“Pastor, Who Should I Vote For?”

From Messiah Lutheran Church's October 2012 Newsletter

“Pastor, who should I vote for?”  When election time rolls around, I sometimes get this question. It’s not been my habit to preach much about politics, although much of what the Bible says on social and moral issues certainly has a bearing on which candidates will receive your vote.

What is a pastor’s responsibility when it comes to helping people make informed decisions during an election?  First and foremost (and this, I suppose, should be obvious), we are to direct our congregations to what the Bible says about the issues that are facing our nation, our state, and our community. Everyone is concerned about the economy, and there may be several equally valid solutions to renewing our nation’s economic vitality. Yet the Bible gives us no clear answers here. It is not a textbook on economics. The Bible does, however, have a clear word on matters of the sanctity of life, the definition of marriage, and the limits of human government in the area of religious freedom.

The Bible upholds the sanctity of life from the womb to the tomb. Abortion is clearly against the Fifth Commandment. Likewise, the Bible defines marriage as the lifelong union of a man and a woman. Homosexual unions are not marriages in the sight of God.  The Bible also teaches each of us that we are to be good citizens, obeying the laws that our government has put in place, as long as those laws do not conflict with God’s revealed Word. If we find that this is the case with certain laws, then we are called to “obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). This has become an issue recently in our country with the government’s mandate that church related insurers provide coverage for contraception for their employees even if the church’s teaching (i.e. the Roman Catholic Church) is against contraception. Our synod does not have a position on contraception, but we are opposed to contraceptives that in essence are abortion-inducing drugs. This issue not only impinges on the religious freedom of our Roman Catholic neighbors. It is an unprecedented assault on the conscience of people of faith.  That’s why President Harrison, our synodical president, has been in the forefront criticizing the aforementioned governmental mandate.

A pastor should take care not to endorse a candidate from the pulpit and a congregation should not be seen as endorsing specific candidates. This could endanger a congregation’s non-profit status. A 1954 law prohibits religious organizations that receive tax-deductible donations from endorsing specific candidates. Therefore, you will not hear me endorsing a candidate in my office as pastor. That being said, I am also a private citizen and in that capacity I am able to offer my opinions on who I believe is the best candidate. Feel free to ask…just don’t expect me to do it while vested in the chancel.

What about your responsibility as a Christian citizen? First and foremost, a Christian citizen should pray that God will lead you and guide you as you seek to make an informed decision. Pray for your current leaders (1 Tim. 2:1-2). Pray for the men and women running for office. Pray even for the one who’s not “your guy” or “your gal.” Pray that God would “grant them wisdom and understanding that under their peaceable governance [God’s] people may be guarded and directed in righteousness, quietness, and unity” (Collect #226 in Lutheran Service Book).

A Christian citizen will also be actively engaged in the political process. Take advantage of the freedoms that we still have in this country, unlike others around the world who live under totalitarian or fascist regimes.  Participate, vote, serve, communicate with your friends and neighbors (in spite of the fact that the old adage says that you’re not supposed to talk about religion or politics in polite company). Educate yourself, know what is in the party platforms of each candidate, and decide if your Christian confession is consistent with the candidate’s views and their party platform. Whichever candidate is closest to your morals and values … that is the one who should get your vote.

Is it always going to be a matter of “the lesser of two evils”? Not always. But when you consider that there is no perfect candidate … they’re all sinners like you and me … then I guess to a certain extent the whole political process is always a matter of choosing “the lesser of two evils.”

Above all else, remember who really is in charge. “There is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been appointed by God” (Romans 13:1). God has used good rulers and bad rulers to accomplish his purposes in human history. God used Jewish kings just as much as he used Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek, and Roman rulers to accomplish his purposes in human history.  God used Christian kings and pagan kings to accomplish his purposes in human history. Since this is the case, then he can surely use a Christian or a Mormon president today to accomplish his purposes in the history of our nation.

Whatever happens in our election next month – whether “your guy” wins or loses – remember that the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords will always be ruling and reigning for the good of his Holy Church (Ps. 47:8; 96:10; 1 Cor. 15:25; Eph. 1:22-23; 1 Tim. 6:15).

In Christ’s service and yours,

Pastor Onken

LCMS Open Letter on Religious Freedom

This Sunday, we plan to include a bulletin insert at Messiah with the text of the open letter and the signatories. If you wish to read it now, click here. In the video below, LCMS President Matthew Harrison introduces the letter. Read more by going to the president's page at http://www.lcms.org/president.

LCMS President comments on birth control mandate

Unhappy with yesterday's HCR vote? Read this.

Encouraging words from Pastor Paul McCain at Cyberbrethren today, quoting Dr. Russell Moore:

“Now these three abide: anger, outrage, and fear—and the greatest of these is fear.”

That’s not in the Bible.

But sometimes I wonder if I think it is.

The United States House of Representatives just passed a health care reform bill that I and lots of other Christians opposed. Such legislation should concern us. There are some bad consequences for the weakest and most vulnerable among us, principally unborn children. But should it also concern us that so many of us are talking today about how afraid we are?

Is it a problem that some of us who are tranquil as still water about biblical doctrine and ecclesial mission are red-faced about Nancy Pelosi and the talking heads on MSNBC? Is it a problem that some who haven’t shared the gospel with their neighbors in months or years are motivated to vent to strangers on the street about how scary national health care will be?

It’s not that I think Christians should be disengaged from issues of justice (God forbid!). It’s just that I wonder if we wouldn’t represent Christ and his kingdom better if we did it with a certain tranquility of Spirit, a tranquility that signals we’re not afraid of the rise and fall of temporal kingdoms and their policies.

