There is no necessity to vote. It is a privilege which God has sovereignly granted to us. The king’s heart is in His hand, and He turned the hearts of the leaders of Western nations to cede some of their power to the citizenry. In many ways the system is horribly flawed, but this is the system God has given us, just as Imperial Rome was the system He gave the apostles. I believe if He has given us that opportunity, we should use it to influence government. Sometimes, that influence will be greatest by withholding our vote, but we should recognise that the powers that be are ordained by God. Democratic republics are not an accident of history — there are no accidents of history.

God sent a prophet to anoint an idolater (Jehu) and an idolater and murderer (Hazael of Syria). A vote is less of an endorsement than an anointing, and God commanded the anointing of men no less wicked than our choices today.

But the Scripture does not give direct instructions on this, and “let every man be persuaded in his own mind.” If you cannot vote for someone in good conscience, you should not do so. We should all trust the Lord to teach us differently if we are in error.

I agree with you on your statement concerning religion, God does not call us to be religious, i.e. Catholic, Baptist, Lutheran, etc. He calls us to deny ourselves, pick up our cross and follow Him. Submission to His authority over us as well as forsaking our desires, wants, etc. is what is necessary to be a disciple of Christ; let me not fail to mention the need of repentance.

I must disagree with you over your assumption that the Bible has been altered; I will use this from http://www.gotquestions.org as it is a short and concise answer- ‘When the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, scholars were shocked to see how similar they were to other ancient copies of the Old Testament, even though the Dead Sea Scrolls were hundreds of years older than anything previously discovered. Even many hardened skeptics and critics of the Bible admit that the Bible has been transmitted over the centuries far more accurately than any other ancient document.
There is absolutely no evidence that the Bible has been revised, edited, or tampered with in any systematic manner.’

It also concerns me that you say you do your best to be a Christian, is this so you can go to heaven?

I can understand what you are saying and I even agree with you. When have we EVER had a Government that was not evil? God has established Government and knowing that God is in complete control is a huge relief to me since He is Sovereign.

I can even agree with this—Even bad government is better than no government. CS Lewis said he was in favor of democracy because everybody was “equally evil, and sinful and we need to watch one another.”

I’m like this Jon,,,I’m motivated by pleasing my heavenly Father and bringing honor and glory to his name. That means that since I KNOW how evil both sides are, what they stand for or against when it comes to voting, why would I want to vote for any of them and bring disgrace to the Name of the LORD my God knowing HE does not condone nor support such evil? Knowing that both sides support what God is against, shouldn’t I remain faithful to my LORD? HIS Character and his reputation is everything to me and to vote for the lesser of 2 evils is to do dishonor to the LORD. What is in God’s name? Is not his name to be honored more than anything in our lives? Why would I want to bring opprobrium upon the name of the LORD?..

and no he doesn’t need anyone to defend him. But I need to know his love and holiness in my life and so do honor HIM above all in my life that HE is HOLY. It’s not worth voting for wickedness since its become so obviously evil either way- “betwixt and between”. It compromises my integrity for what?? Freedom in this country is more important than the Name of the LORD? so we would rather continue to support our tenuous view of GOD and continue to elevate our lives on earth to make it as comfortable and as pleasurable as possible even if it means compromising the Name of the LORD? I’d rather lose our freedom in this country and be beaten and imprisoned than to compromise and so dishonor our Great God and Savior Jesus Christ. What does GOD’s name mean?

the Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom
those who delight in the Lord take refuge in His strength and Might
when God shakes this world, you will KNOW He is the LORD
God Almighty will proclaim His Name is Wonderful and Great
only those who have taken Refuge in God will be hidden in the cleft of the Rock
He is My Mighty Fortress and Strong tower, my Ever-present help in times of need. He is my Sustainer, Provider and my Solid ROCK. His name is the LORD my Righteousness
My Hope is in His unfailing love and His tender mercies
Thankfulness and gratefulness guide me on His untraceable paths,
“The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe”-Pr.18:10.

After ALL God has done for me do I really find the necessity to vote for someone who obviously so dishonors the LORD???

What I think about God matters to me. His name is Jealous and he is a jealous GOD for us whom he has redeemed and it DOES mean everything to me what I think about HIM….

anyways that’s where I stand and that’s why I will not vote at this point in life.

What Mark does should be shunned. His antics sully the name of Christ.

I’m not going to tell you he’s unsaved. I don’t have a clue. I’m not going to tell you that he preaches a false gospel — in general, I don’t think he does. I’m sure God is using him. I’m glad of that. That doesn’t mean he gets my endorsement or approval, or that I would have anything to do with him.

There comes a point when a man has to be rejected even if he gets the Gospel right, because he is doing other things that undermine it. I Timothy 5:20 does not apply only to those who are wrong on the Gospel. Neither does Titus 3:10. And Mark Driscoll is divisive.

And by the way, I serve in a far more godless place than Seattle, and where porn has an even greater hold.

***
If a vote is a blanket endorsement, we should never vote for “the lesser of two evils.” If we view government as an instrument to bring in true spiritual righteousness, we would have to vote only for righteous people.

A vote is not a blanket endorsement. Government will never bring in true righteousness, but only imperfectly restrains evil, even if run by godly Christians. It can never do its task perfectly. Thus, I believe it is legitimate to vote for a choice which brings greater restraint of evil, even if it will not perfectly restrain all evil.

What is the nature of a vote, and what is the role of government? Ultimately, how we answer those questions should drive our voting decisions.

