Americans are trying to decide who they want to be President for the next four years.
While non-Christians have the luxury of voting purely in their own financial or other self-serving interest, Christians, at least theoretically, should take a broader view of the decision.
Perhaps you are one of those Christians, and you found this blog because you were surfing the Internet looking for guidance.
I won’t be so audacious as to tell you for whom to vote, but I can, with some confidence, give you some Biblical principles to apply in helping you reach your decision.
1. Record trumps rhetoric. Jesus said, “Why do you call me Lord, Lord and not do what I say.” (Luke 6:46). The best test of what someone believes is what they’ve done, not what they say. In evaluating a candidate, I would suggest this means you weight a candidate’s record at least at 70% and what they say on the campaign trail at 30%.
2. Character counts. No surprise here, but I mention it because I fear many of my Christian friends have forgotten what they so passionately preached 15 years ago. You can’t separate a man from his character. It doesn’t matter how smart a candidate is, you are not electing a disembodied brain, but a whole person. When the Lord instructed the Israelites to appoint judges, one of the qualifications the Lord required was integrity. See Exodus 18:21. It’s still good advice.
3. Competency. One of the other requirements the Lord required of Israel’s leaders was that they be competent, i.e. “able men.” See Exodus 18:21. Someone can be right on all the issues but if they are not competent, not a good leader, they could accomplish absolutely nothing, or worse, do damage.
So what about ideology? Well, I’ll leave that one to you. I’ve offered some observations in other posts, but I recognize that this is a subject where good people differ. What I can say with confidence is if you apply the three principles above, you are less likely to choose the really bad candidate, and at a minimum it should be able to narrow your choice. GS