We are three days past the elections here in the United States. Now what? Specifically, what can Christians learn and what do Christians need to do in this moment? I thought of some reasons to be thankful, some reasons to be hopeful, and some challenges that lie ahead of us.
I am thankful that the elections did not wind up in a near tie with 4 votes determining anything. The results were stark enough to eliminate months of court battles that would have kept us dog paddling in the goo of uncertainty. I am also thankful for President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris’s public concessions and statements. Vice-president Harris’s concession speech was actually her best performance, and while I vehemently oppose her policies, I think it showed that she was capable of improving and would have made a stronger candidate had she been exposed earlier to the same kind of scrutiny that JD Vance endured. I am thankful that all signs point to a peaceful transition of power. I am thankful that the Democrat party has less influence in our government. I am thankful that the elections are over.
I am hopeful for some return to sanity for how the government is run. I am hopeful that good comes from the cast of characters that coalesced around Trump, like Robert Kennedy, Tulsi Gabbard, and Elon Musk. I am even hopeful (ah hope – that last refuge for madmen and dreamers!) that the MSM will calm their pattering hearts and function as legitimate sources of news for the next four years. I am hopeful for less war around the world.
I am challenged in several ways. First, I am challenged to understand and articulate the difference between the relief that orthodox Christians (rightly) feel about these elections results and a false hope in the Republican party or Trump himself. In other words, I think we should be thankful for these election results without conflating them with the outworking of righteousness and salvation that takes place in the soul of a man. We can be thankful for a reprieve in the civil realm while understanding that this is not the only realm, or the most important realm, in which we want to have reason to give thanks to God. Revival of the soul must proceed any revival of the culture.
Which brings me to another way in which I am challenged, which is the great need for Christians to engage and articulate the truths upon which votes are ultimately cast. At least in some ways, votes are downstream issues. Amendment 3 (in Missouri) was a downstream issue. Downstream of what? Downstream of belief, which is downstream of worship. So Amendment 3 in Missouri squeaked by, and this is a great challenge. What kind of beliefs motivate people to vote in favor of unfettered abortion up until (or perhaps even after) birth? What would make people want to authorize the butchering of children for the sake of a morally bankrupt and sexually deviant psychology? We are decades downstream of the sexual revolution and fighting the tide from the shore is tough.
Christians have several challenges to overcome here. First, it is easier to promote progressive/liberal ideology because we live in a sentimental age (not loving mind you, but more sentimental) when anything couched in the terms of love or kindness appears to have the moral high ground. Secondly, the opposition has had the stage on this debate for so long that the places where we can speak truth have become limited to church services, which has seen a decline in attendance. The world has the mic at government run schools where wicked ideologies are foisted upon young and impressionable minds, the world has the mic in the news media, and the world has the mic among storytellers (TV, movies, and music). But some are starting to figure this out. For example, organizations like the Daily Wire are reaching a pretty big audience. Catholic apologists like Trent Horn/Matt Fraud or Presbyterian publishers like Canon press are making a difference. As a pastor, I’m trying to figure out how to care for my flock while also engaging the culture. I haven’t cracked that code yet, but I want to.
My personal opinion is that this election is a reprieve for the Church in which we need to return to the basic task of the church, which is to make disciples. This needs to be done in 2 ways. First, we need to disciple the people in our churches. While every Christian is at a different maturity, anyone who has been a Christian for a while should have understood the fundamental reasons why Amendment 3 is an anti-God, anti-human flourishing amendment. Pastors who do not boldly teach these truths (especially if they are afraid of how people will react) have no reason to stay in the ministry. Get out. The second way this needs to happen is to disciple beyond the walls of the church, so to speak. Making disciples means evangelizing and baptizing as well as “teaching all things whatsoever I have commanded you”. I think most Christians want to do this, but we’re just not sure how. But we gotta try.
Nathan Writes 