Driscoll writes about the occasional R-rated movie at church: ‘Pastor James continues to lead our monthly film and theology class, at which attendance rises to more than two hundred people depending on the film. He continues to show an occasional unedited R-rated movie to train our people to think critically about the themes preached through film, which is the new cultural form of preaching.’ (Confessions, p.157) – from http://www.driscollcontroversy.com/?page_id=42

A ‘new cultural form of preaching’? Hmmmmm. Now does that sound like a spirit-filled man of God who trembles at His word? Driscoll’s attempt at being ‘cool and relevant’ is sickening, he is no preacher of the word of God but is instead a sinner in need of grace and mercy, may God truly save him.

“Better a little with righteousness than much gain through injustice”-Pr.16:8
“Better a little with the fear of the Lord than great wealth with turmoil”-Pr.15:16

Voting is not activism, nor does it take away a single thing from preaching the Gospel and proclaiming the kingdom of God.

Forsaking everything for Christ does not mean one cannot vote; the two are not mutually exclusive.

Everyone here wants to preach the gospel, but the USA is one of few places left where it can be done openly and effectively without government interference. Without working to protect that right, you will end up imprisoned with no one to preach to, if not altogether executed.

It is a cowardly position which says, “let someone else protect my rights – I follow Christ only.” It is also an unbiblical position, because even Paul used his rights as a Roman citizen to protect himself.

As has been pointed out several times already, there is no perfect candidate, and there will always be the better of two evils for which to put into office so as to protect your right to preach the gospel.

“The gospel does not succumb to the culture of the day and flirt with its impurity. It rises above the culture and sets the standard. It asserts the values of a Holy God.”

Well said! it seems man’s wisdom is the ‘theme of the day’ as we reach the culture in new and relevant ways by tweaking the word of God so as to tickle the ear; such a preacher cares nothing for the souls of men. You can do this and fill your church pews, but woe to the man who desires to please man rather than fall on his face before a Holy God and tremble at His word.

And I don’t wanna hijack this thread neither but I believe it is essential to share the truth in hopes that people will realize that GOD is Sovereign LORD~

The issue of man’s involvement with Scripture is moot. That’s implying that God is not capable of writing nor is God capable of preserving what He wants through imperfect men?” If people can get a dumb dog to sit, what makes us think an all-powerful God can’t get a man to write just what He wants him to?” —human involvement is irrelevant. If God (inspires it) and he did-2Timothy 3:16– then it doesn’t matter if men or monkeys did the writing; they’ll still write exactly what God intends.
Another way of stating it: God can’t err; the Bible is God’s Word; therefore, the Bible can’t err, even if men are involved.

Jesus backed up the Scriptures as true from Genesis to Revelation when he rose from the dead. Surely, if HE staked His whole life on the word of God as Final Authority in HIS life, I can stake my whole life on the word of God as final Authority in my life as well.

Sure the word of God was the O.T. at the time since the N.T. had not been written yet.. With respect to the New Testament, Jesus promised His apostles that “the Holy Spirit shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (John 14:26), and that “the Spirit of truth will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13). Therefore, during the first century, the apostles who had been with Christ, had witnessed His resurrection and had received these promises gradually wrote down the Gospels and Epistles which now comprise the New Testament. These were readily received and recognized by the early Christians as inspired Scriptures. The apostles claimed that these writings were divinely inspired and authoritative, and true Christians have always accepted them as such.

We know that the Author of Scripture is the Holy Spirit. Even in Hebrews he reaches all the way back into the Old Testament that validates the New Testament. Heb.10:15 “The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: 16 “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.”

2Pe 1:21 For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

If Christians vote or do not vote will not change the status of America, nor can we blame those who choose not to vote if America gets a leader who is just as godless as he can be; the choices for President is between two sinners who are unregenerate. I could never, with a clear conscience, vote for a man who upholds abortion and/or homosexuality just because he has a good foreign policy plan. This world is not my home, so why would I make this an issue and feel as though I have to vote for one or the other? There is a bigger need for America than picking the ‘best candidate’ for president, this nation is wicked, sinful, vile and rejects the God of the Bible. America is filled with idolatry, immorality, materialism, arrogance, selfishness and every other sin imaginable, to be concerned over who should be president is a distant second to the first and foremost issue facing this country…the need of God’s truth proclaimed from sea to shining sea.
The only thing that will change sinful men and women is the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ {Romans 1:16}. Putting a godless man into the office of leadership over this country is not the issue, there have always been godless men, for the most part, in the office of leadership over this country.

My own view is that in the US we have consistently gotten better leaders than we deserve. Even Obama is better than we deserve. But the question of what we deserve is separate from what we ought to do when given a choice between two leaders, one of whom is worse than the other.

By the way, it’s interesting to me how doggedly some insist on characterizing a vote as one for “the lesser of evils” when it’s just as accurate to say “the better of the two.” Isn’t it pretty obvious that if one is “less evil” he is “better”?

What if both candidates favor abortion, gay marriage or something not on the table presently like euthanasia, human cloning or slavery of all left handed people? I’d still vote if one of the two has a better foreign policy or a better grasp of our founding principles or a history of more competent decision making when handling crises. He would still be better than the other guy.

In America (pretty much everywhere else for that matter) a vote for someone has never meant “I am in favor of every single thing this person believes and does” or even, necessarily “I am in favor of most of what this person believes in and does.” It only means “I believe this one is better than the other.”