Politics and the lesser of 2 evils

As I begin to write this article, I am fully aware that the headline may arouse the fears of the liberal community that I, as a preacher, might be endorsing a political candidate or ballot measure proposition. But let me put your mind at ease, for neither will I, as a preacher, give such an endorsement nor will I take off my “preacher’s” hat to do so.

No, the purpose I have in mind has much more depth to it than that.

To be honest, I tend to vote Republican and am registered as such because the Republican Party tends to endorse the values I believe in. But keep in mind the word “tends,” because this is not always the case. The GOP often endorses values that run contrary to those I hold dear. It is in these situations that I am often urged to vote for the lesser of two evils because, as the wisdom goes, a vote for the lesser is a vote against the greater.

I cannot tell you how much I hate such advice. It is sad to think — yet I believe it is true — that we are being held hostage by the two main parties, which think so little of the American people as to put forth evil to be voted on rather than that which is good.

It seems that we have allowed this by becoming obsessed with issues rather than candidates as people. We care more about what they stand for than who they are. Somehow we have come to believe that what a person does in his or her private life has no bearing on job performance, but such is not the truth.

What we need is a litmus test that will allow us to see base qualifications. One such test is found in I Timothy 3:4-5, one required of the church in the choosing of its leadership: “One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?).”

Hear what God is saying.

First of all, God mandates correct leadership. To have correct leadership, we must first get the gender correct and God has always endorsed for the man to be in charge, not the woman. God wants men to be in charge of their homes as well as in the church. That they are not is why so many of are in such a wreck as they are today. For Christians to dismiss this precept as not applicable to civil government is either to be ignorant of passages such as Isaiah 3:12, which describes female leadership as a curse, or they have chosen the praise of men rather than that of God.

Just because modern society does not see the distinction between the freedom of religion and freedom from religion, don’t believe that God’s precepts do not apply. And just because some things are politically incorrect in this world does not give God’s people liberty to join in.

Secondly, God mandates proven leadership. We live in a day where credentials hammered out on the anvil of academics are often to be preferred to those of experience. While it is true that education adds to the person, it is only an enhancement; it has never made someone to be more than what they already were. Hence, educated thieves and liars are just that.

Parenting, on the other hand, is leadership hammered out on the anvil of experience, the product of which can be readily seen.

The lesson in this in regard to the church is that because of the nature of the position, you must take extreme care as to whom you place in it. It involves how they will spend church money, how they will teach the congregation, how they mediate problems and how they will administer discipline. All of these can be demonstrated on a smaller scale in regard to their own children. A man who is raising poorly behaved children is not fit for this job.

What God is saying is that what a man is in private is in a small degree what he will be in public. Isn’t it about time we got a glimpse of the private lives of those we put into public office?

Ron Hamman is pastor for Independent Baptist Church of Wasilla. Contact him

at 357-4229.