Hi folks, Bob again. What do you think of Pastors in the pulpit suggesting who Christians should and should not vote for? I imagine most of you right now are wincing at the idea, considering it inappropriate. Well folks, this is one area where I think I am probably in the minority. Truth is, I see nothing wrong with that at all, and Ill tell you why. Pastors should, first and foremost, preach Jesus, I agree. But if were honest, none of us expect that to be the ONLY thing our pastors ever teach on, do we? I mean, think about it. Dont we also want (and expect) our pastors to instruct and teach us with pastoral guidance on all areas of Christian life and Christian living? How is guiding us on the way we spend our vote any different than guiding us on the way we spend our time? Or our money? Or our entertainment choices? Or our movie and TV choices? Or our choices for friends and associations? Or the ways we raise our children? Pastors give us Godly instruction and guidance on all these other choices and decisions in our lives (as they should), and yet nobody accuses them of “not preaching Jesus”, but as soon as they ALSO instruct us on making Godly choices with our vote, we go “preach Jesus, not politics!!!!” Sorry folks, I just cant agree. I think its perfectly appropriate for pastors to say “as Christians, I would encourage you to vote for Candidate A, because his positions are more in line with Biblical values than Candidate B”, just like he guides us on the choices we make in all the other areas of Christian living and decisions we make. Now, regarding the tax exempt status question, the reason churches are tax exempt is NOT because they stay silent on political issues. That has NEVER been the reason. That is a myth that many people have been sold. The truth is, churches have always been tax exempt because they perform a benefit to the community. Thats always been the argument for all tax exempt organizations, that if they are providing a benefit to society, they wont be taxed, so more of their money can go to their good and worthy causes. (Even though I would hardly consider tax exempt Planned Parenthood good for society) Anyway, the 1954 Johnson Amendment did something new, attaching tax exempt status to political silence, thereby gagging pastors on election advice. Prior to the Johnson Amendment, it was common for pastors to instruct on Biblical voting just like they instruct on all our other choices and decisions of Christian living. Now, 60 years later, most people just assume its “wrong” somehow for pastors to ever talk politics at all. No one is saying that ALL they should talk about, but never?? I say no, they should talk politics at least SOME of the time, especially around elections. Anyway, thats how I see it. Im guessing Im in the minority here, but I am curious what you all think of this issue? Is it wrong or inappropriate for pastors to offer suggestions of which candidates he thinks we should vote for and why?
Posted on: Tue, 21 Oct 2014 19:11:35 +0000
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