Steve's answer was one I wished I could have written down at the time, for how thorough and Biblical it was.

Fortunately, there is a website that does just that (Matthew713.com), recording the many called-in questions and Steve's answers from his program, and presenting them with topical references for easy searching.

Using that site, I was able to locate that particular caller's question and the answer. Considering the upcoming midterm elections that face US citizens in less than 2 weeks, I thought it would be important to present Steve's answer for those who may be on the fence when it comes to following Jesus while fulfilling civic duty.

The caller asked, "...I know you don't want to get involved in political things, but ... as a Christian, is it good to be involved in public life [and voting], I haven't seen that it is."

Steve answered, "Yeah, of course, because public life is social life. 'Love your neighbor as you love yourself' is the great commandment. You can't just sit at home in isolation loving your neighbor and fulfill that commandment. ... When the lawyer said, 'How do I love my neighbor?' Jesus told the story of the good Samaritan. ... He saw someone in need, ... he saw someone in danger, he sacrificed his own safety, he sacrificed his own resources to help. And Jesus said, 'Go and do likewise.'"

"Loving is doing something for others," he explained to the caller. "Now, what is politics? Politics is simply governing. Governing is supposed to protect people from danger. The Bible says that God ordains government leaders to punish criminal behavior (Rom. 13, 1 Peter 2).

"Obviously, we'd all be in a lot of danger without police punishing criminals... Now, governments sometimes overstep, and want to control people in ways that have nothing to do with protecting them, providing services that people may not even want or need. Ironically, sometimes the government does all of that while not punishing criminals. ... So, governments can go wrong, and when they do, people suffer."

Steve quoted from Proverbs 29:2, "When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when a wicked man rules, the people groan."

"...If people are burdened financially, health wise, or oppressed by a tyrannical government," he continued, "These are burdens that Christians should want to bear for one another, that's how we fulfill the law of Christ."

Then Steve pointed out the differences between Believers who live in a time when they have a say in the matter, and those who throughout history have not.

"Now, not all Christians in history have [been able to have] anything to say about who governed them, or how they were governed. That's a fairly recent government system that was [brought about] when this country was founded. We get to choose who will govern us, at least in some measure. ... We can even run for office if we want to. ... Bad governors do not promote laws that are just, everyone wants justice to prevail in society. Good governance promotes justice. Now, what's that got to do with us? Well, [Christians are] supposed to love our neighbors as we love ourselves."

Steve gave an example of someone who may be rich being concerned about a neighbor who is poor, and wanting government policies that would help that person rise out of that circumstance. Then he said, "There's no government policy that has lifted more people out of poverty than free market capitalism. That's just a fact of history. And there are not many kinds of recent governments that have driven more people into poverty than socialist, communist countries..." (Image: via The Narrow Path)

"As one who loves my neighbor as myself, I'm gonna want to promote government that gives these people freedom to escape the trap of poverty... If I was a government official, I'm not going to just pay all their bills so they can just stay home and watch TV and play video games, that's not going to advance their life ... So, as a righteous ruler, I would want to promote righteous and helpful policies and laws. ...

"We live in a society where it's upside down. In Biblical times, the kings and emperors were the rulers. Here ... this is a government 'of the people, by the people, for the people' ... the officers of the government we call 'public servants.' They are chosen by us and employed by us to serve our interests. That's very different than having a king or an emperor. ... They didn't have that in Biblical times. But because we have it, it means that We in some sense, bear the responsibility of governing. We have the responsibility to influence, one way or another, policies that will enhance people's lives... In our case ... this is done by voting."

Mentioning the caller's reference to abortion in questioning whether or not to vote, Steve continued with his answer:

"You mentioned you shouldn't vote for someone who's promoting abortion ... There's not one Democrat candidate that we know of that wouldn't promote killing a baby in the very birth canal. Child murder is simply not one of the things that the Democrats seem alarmed by, and life and truth are not values of that party. I'm not taking a political stance ... but I'm saying ... the Democrats of JFK's time, they were against abortion, now they're all for it. That kind of rules them out for making policies that enhance people's lives; abortion kills lives, hundreds of thousands a year, and of the most innocent people—children. Our society has become callous to that but God hasn't...

"What about the Republicans, are they Christian? Some of them are, some are not. ... I would say this though, although I'm not a Republican or a Democrat, I would vote for a Republican candidate (or a Democrat) if they were standing for things which I knew would make the next generation's lives better, and preserve their rights and their freedoms.

"...I don't want the government paying my bills ...my education ... my medical, I want the government to preserve my rights. I'll take care of the other stuff, or God will. The point is, the government was not appointed by God to pay our bills, it's appointed by God to preserve our rights, and to punish the people who take them away.

"Anyway," he concluded, "I think voting is a very large part of the Christian's duty in loving thy neighbor as self. That would be my answer to your question." Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

To hear the full answer by Steve Gregg on the subject of voting and the civic duty of a Christian, Click Here, or visit TheNarrowPath.com. 

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Should Christians Vote? Longtime Bible Teacher Steve Gregg Gave This Excellent Answer...

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