OPINION:
In a new shock poll, veteran social researcher George Barna revealed that 32 million regular churchgoers plan to not vote. This is a scandal. Voting is the most blindingly simple thing a citizen can do. And tens of millions of believers aren’t even going to do THAT?
As a guy who works with tens of thousands of young adults every year, I think I know why this is happening, at least for Gen Z. It isn’t that they think their vote is irrelevant. It’s that they believe the entire process is irrelevant.
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In my free video course “Should Christians Avoid Politics? Debunking Four Myths that Keep Christians Sidelined,” I make the case that politics — the rule of the civil government if it is balanced alongside the family and the church — is a vital part of a flourishing society.
Politics isn’t everything, but it’s not nothing either. Augustine claimed that citizens of the kingdom of God must be the best citizens in the kingdom of man because they’re the ones who understand that there is a God, and political leaders are not God.
People of faith contribute best as citizens when they balance the God-ordained sphere of government with the two other spheres of society that the Bible treats as equally important, the church and the family:
SEE ALSO: Jeff Myers: Should Christians avoid politics?
- The family’s purpose is to honor the future by preparing children to be good stewards. The family is the basis of the economy. Around the world, 90% of businesses are family-owned. It is also the basis of education — parents decide how to best train their children in the way they should go.
- The church’s purpose is to honor the past by manifesting God’s love and grace on earth. It ministers to the family and is the conscience of the government.
- The government’s purpose is to honor the present by securing justice and liberty. It punishes evil and serves as the traffic cop to ensure the smooth flow of freedom.
Begin to rethink your role in a culture of partisan divides as Dr. Jeff Myers exposes four lies that silence Christians, keeping them sidelined in politics. Access the full series from “Summit Talks” here.
Think of these three spheres as balloons in a box. If one gets blown up bigger, the other two get squeezed.
Which balloon is the biggest today? Fifty-five percent of people say the government is too big. Only 7% say it is too small.
And yet when you hear politicians speak, they act as if the government is the answer to every question. They can’t wait to get their hands on it and expand its power. This is not a neutral observation. It’s coming from an anti-God religious worldview.
A good government doesn’t try to tell people what to think. It doesn’t try to control economic productivity. Rather, it stays within its bounds and allows families and congregations to flourish. Here’s just one example: people who live in nations where the government uses its power to protect people’s private property and keep corruption at bay have 10 times the average income as those who don’t have that kind of protection.
SEE ALSO: Your vote should be to lessen evil as much as possible
In C. S. Lewis’s “The Last Battle,” the selfish dwarfs refuse to join in the battle against evil. “The Dwarfs are for the Dwarfs,” they say. Aslan the Lion replies sadly, “Their prison is only in their own minds, yet they are in that prison; and so afraid of being taken in that they cannot be taken out.”
Christians who avoid voting are like those Dwarfs. There is no place in a biblical worldview for saying, “The Christians are for the Christians.” In times like these, the worst thing people of faith can do is huddle in their sanctuaries and pretend that the outside world is irrelevant. That’s not God’s perspective and it shouldn’t be ours, either.
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Dr. Jeff Myers is president of Summit Ministries. As an educator and entrepreneur, Dr. Myers has become one of America’s most respected authorities on youth leadership development. Focus on the Family founder James Dobson referred to him as “a very gifted and inspirational leader.” Evangelist Josh McDowell called him “a man who is 100% sold out to preparing the next generation to reflect the character of Christ in the culture.” Through his speaking engagements and media appearances, Dr. Myers has become a fresh voice offering humor and insight from a Christian worldview. He is the author of 18 books, including the “Understanding the Faith,” “Understanding the Times,” and “Understanding the Culture” textbooks which are studied by tens of thousands of students. Dr. Myers holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Denver. He continues to engage college students through an exclusive Signature Leadership Course series offered with Unbound, a project-based education company that prepares high school and college students to become leaders for Christ in the real world. Jeff and his wife Stephanie and their family live in Colorado.
Summit Ministries exists to equip and support rising generations to embrace God’s truth and champion a biblical worldview. Through conferences online, in Colorado and Georgia, and Summit’s gap year semester, tough questions are raised (and answered) and students are equipped to stand firm in their faith. Summit’s worldview curriculum for Christian schools, homeschools, and churches trains the next generation to love God with their hearts and minds. In all of these things, Summit desires to see generations of Christians mobilized to transform a broken world.
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