Letters to the Editor
Christians Shouldn’t Abstain
“Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.” Roman 13:1-2 (NKJV)
For years I have heard good, solid, well-meaning United States Christians and Christian leaders quote the above verse as justification to refrain from involvement in the affairs of our federal government. These Christians hold the belief that God ordains who will be our political leaders, good and bad, and that we must endure whatever policies these leaders choose to enact, all the while limiting our involvement to prayer for these leaders and their decisions.
If we lived in almost any nation other than the United States of America, I might agree with them. But we don’t! What’s the difference you might ask? Simple. In all other forms of government, the people receive their “rights” from the government. But under the U.S. Constitution, the government receives its “rights” from the people. “We the people” created the federal government to serve our interests. “We the people” were not created to serve the interests of our federal government. We are not “subjects” of our government. Our government is “subject” to us. We as citizens have the responsibility to obey each and every law enacted by our legislative branch of government. But we also have the God-given inalienable right and responsibility to work to ensure that those laws reflect our values.
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