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Morality Cannot be Accomplished through Politics

Posted in Acceptance of Others, christian living, Love of God, tagged christian living, Christianity, legislate, legislation, morality, politicians, politics, voting on April 19, 2023|

by Jim Gordon

We Christians seem to think that we can make everything better by voting the right politicians into office and passing the right laws. We seem to think that we can actually legislate morality. We have our pet doctrines and think with the right people in office or the right laws passed, the world would be a better place.

We think if we can get the democrats out and the republicans in, or the other way around, things will improve. Now that Roe v Wade has been overturned, and if they can get the ten commandments posted in every courthouse, put prayer back in school, or keep ‘In God We Trust’ on our money, things will be better.

The trouble with this way of thinking is, it does not work. We cannot legislate “Christian” values based on what we think is morally right. One, here in the USA we have freedom of religion. This means everyone is free to practice the religion they want to follow, and no one can force their particular religion on others. Second, rules and laws do not change the inner person. Only a life changed by God will make a lasting difference.

There is no political party that is going to make everything OK. It is so aggravating at times to listen to people condemn one political party or the other, when neither party is going to have the answers that makes everything better. If one political party was replaced by another political party, the only thing that would change would be the people who are complaining.

In his book, Jesus v. Evangelicals, Constantine R. Campbell states that “Political engagement is not wrong, but it is not a silver bullet to cultural transformation and renewal. Americans will live Christianly if they think Christianly, and that will happen only if their hearts are transformed by Christ. Laws do not transform hearts. Even less so political parties”.

We get so caught up on what a man or group of people can supposedly do, when actually no human can come up with all the answers needed to solve all our problems. We are to trust God and then do what seems to be the right actions for all people to help change our world.

We should be praying for our leaders, no matter which party they belong too. Although we pray for them and respect their position, we should not be placing our hope in any political party. Political parties are made up of human beings who are imperfect. Truthfully, most often they are only looking out for their political agenda and financial well-being.

Seek first the Kingdom of God. Realize the Spirit of God lives within us and we are actually living in the Kingdom right now. Listen for the voice and guidance of the Holy Spirit, and love others no matter who they are or what they think. We are not going to change people by voting in specific politicians and making new laws. The only way to make a real impact on others and on our world is by loving people, accepting them as they are, and following through with actions that will be good for all people.

Jim Gordon and his wife left the institutional church after spending over fifty years within the system. Jim wanted a way to express his thoughts and concerns about the religious system and why he and his wife decided to leave the institution but not their faith in God. Jim can be contacted by email at: jimgordon731@gmail.com

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Can We ‘Vote In’ Morality?

Posted in christian living, tagged acceptance, christian values, commandments, courthouse, democrats, Kingdom of God, legislate, morality, political parties, politics, republicans, Roe v Wade, vote on March 6, 2015| 2 Comments »

Have you noticed how we Christians want to legislate morality?

We have our pet doctrines and think that if we could get the right people into office, or the right laws passed, the world would be a better place.

We think if we can get the democrats out and the republicans in, or the other way around, things will improve. If we can just get Roe v Wade overturned, get the 10 commandments posted on the courthouse wall, put prayer back in school, or keep ‘In God We Trust’ on our money, things will be better.

The trouble with this way of thinking is, it does not work and it is not right. We cannot legislate “Christian” values or what we consider to be morally right.

There is no political party that is going to make everything OK. It is so aggravating at times to listen to people condemn one political party or the other, when neither party is going to have the answer that makes everything better. If one political party was replaced by another political party, the only thing that would change would be the people who are complaining.

We get so caught up on what ‘man’ can supposedly do, when no human is going to come up with the answer to solve all our problems. Only by trusting God and allowing Him to work in each of us, will anything change in our world.

Nothing will change until we come to realize that Christ is within us, and it is by his power that we live and love others. We are not of this world, but of the Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom of God is where we as followers of Christ actually live….now. It is not something in the future, after we die. The Kingdom of God is within us, and it is for the here and now. I think we miss a lot of the complete Gospel message when we only focus on the salvation part of it and forget the Kingdom of God aspect.

We need to forget the allegiance we seem to think we need to political parties and seek first His Kingdom.

We should be praying for our leaders, no matter which party they belong too. Although we pray for them and respect their position, we should not be placing our hope in any political party. Political parties are made up of human beings who are imperfect, and truthfully, most often only looking out for their political agenda and financial well-being.

Seek first the Kingdom of God. Realize the Spirit of God lives within us and we are actually living in the Kingdom right now. Listen for the voice and guidance of the Holy Spirit, and love others no matter who they are or what they think. We are not going to change people by voting in politicians and making new laws. Only by loving people, accepting them as they are, and showing them the love of God by our actions, will we make any real impact on our world.