. Throughout this book, John emphasizes how Jesus was God in the body of a human, how he performed miracles, healed multitudes, and even had the authority to command winds and waves to cease. John also describes Jesus’ personal teachings to those closest to him and vividly recounts Jesus’ trial, death, and resurrection.

John writes about Jesus' arrest in the middle of the night by the religious leaders' officers and his trial before them. The religious leaders questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. Not receiving the responses they wanted, these leaders brought Jesus before the regional governor: Pontius Pilate - a Roman installed in the region to enforce the Roman Empire’s rule. Pilate at first refused to question Jesus since the religious leaders could not tell him why Jesus deserved interrogation. However, Pilate was convinced to commence the questioning after the religious leaders said that Jesus deserved death. Pilate asked Jesus whether he was a king, something the religious leaders had accused Jesus of claiming since declaring oneself a king was a crime. Jesus responded by saying, “My kingdom is not of this world.”

Knowing from John that Jesus is God incarnate, Jesus’ kingdom is one and the same as God’s kingdom. Therefore, when Jesus says his kingdom is not of this world, he echoes an older Old Testament idea (the collection of Jewish religious texts included in the Bible.)

Between about 1,000 BCE to 720 BCE, a period of 300 years, the Jewish people lived under a monarchy, the kingdom of Israel, in what are Israel and Palestine. Many significant events happened to these Israelite people during this period, including wars, the rise and fall of many benevolent and wicked kings, and perhaps most significantly, the construction of their temple to God and the further development of their religious practice. One development was the institution of musicians, choirs, and composers who were to create and perform music emphasizing God’s power, compassion, and greatness as a form of worship.

One particular group of musicians and composers was the descendants of a man named Korah. These Sons of Korah composed several worship songs included in the Bible as Psalms. One of these is Psalm 47, which says:

[1] Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples! // Shout to God with the voice of triumph! // [2] For the Lord Most High is awesome; // He is a great King over all the earth. // [3] He will subdue the peoples under us, // And the nations under our feet. // [4] He will choose our inheritance for us, // The excellence of Jacob whom He loves. Selah.

[5] God has gone up with a shout, // The Lord with the sound of a trumpet. // [6] Sing praises to God, sing praises! // Sing praises to our King, sing praises! // [7] For God is the King of all the earth; // Sing praises with understanding.

[8] God reigns over the nations; // God sits on His holy throne. // [9] The princes of the people have gathered together, // The people of the God of Abraham. // For the shields of the earth belong to God; // He is greatly exalted.

This psalm emphasizes God’s care for the kingdom of Israel, but it also describes God as the king over all the earth and ruler above the nations. God’s kingship and his rule are above and beyond anything human. It does not come from people, their wisdom, or their devices. It comes from God himself. It is this same kingdom that Jesus alludes to when he tells Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world.” What does it mean that God’s kingdom is not of this world? The theologian Martin Luther provides some thoughts that may clarify this question.

In Germany, in the late 1400s, Luther was on his way to becoming a lawyer when a brush with death frightened him into becoming a monk. Over time, he rose to become a professor of theology at the University of Wittenberg. However, Luther was troubled by what he had been taught; he was told to love God but was also taught that God would condemn him unless he behaved righteously. Soon enough, Luther learned from the Bible that it is not a person’s actions that make them good before God, it is the salvation that God himself provides through Jesus that makes people redeemable. Luther’s teaching led to debate and division within Christianity. Those who followed Luther’s teaching became known as protestants, which today includes almost all Christians who are not part of the Catholic or Orthodox churches. If you are a Christian who does not attend a Catholic or Orthodox church, you were likely influenced by Luther’s teaching.

Throughout Luther’s life, he wrote several works addressing the practice of Christianity according to his understanding of the faith. One of these was Temporal Authority: To What Extent It Should Be Obeyed, in which Luther discusses the degree to which Christians are to obey earthly rulers. In one particular section of this work, Luther discusses the differences between what authorities and governments Christians are to obey and which non-Christian people are to submit under. In this section, Luther writes:

Here we must divide the children of Adam and all mankind into two classes, the first belonging to the kingdom of God, the second to the kingdom of the world…

Now observe, these people [Christians] need no temporal law or sword. If all the world were composed of real Christians, that is true believers, there would be no need for nor benefits from prince, king, lord, sword, or law. They would serve no purpose, since Christians have in their hearts the Holy Spirit, who both teaches and makes them to do injustice to no one, to love everyone, and to suffer injustice and even death willingly and cheerfully at the hands of anyone

By saying this, Luther emphasises how God’s kingdom is completely different from what is seen in the world. It is a kingdom that does not require any human leadership, government, institution, or administration. To Luther, God’s kingdom on earth is entirely separate from human government and organisation. So, using this framework, one can see how when Jesus says his kingdom is not of this world, it is to mean that it is not something that requires human systems or government.

