Election Reflection and Loving Your Neighbor

I know we are all thankful that this painful election is over. Many of us felt disenfranchised and disturbed by both candidates; for others of us there was a clear choice. Before I start this post, I want to say: No matter who you voted for, please know that political disagreement doesn’t mean I don’t love you or want to be your friend. This election changes nothing between us. That is the privilege living in a free country affords us. We don’t all have to agree. Sometimes the majority in our country agrees with your views and you get the candidate you want, sometimes it doesn’t and you don’t. But when we disagree, we must still commit to kind, thoughtful discussion of the issues. We’re all humans and we’re all trying to do our best in this broken world. That Trump supporter you hate – he/she was created in the image of God. So was the Hillary supporter. So let’s not get angry with each other or vilify each other. Let’s work together to come up with solutions that are acceptable to all Americans.

Okay, with all that as a preface, I am writing this post (my first foray into political content) because I still feel the need to say something to those who support Trump and also carry the name of Christ. I know a lot of you said you weren’t voting for the man, you were voting for his policies. Thank you for acknowledging that his brash, offensive, self-centered attitude (and immoral actions) isn’t something you agree with. I also know a lot of you felt like Hillary wasn’t a viable option for you and so you voted for Trump in desperation, many of you because of his claim to being pro-life and to having had some conversion experience.

I, too, am pro-life. I believe life starts at conception and that taking life is wrong. But I think we do the world a great disservice when we, as Christians, say we support Trump’s “policies.” Pro-life he may be, but so many of his other ideas are against life and against what I see Christ calling us to, not to mention the crass, rude, close-minded way he uses to communicate them.

If you were raised in a Christian subculture similar to mine, you were raised to believe the Republican party is the “Christian” party and that Democrats are basically pagan. I think that for many Christians, in this election, even if they didn’t like or agree with Trump they felt compelled to vote for “his policies,” since “the Republican party is the one that represents Christian values.” I believed this about the Republican party, too, for many years, before God changed my heart for the poor and forgotten/marginalized. I’ve tried (and continue to try) to examine and re-examine politics in light of Scripture.

I would like to challenge you to do the same - to think Biblically rather that politically on issues that divide our country. For me, that means that I haven’t found a party that represents all of my beliefs. But I think that’s okay. Like John Piper shared, “[it is] the aim of every citizen of heaven in all human engagements to display our allegiance to the values of another world…As citizens of heaven, we are not bound in every situation to participate in the processes of human government. This is not our homeland. We vote — if we vote — because the Lord of our homeland commissions us to vote. And he does not absolutize this act above all other considerations of Christian witness.”

As a citizen of heaven, how can I expect that the politics of the world are going to align with my beliefs? How can I think that one party is going to make American a “Christian” nation, when the vast majority of her citizens aren’t Christ-followers? “We, the people.” “We, the people,” those who bear the name of Christ, are the ones who can change our country to be more like Him. But we can’t do that if people think we hate them.

Jesus said that the second greatest commandment, second only to loving God with all your heart, mind, and soul, is to love your neighbor as yourself (Matt. 22:37-40). That “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Mic. 6:8). That we show our love for Christ when we feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, clothe the naked, visit the prisoners, and care for the sick (Matt. 25:35‭-‬36‭, ‬40): “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,  I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. […] And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’”‬‬

So how can we say we love our neighbors as ourselves when we support a candidate who calls his opponents names, who seems to hate anyone who sees things differently or who is simply different from him? How are we loving our neighbors as ourselves when we live in comfort and they live in daily struggle? How are we loving our neighbors as ourselves when we drive new cars (or even old ones) and they ride the bus? How are we loving our neighbors as ourselves when we say they should be deported back to a country they risked their lives to leave? How are we loving our neighbors as ourselves when we say we want them to stay out of our country, to continue living displaced, as refugees in deplorable conditions, when in many cases it’s their faith (in Christ!) that has led to their persecution and the taking of their very lives?

Where in the Bible do you see Jesus telling us to close ourselves off from the world, from those in need, to withhold assistance we have the means to provide, to seek to elect leaders who will protect us from persecution, to lower taxes so we can keep more money for ourselves rather than let it be spent on the welfare of the poor in our country and in struggling countries around the world? Remember, we as Christians live in an upside-down kingdom – where the servant is king; where, instead of piling up possessions that will eventually rust or be eaten by moths (Matt. 6:19-21), we are to store up treasure in heaven; where the care of widows and orphans is our responsibility; where those who are persecuted are called blessed (Matt. 5:10-12); where he who loses his life actually gains it.

If we’re looking for the way to follow Christ, He tells us how: “Isn’t the fast I choose: To break the chains of wickedness, to untie the ropes of the yoke, to set the oppressed free, and to tear off every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your house, to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to ignore your own flesh and blood?” (Is. 58:6‭-‬7). Luke’s book recounts Jesus quoting a passage or Scripture, also from Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord God is on Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners; […] to comfort all who mourn, to provide for those who mourn in Zion; to give them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, festive oil instead of mourning, and splendid clothes instead of despair. And they will be called righteous trees, planted by the Lord to glorify Him” (Is. 61:1‭-‬3).

If Christ was called to this and we were called to be imitators of Christ, I think our task should also be to work with the poor, the brokenhearted, the prisoners, the downtrodden. At the very least, should we be voting against programs (albeit imperfect ones) that attempt to help with these things? I’ve heard the argument that people don’t trust the government to use tax dollars appropriately or to give it to worthy recipients, but can you look me in the eye and say that you would really use it any better – give any more of it to the poor than you already do?

And as for being “worthy” to receive aid – I don’t see Jesus qualifying any of His statements about who should be helped. He says, “poor,” “hungry,” “thirsty,” “naked,” “prisoners,”  “brokenhearted,” “mourning.” He does not say “legal,” “law-abiding,” “drug-free,” “job-seeking,” etc. Christ’s love knows no bounds. He loved us when we were still sinners, when there was no good in us. He didn’t ask us to clean ourselves up a bit before coming to Him. No, He looked at us in our filthy rags (Is. 64:6) and called us His children. Unconditionally. Shouldn’t our approach to carrying out His work be the same?  ‬

These next words I'm about to quote are hard, harder maybe than what I’ve already said, harsh even. But I think we all should examine our hearts to see if we have focused on keeping the law of “mint, dill, and cumin,” while neglecting the “more important matters of […] justice, mercy, and faith.”

"Jesus said, 'Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You pay a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin, yet you have neglected the more important matters of the law — justice, mercy, and faith. These things should have been done without neglecting the others. Blind guides! You strain out a gnat, yet gulp down a camel!
     'Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence!  Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, so the outside of it may also become clean.
     'Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every impurity. In the same way, on the outside you seem righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness" (Matt. 23:23‭-‬28).

In closing, I ask you to be kind if you choose to respond to this. Like I said at the beginning of this post, we live in a free country where we can share our ideas and where we are supposed to be able to live peaceably with people who disagree with us. And even if we didn’t live in a country where that was so, Christ calls us to live at peace with one another (Rom. 12:18). His are the laws I choose to follow.