TO VOTE OR NOT TO VOTE

I have been troubled to hear Christians saying:

·       “I’m sitting out these elections. It seems that God is bringing judgment on this country in light of the two candidates we have to choose from.”

I am troubled by this response for many reasons. While it might be true that God wants to judge this nation (and perhaps even the rest of this world), our responsibilities are clear. We have to seek the welcome of our communities and even our nations.

This was the message that God had given Jeremiah deliver to the Jews in their painful and humiliating exile in Babylon. They were instructed to seek the welcome of that unrighteous town.

Even when God told Moses that He would destroy the nation of Israel and create a new nation from Moses (Exodus 32:10), Moses didn’t say. “Well, if that’s your will, then do it. I won’t oppose that.” Instead, Moses understood the role to which he had been called and intervened in favor of Israel:

·       But Moses implored the LORD his God and said, “O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’” And the LORD relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people. (Exodus 32:11-14)

We too have a role to play – that of the light of the world. We have to, therefore, ask of ourselves, “Which candidate has the policies that will best protect the innocent and promote justice and welfare?”

Jesus told a revealing parable about a Good Samaritan. The religious leadership passed by a bleeding man lying in the side of the road without offering the slightest assistance. We would be tempted to think, “Evidently, this mugging had occurred because God had allowed it. Evidently, this man’s karma was bad and he received just what he deserved.”

However, such thinking didn’t enter into Jesus’ parable. Instead, this was a man who clearly needed help. That is what mattered, not his karma.

Let’s apply this to our own nation. Our nation is bleeding. Our job is not to consider its karma or what it might deserve in God’s eyes. Our job is to stem the bleeding.

Mordecai knew of Haman’s plans to exterminate the Jews, and he did something about it, even asking Esther to risk her life. He could have instead thought to himself,

·       “Evidently, the Jewish people deserve this. After all, we had been condemned into exile for our sins, and then we failed to return to Israel along with the other exiles. Instead, we became comfortable in the land of the Persians and didn’t want to give up our comforts to return as pioneers to the Promised Land. Perhaps we deserve the punishment that Haman wishes to bring upon us. So let’s just allow the chips to fall where they may.”

However, Mordecai knew his duty and intervened to save his people Israel. He would leave the rest up to God.

We Christians cannot abandon the political arena or any other arena. Instead, our duty is to shine the light of Christ in whatever arena God might have placed us. Voting is one arena that we should not ignore.

A PLEA TO MY JEWISH BRETHREN

We said, “Never again,” but it’s happening once again before our very eyes. If there was anything we should have learned from Adolph Hitler, it is to listen to what our enemies are saying.

For years, Hitler had said that he wanted to get rid of the Jews. Yet, we refused to listen. There were even Jewish groups in Germany who had supported Hitler, despite his threats.

However, the Muslims are speaking even more directly about the extermination of the Jews than had Hitler, but we are not listening. Unbelievably, there are Jewish groups in the USA who are still supporting Islamic rights to speak their hatred on College campuses. Meanwhile, they refuse to hear their threats or look at what they are doing, even as tens of thousands of Jews are fleeing Islamic violence in Western Europe.

Do we not know? Have we not heard? When I warn Jewish groups about the encroaching genocide, they respond, “This is not our focus.” When I warn individuals, they treat me as if I am an Islamophobe.

Well, perhaps there is a legitimate threat. Perhaps, in some sense, we are responsible for our own impending sorrows. Our ears are shut. We refuse to listen to the warnings, both from our G-d and from our enemies. We have even turned our backs on God, the very thing that the Prophets of Israel had continually warned Israel against. Moses had warned:

·       Deuteronomy 8:15-18 Beware that you don’t forget the God who led you through the great and terrible wilderness with the dangerous snakes and scorpions, where it was so hot and dry. He gave you water from the rock! He fed you with manna in the wilderness (it was a kind of bread unknown before) so that you would become humble and so that your trust in him would grow, and he could do you good. He did it so that you would never feel that it was your own power and might that made you wealthy. Always remember that it is the Lord your God who gives you power to become rich, and he does it to fulfill his promise to your ancestors.