However, throughout the ages, Christians have attempted to preserve and expand God’s kingdom through many earthly means. For 200 years, from AD 1,100 to 1,300, Christians attempted to support God’s kingdom by going to war against muslims in the Islamic Middle-East. These crusades inflicted tremendous losses of life and atrocities among the people in the region, and ultimately failed to preserve Christianity in the area.

Then, for over a thousand years, Christians in the European middle-ages tried to install kings and religious rulers over the nations who would reinforce God’s kingdom on earth through law and government. These monarchs and leaders would rise by inheriting their thrones and promising to enforce God’s kingdom, or by meeting certain criteria established by Christians who were to ensure that these rulers were truly godly leaders. However, more often than not, these rulers would fail to live up to the godly standards they promised. They would war against each other, live lavish lifestyles, and oppress the poor. Today, Europe is often described as a post-Christian continent - a place that has largely moved past Christianity. The values of the Christian faith were not preserved in this region through rulers or law.

Today, in North America, Christians try to preserve Gods’ kingdom, his rule and government through elections and votes. We are often told by goodhearted people that Christian values, the faith, and the very kingdom of God can only be saved in Canada and the United States so long as we vote for the candidate or party who promises to uphold and enforce these values. However, as history shows us, and as Jesus indicates through the single sentence, “My kingdom is not of this world,” Christianity, its values, its kingdom, will not and cannot be preserved in our countries through our votes, political support, or the support of any other human institution, media outlet, for profit, or non-profit organisation.

The kingdom of God, Jesus’ kingdom, does not come through worldly means. It is not something naturally found here in the world and it is not established by the systems we use to establish human governments and laws. God’s kingdom is not preserved through conquest, leaders, elections, or the edict of any government. You cannot establish Jesus’ kingdom through worldly means – attempting to do so is folly.

Don’t fight to preserve Jesus

Growing up, my family would occasionally take trips to visit family. My sister and I would give some input, but the majority share of these trips was planned by my mom. She would arrange accommodations, transit, activities, food… pretty much everything. Mom enjoyed this planning and even once expressed that the planning phase was sometimes more fun for her than the actual trip itself. As an adult, I discovered how involved planning a trip could be when it came to my own family. Arranging everything in a way that works and satisfies everyone is hard work I do not always get right - like the time I thought we could rent a car to get around New York City (where we subsequently waited 45 minutes in traffic to travel one block). I now understand why people with the means to do so will hire trip planners, go through travel agents, or pick all-inclusive resorts. A trip is often made better by having someone else do the most challenging parts for you. We consider it a tremendous benefit to have someone there who will take care of any issue that comes to mind. Too often, we forget that this is how it is with God when it comes to preserving his kingdom.

Going back to Pilate’s interrogation of Jesus. When Pilate asked Jesus whether he was a king, Jesus’ immediate response was, “My kingdom is not of this world.” However, Jesus then goes on and says, “If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now my kingdom is not from here.” By saying this, Jesus parallels one of the ways God often directs those who follow him to fight - by doing nothing.

Traditionally, about 1,200 BCE, over 3,000 years ago and a couple hundred years before the Israelites established their kingdom, the people of Israel were freed by God from a 400-year-long existence in slavery under the Egyptian kingdom. The people of Israel lived under an oppressive tyranny; they cried out to God for rescue. According to the Biblical book of Exodus, traditionally written shortly after the events occurred, God chose an 80-year-old man named Moses to tell the Egyptian pharaoh to free the Israelites or face God’s wrath. The pharaoh refused, and what followed were ten devastating plagues that ruined the land of Egypt but kept the people of Israel unharmed. The pharaoh finally relented and told Moses and the Israelites to leave. However, shortly after they left, the pharaoh changed his mind; he decided to pursue the people of Israel with his army and bring them back into slavery by force. The Egyptians caught up to the Israelites standing by the edge of the Red Sea and cut off the path for escape. The Israelites started to panic and blamed Moses for their predicament. However, Moses stood up and said, “[13] Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. [14] The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”

The Israelites were not an army. None of them had war training or experience. There was nothing they could have done to fight for the freedom God had given them. Moses, who understood that God had been fighting for them the entire time, wholeheartedly believed that God would continue to fight on their behalf. Moses knew that the God who saved them understood there were no worldly means by which Israelites could fight and that fighting could not possibly be God’s intention. Therefore, Moses told the people that since it was God’s will for them to be free, he would fight on their behalf.