Here's a link to the original post...

Don’t Be Afraid: Wise Words in the Aftermath of the National Health Care Vote

Analyzing Rick Warren's Prayer at the Presidential Inauguration

Click here to read a spot-on analysis of Rick Warren's prayer at President Obama's inauguration on Tuesday.

HT: Pastor Juan Palm at Palm Sundays.

More stupidity. And I'm giving up on the French.

Got a little hot under the collar a couple of days ago and used some blue language. Forgive me if I offended any readers. But I was sincere in my use of the word because of the demonic purposes to which Gospel-less presentations and Christ-less prayers can be used.

Now, we have more stupidity at hand, but I will refrain from speaking any "French." Lord knows, this deserves it. A so-called Christian bishop has been invited to pray at the upcoming presidential inauguration. However, he feels that it would be wrong at this event to give a Christian prayer. Click here to read more about it over at Cranach: The Blog of Veith.

Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. And Dumber.

As a Christian pastor, that's the only prayer I know how to give.

Listen to Jesus...

"If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it." (John 14:14)

"Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. " (John 16:23-24)

Not the name of Buddha. Not the name of Allah. Not the name of Vishnu. Not the name of some generic god or goddess.

None of the these but the Holy Name of Jesus Christ.

Liberalism, Conservativism, and Human Nature

I haven't discussed politics on this blog all that much. But often politics and theology intersect. I was reminded of this while reading a brief essay by P.J. O'Rourke in Why I Am a Reagan Conservative.

One major difference between liberalism and conservativism is how human nature is viewed. Liberalism sees humans as basically good. Conservativism knows that human nature is flawed (of course, the Bible teaches that human nature is more than merely flawed, rather it is utterly corrupt because of sin, but you get the point).

Here's how O'Rourke puts it in his essay:

The real faith of the Left is the holy goodness of humanity ... and the collective cosmic solidarity of mankind.

The paradoxical part of O'Rourke's essay is that Liberalism feels the need to reform humanity through the power of government and a so-called "New Man" which liberal policy and philosophy ought to produce (never mind the fact that this has already been tried and proven to be ineffective ... human nature is not changed by governmental regulations). And then comes my favorite part of the essay and the reason why I wanted to write this post. O'Rourke uses Biblical imagery to tell us what life would be like in this liberal utopia:

[S]uppose that an example of the virtuous "New Man" imagined by the Left reigns over heaven and earth. Call him "Ben." Or call him "Jerry." Anyway, Adam sacrifices all his ribs and half his backbone so that the Garden of Eden is representative of the full spectrum of human sexuality. Endangered species go first into the Ark. (Now, how do we get those brontosaurs out of the vegetable garden?) Moses is called to the mountaintop to retrieve the Ten Thousand Commandments cajoling the Israelites to be "in touch with themselves" and deploring behavior that's "hurtful and divisive." Joshua blows his horn and the residents of Jericho join in on recorders and tamborines. There's no capital punishment in the Judea of Pontius Pilate. Jesus does three to five in a minimum security imperial pen. He writes The Gospel of Prison Reform and starts a socially conscious, sustainable small business by using his heavenly powers to invent refrigeration. The symbol of universal salvation is an ice cream sundae. We are blessed with an infinite number of cleverly named delicious flavors. But we are required by law to use someone else's tongue to lick them.

Pastor Petersen Knows Who Will Win on Tuesday

Read his comments by clicking here.

"I Trust When Dark My Road"

Just ran across this blog which describes itself as "A Lutheran Blog exploring the theology of the cross, depression and mental illness in the light of our Lord's resurrection." Click here to check it out.

With an initiative on our ballot in Washington to permit physician assisted suicide, I thought the following post was especially pertinent:

Kudos to First Things for bringing this article to my attention on the astonishing rate of physician assisted suicides that have an association with clinical depression. Here’s the pertinent portion:

In 2007, none of the 46 people in Oregon who used physician-assisted suicide were evaluated by a psychologist or psychiatrist, the news release said.

For the new study, researchers at Oregon Health and Sciences University checked for depression or anxiety in 58 terminally ill patients who’d requested physician-assisted suicide or had contacted an assisted death organization. Fifteen of the patients met the criteria for depression and 13 for anxiety.

By the end of the study, 42 patients had died. Of those, 18 received a prescription for a lethal medication, and nine died by lethal ingestion. Of those who received a prescription for a lethal medication, three met the criteria for depression. All three died by lethal ingestion within two months of being assessed by researchers.

Luther is credited with saying that those who commit suicide are akin to someone who has been overcome by robbers in the woods. In this case the robbers are the very doctors who should be healing them. It is despicable to the point of incredulity that it would actually be legal to help someone with clinical depression commit suicide. I’m not sure how that qualifies as Death with Dignity. I would say that is more like Death by Evil Design.

You can tell the level of civilization of a nation by how it treats the helpless in her midst. Between abortion and euthaniasia we are slipping into barbarism more every day.

Talk about depressing. Lord, have mercy on us.

The Advantage of a Pro-Life Candidate

Here's a quote from a larger post by Gene Veith entitled "What I look for in candidates":

For me, being pro-life trumps just about everything in a politician. It tells me that he believes in moral absolutes, recognizes evil when he sees it, and believes in transcendent human rights that go beyond the state and the culture.

The entire post is worth reading, along with other posts related to our current presidential campaign. Click here to go to Veith's blog.

Just In From the Hill

Click here to read "Just In From the Hill," a newsletter with updates on what the federal government has been up to lately, including a summary of bills introduced in congress. "Just In From the Hill" is published by LCMS World Relief and Human Care. If this is something you want to receive in your email inbox, go to LCMS e-News.