However, we no longer trust in G-d. We have willfully forgotten Him. We have closed our ears to Him as we have towards our enemies. Instead, we have placed our hope in our own resources – our successes and abilities, albeit given to us by G-d. However, through Moses, G-d promises:

·       Deuteronomy 4:27-31  And the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD will drive you… But from there you will seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the LORD your God and obey his voice. For the LORD your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them.

FAITH IS NOT OPPOSED TO EVIDENCE BUT IS BASED UPON IT

 Alistair McGrath who came to a faith in Christ out of atheism is a fine theologian. However, he seems to retain some postmodern thinking - that we cannot prove the Christian faith or even have evidential support:

·       God is simply not an empirical hypothesis which can be checked out by the scientific method. As Stephen Jay Gould and others have insisted, the natural sciences are not capable of adjudicating negatively or positively on the God-question.

·       Any worldview—atheist, Islamic, Jewish, Christian or whatever—ultimately depends on assumptions that cannot be proved. Every house is built on foundations, and the foundations of worldviews are not ultimately capable of being proved in every respect. Everyone who believes anything significant or worthwhile about the meaning of life does so as a matter of faith. We’re all in the same boat.

There are a number of problems with his assertions:

1. No Proof!
2. There are many evidences for the Christian Faith!
3. Contradicted by Bible!

NUMBER 1: He is making the grandest assertion without any evidence: “Everyone who believes anything significant or worthwhile about the meaning of life does so as a matter of faith.” McGrath doesn’t even try to justify this dogmatism that no one has any evidence for their values or beliefs.

NUMBER 2: Paul mentioned one set of evidences – extensive eyewitness testimony for the resurrection:

·       1 Corinthians 15:3-8 (ESV) For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

If any of his disciples had been in doubt about the resurrection, they need only have asked around. Eyewitness testimony had so abounded that the Jews could not deny Jesus’ miracles. Instead, their writings ascribe His miracles to Satan.

NUMBER 3:

The Bible acknowledges other forms of evidence – some from the created world:

·       Romans 1:18-20: The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are WITHOUT EXCUSE.

There was no shortage of evidence. John the Baptist had been encouraged in his faith by the report of Jesus’ miracles (Matthew 11). Doubting Thomas came to believe because of the evidence – the post-resurrection appearance of Jesus (John 20). All the Apostles had been restored to have by these appearances:

·       Acts 1:3: He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

Even the Old Testament Jews had been given proofs of God’s presence, as Moses had reminded them:

·       Deuteronomy 4:34-35: Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides him.

Jesus gladly provided many forms of evidences:

·       John 13:19 “I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he.”

·       John 14:28-29 “You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe.”

·       John 10:37-38 “If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”

We have many objective evidential reasons to believe, even if our personal experiences have been more determinative.

JEALOUSY: ITS DECEPTIVENESS AND ITS MURDER

Jealousy is a deadly sin. Why? It is one that we refuse to face. We might readily admit that we have a problem with anger, resentment, lust, and even pride. However, jealousy is the one we will not face. Therefore, it is a stealth sin, one that goes undetected, and because of this, it is one of the most deadly.

Since it remains hidden, it can disguise itself as a concern for others and even as various forms in spirituality. Moses’ siblings, Miriam and Aaron, spoke against Moses for marrying a Cushite (Ethiopian) woman. However, it seems that they were jealous. Instead of telling Moses, “We want the authority that you have; give us a share,” they charged Moses with hoarding the authority for himself:

·       And they said, “Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?” And the LORD heard it. (Numbers 12:2; ESV)

Instead of jealousy honestly saying, “I want this, because I am jealous,” it makes its claim based on an egalitarian principle, and these are not hard to find. After all, the Bible claims that we are all equally created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26-27), we all have been given precious gifts, and all the Israelites were equally the children of their God.

In essence, Miriam and Aaron were arguing:

·       We are just as entitled as you are, Moses. God has also spoken through us, and so you have unrighteously hogged all the glory for yourself. The problem is not with us but with you!

