Will Biblical Values Shape Your Vote? message #3 in the series Thinking Biblically in a Political Season

A Chapter a Day

• Sunday, October 18, Acts 14
• Monday, October 19, Acts 15           
• Tuesday, October 20, Acts 16
• Wednesday, October 21, Acts 17
• Thursday, October 22, Acts 18
• Friday, October 23, Acts 19
• Saturday, October 24, Acts 20

If you would like to receive a short, daily email to help you better understand and apply the chapter we are reading together each day, please sign up by texting the word Chapter to 22828.

1. Be and — exercise your right to vote (Matthew 5:13-16).

• Early voting: Through Friday, October 30
• Election Day: Tuesday, November 3
• Registration status, voting locations, and sample ballots are available at https://www.mvp.sos.ga.gov/MVP/mvp.do.

2. As we consider for whom we will vote, we should evaluate carefully and prayerfully:

• The Person – character & competence
• Their Partners – VP, Cabinet, Staff, Closest Associates, etc.
• Their Party – Democrat, Republican
• Their
• Their

We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, (2 Corinthians 10:6, ESV)

Four Foundational Biblical Values to Consider as We Vote

1. The value of .

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27, ESV)

We should vote to protect and defend innocent, human life – from the moment of conception to natural death.

2. The value of .

³ And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” ⁴ He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, ⁵ and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? ⁶ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” (Matthew 19:3-6, ESV)

Let marriage be held in honor among all, (Hebrews 13:4a, ESV)

Democrat Party Platform (2016)

“Democrats applaud last year’s decision by the Supreme Court that recognized that LGBT people—like other Americans—have the right to marry the person they love.  But there is still much work to be done.”

Republican Party Platform (2020)

“Traditional marriage and family, based on marriage between one man and one woman, is the foundation for a free society and has for millennia been entrusted with rearing children and instilling cultural values.  We condemn the Supreme Court’s ruling in United States v. Windsor, which wrongly removed the ability of Congress to define marriage policy in federal law.  We also condemn the Supreme Court’s lawless ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, . . .. In Obergefell, five unelected lawyers robbed 320 million Americans of their legitimate constitutional authority to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.”

We should vote to honor marriage as the union of one man and one woman in covenant commitment.

3. The value of

• King Nebuchadnezzar attempted to coerce Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into worshiping his golden image, but they refused (Daniel 3 and the fiery furnace).
• King Darius attempted to coerce Daniel by forbidding him to pray to God, but he refused (Daniel 6 and the lions’ den).
• The Jewish authorities in Jerusalem attempted to coerce the apostles by commanding them to cease speaking in Jesus’ name, but they refused (Acts 5).

But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. (Acts 5:29, ESV)

 First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

How is religious freedom being threatened today?

1. Unequal enforcement of pandemic regulations.

2. Attempt to exclude people of faith from public office.

3. Coercion of citizens to support the new government orthodoxy on same-sex marriage.

Democrat Party Platform (2020)

“We will fight to enact the Equality Act and at last outlaw discrimination against LGBTQ+ people in housing, public accommodations, access to credit, education, jury service, and federal programs.”  The “Equality Act,” which addresses sexual orientation and gender identity, states in part “The Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 2000bb et seq.) shall not provide a claim concerning, or a defense to a claim under, a covered title, or provide a basis for challenging the application or enforcement of a covered title.”

Republican Party Platform (2020)

“The Bill of Rights lists religious liberty, with its rights of conscience, as the first freedom to be protected.  Religious freedom in the Bill of Rights protects the right of the people to practice their faith in their everyday lives. . . . We pledge to defend the religious beliefs and rights of conscience of all Americans and to safeguard religious institutions against government control.”

We should vote to protect and defend religious liberty.

4. The value of equal , and law and .

Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, ¹⁴ or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. (1 Peter 2:13-14, ESV)

For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, ⁴ for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. (Romans 13:3-4, ESV)

We should vote to ensure equal justice under law and to support law and order.