The passage describes how God hid the Israelites by a cloud from the Egyptians' sight, then caused a strong wind to separate the sea into two parts so that a dry path opened in the middle. The Israelites crossed through to the other side, and the Egyptians followed once the cloud was lifted. However, God closed the sea over the Egyptians, and they drowned. The Israelites only had to watch. God did not need the people of Israel to fight the Egyptians to prove he was stronger than the pharaoh; his kingdom is beyond any earthly power. Israel just needed to let God prove that he was stronger than the culture that tried to enslave them.

Jesus shows that a proof that his kingdom is not of this world is that his followers do not fight to preserve him when he speaks to Pilate. Christians understand that Jesus is God incarnate and God is all-powerful. The Bible describes him as moving on earth and seas and being the creator of the entire universe. The Bible also describes Jesus as commanding storms to cease and having the ability to call hundreds of thousands of angels to aid him if he so chooses. God does not need human devices to preserve his kingdom. In fact, attempting to establish God’s kingdom by human means may even reveal a lack of faith in God. If Jesus’ followers had tried to free him from Pilate, they would have proven that they did not believe Jesus could overcome Pilate if he so chose. If Moses had commanded the Israelites to fight the Egyptians for their freedom, it would have proven that he did not trust God to see their freedom through to the end.

Jesus describes that the stance of those who follow him does not fight to preserve him by human means. Jesus did not expect or desire his followers to fight for his preservation. And still today, Christians do not need to fight by human methods to preserve Jesus’ kingdom. Christianity is not preserved by votes, leaders, laws, the media, or any other human device.

Luther also addresses establishing God’s kingdom on earth and how it is done. In the same book and section, we read earlier, Luther continues by saying:

Certainly it it is true that Christians, so far as they themselves are concerned, are subject neither to law nor sword, and have need of neither. But take heed and first fill the world with real Christians before you attempt to rule it in a Christian and evangelical manner. This you will never accomplish; for the world and the masses are and always will be un-Christian, even if they are all baptized and Christian in name. Christians are few and far between (as the saying is). Therefore, it is out of the question that there should be a common Christian government over the whole world, or indeed over a single country or any considerable body of people, for the wicked always outnumber the good.

Luther emphasizes how Christianity cannot be established by human means or institutions. According to Luther, establishing a Christian government over the whole world is fruitless because the world would still be filled with unchristian people who will not, and are not expected to, follow Christian laws or support these values. It is not through human governments or laws that one expands God’s kingdom. It is through making people Christians. Telling them about Jesus through evangelism.

Not by votes

Christians do not need to ‘fight’ or preserve their faith by worldly means because this is not the nature of Jesus’ kingdom. Some Christians need reminding that their kingdom, their faith, is not earthly and cannot be gained or lost through earthly governments, laws, or elections. If Christianity is disappearing in a nation, it is because (a) Christians are failing to evangelize and (b) Christians are failing to teach new Christians what it means to be a Christian.

The preservation of the Christian faith and values in a nation is done through living like Jesus, telling others about Jesus, and helping others live like Jesus (if that is what they want to do). If you are told in an upcoming election that you must vote for a candidate because of the way they will preserve Christian values, don’t believe it. There is nothing this candidate can do to preserve Christian values by earthly means. Find a different reason to vote, and then vote for them (or someone else) according to that new reason. In the meantime, ensure you are living as Jesus did according to the way the Bible describes him. Learn to evangelize or support someone good at evangelism. Find a way to help other Christians live more like Jesus, or support someone good at teaching and training Christians. These are what reinforce Christian values in a nation.

References

Luther, Martin. 1999. “Temporal Authority: To What Extent It Should Be Obeyed.” Translated

by J. J. Schindel. In From Irenaeus to Grotius: A Sourcebook in Christian Political Thought, edited by Oliver O'Donovan and Joan L. O'Donovan, 585-595. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Willam B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

New King James Version. 1982. N.p.: Thomas Nelson.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+18%3A36&version=NKJV.