Your vote is your own
October 8, 2008 (Wednesday)
”Every tub shall sit on its own bottom.” That old saying means, of course, that every person is responsible for his/her own life.
The prophecy of Ezekiel begins with this same thought: “The word of the LORD came to me: ‘What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel: ‘The fathers eat sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge?‘ As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel. For every living soul belongs to me, the father as well as the son—both alike belong to me. The soul who sins is the one who will die” (Ezekiel 1:2-4 NIV).
Each of us as an individual is accountable to God. We cannot blame Adam for the wrong things we have done. We cannot blame anyone but ourselves. We cannot say, as Flip Wilson said, “The Devil made me do it!” Whatever we have done is our own doing and no one else’s.
Why, then, do some pastors believe they have the right and responsibility to tell the members of their congregations what to think and how to vote? The basic principle upon which hangs all our theology is the competency of the soul in religion under God. Baptists have held to this fundamental belief for centuries.
A pastor who publicly urges his congregation to vote for or against a candidate for public office is not only risking the loss of his church’s tax exempt status, he is violating the foundational principle that brought Baptists into being: each person is individually accountable to God. We have no hierarchy in our churches, which are not aligned with any political party. Pastors are perfectly free to preach whatever God lays on their hearts, but the people are able to think for themselves and make up their own minds. They have the right to disagree, and we pastors are to respect that right. When people come to church, they should be enabled by the spirit of the church to feel wanted and accepted, no matter who is their favorite choice for public office.