Our world is fed two narratives when it comes to democracies - either you vote and uphold patriotism, honor, duty, and morality, or you abstain from voting and refuse to participate in the world in any meaningful way. While I will acknowledge that many who abstain from voting likely do so because they are either lazy or uninformed, I believe there may often be a good rationale for Christians to abstain. I want to provide a few of the reasons which stand out most to me, and provide you with a few other resources to ponder if you decide to consider this option further.
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I am a product of America. I've been trained to be a good citizen of the American Kingdom. I've been supportive of upholding the Constitution and founding documents. I've been patriotic. I've taken on my responsibility to vote in every presidential election for which I've been eligible. But during the last election cycle I realized that while I had been well-trained and indoctrinated in kingdom ethics by my country and community, I hadn't been all that well trained in certain Kingdom ethics by my spiritual community, particularly as it pertained to politics. Growing up, I was always told who to vote for or what issues to vote for by my spiritual community, yet I was never taught to evaluate that decision making process. I was to be like a questioning Berean when it came to the scriptures, but not when it came to political parties and issues. This is probably because the moral answer was always so simple in the political sphere. The Republican party is the only party which has a chance of winning and which doesn't support the great moral evil of abortion. The Republican party obviously deserves my unquestioning vote. On top of that, the Republican party has become so tied to the Religious Right - a huge demographic - that they'll give my Christian community more power and influence. With the Republican party, conservative Christians have the greatest chance of making America godly, or at least the greatest chance of staving off the impending moral decay by holding back God's judgment on our nation through the legislating of morality. So I voted Republican for the first three elections of my life - quite literally without thinking twice.
For a much expanded version of the case for nonviolence in podcast form, check out the Fourth Way Podcast. 1. Introduction: My journey to pacifism 2. Biblical Teaching: A foundation for pacifism using scripture 3. Biblical Examples: Examples of explicit non-violence in the face of aggression from the Bible and Apostles 4. Early Church Teaching: Quotes from the early church fathers about their beliefs on war, soldiering, vengeance, violence, punishment, etc 5. Real Life Examples: Examples of non-violence, its implementation, and effect 6. Pacifism Applied: Explores what the process and action of pacifism look like 7. Evaluating the Christian Alternative to Pacifism: A look at a Just War theory of morally using violence as a Christian and asking how it isn't even more idealistic than pacifism 8. Pacifism Quotes to Ponder: A reflection on non-violence and violence from those who journeyed through persecution 9. Counter-Rebuttals: Rebutting the greatest criticisms leveled at a pacifistic position 10. Questions for Just-War Adherents : Returning difficult questions to Just War adherents about their ideology 11. Conclusion 12. Resources *13. Addendums - Additional arguments and ideas I'm putting here until I reformat the site or figure out where I can include them. *14. My Poetry - Poetry I've written in trying to work through various issues of the Kingdom, including nonviolence. *15. My Book - While the book isn't specifically about pacifism, it deals with the consequentialist (ends justify the means) morality which my culture taught me that prevented me from living as Christ desires, which includes a nonviolent life. I think this inculcated morality is what must be addressed before many can hear Christ's words. I'm happy to share this document for free as well, just contact me. The full, original article (not updated with more recent editions) can be downloaded in PDF format below:
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*The views and ideas on this site are in no way affiliated with any organization, business, or individuals we are a part of or work with. They're also not theological certainties. They're simply thinking out loud, on issues and difficulties as I process things.
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