Sometimes jealousy can even disguise itself in the form of a utopian vision for social change. Korah, a Levite, was not satisfied with the role that God had bestowed upon him and led a broadly-based revolution against Moses:

·       And they rose up before Moses, with a number of the people of Israel, 250 chiefs of the congregation, chosen from the assembly, well-known men. They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?” (Numbers 16:2-3)

Moses hadn’t exalted himself. It was God who had appointed Moses to this position after having prepared Moses for the job through 40 years of discouragement:

·       Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth. (Numbers 12:3)

Moses required great humility to prepare him for the role God had given him. He would not be able to trust in his own opinions but in every word that would proceed from the mouth of God (Deut. 8:3). In contrast, jealousy is convinced that it is entitled to more. Korah and his band were convinced that they were entitled to more and therefore weren’t satisfied with God’s “daily bread.” They were also proud, but they disguised their pride and jealousy in a utopian vision for the entire Israelite nation: “For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them.”

The deceit of pride and jealousy are always wrapped in a veneer of the truth. It was true that all Israel was holy and that the LORD was among them. However, it was not true that Moses had “gone too far.” Nor was it true that there should be no role distinctions, as the revolution had insinuated.

While we are all created in the image of God, there is nothing in the Bible that would eliminate role or wealth distinctions. In fact, so many of the Bible’s teachings are predicated on role distinctions – parent/child, wife/husband, employer/employee, priest/commoner. Even the priests had been divided into three groups, each having its own responsibilities.

Certainly, Korah and team would not have been satisfied once they established their “workers’ paradise.” However, this is the ruse of jealousy, disguising itself in the robes of idealism. However, Moses saw through them:

·       And Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you sons of Levi: is it too small a thing for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do service in the tabernacle of the LORD and to stand before the congregation to minister to them, and that he has brought you near him, and all your brothers the sons of Levi with you? And would you seek the priesthood also? Therefore it is against the LORD that you and all your company have gathered together.” (Numbers 16:8-11)

Korah and team should have known better that they weren’t merely revolting against Moses but against God Himself. However, sin is blinding, especially jealousy. It convinces us that we are totally justified, even in rebelling. The fault is always with the other person, as Scripture repeatedly warns:

·       All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the spirit. (Proverbs 16:2)

However, sin is so powerful and deceptive that, once given room, it will not allow us to hear the voice of reason and repent. Therefore, in response to Moses’ chilling revelation that they were sinning against God, the rebels merely stiffened their neck and rationalized their rebellion by blaming Moses for their rebellion:

·       “Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, that you must also make yourself a prince over us? Moreover, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men?” (Numbers 16:13-14)

According to Korah and his crowd, Moses was at fault. How? Because he hadn’t made good on his promise to Israel! Moses hadn’t yet brought Israel “into a land flowing with milk and honey.” They had conveniently forgotten about Israel’s rebellion against God at Kadesh Barnea. This was why Israel now had to wonder in the desert for 40 years. However, the rebels found it easier to blame Moses – the 1% -- for their problems.

However, Moses had warned them that, ultimately, their rebellion was against God. However, they did not have ears to hear. Their sin had hardened them. They should have been terrified by the prospect that they were in rebellion against God, but they weren’t and repentance had no place in their thinking.

Even after God opened the ground to consume the leadership, and their followers fled in terror:

·       On the next day all the congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and against Aaron, saying, “You have killed the people of the LORD.” (Numbers 16:41)

How is it that after seeing God’s terrifying judgment on their esteemed leaders, the people of Israel were still so infected with confidence in the “righteousness” of their rebellion that they would still accuse Moses and Aaron of doing wrong?

Entrenched, unconfessed sin causes us to believe in the “righteousness” of our cause, even in the face of overwhelming evidence against it. They too had become infected with egalitarian jealousy against Moses and Aaron. They still felt entitled to share in Moses “glory.”

Seeing the power of sin and jealousy, we must practice humility and vigilance. Lord, grant us this vigilance – the hatred of darkness and the love of your light.