How Do I Vote? Part 2: Citizenship Considerations

In my first blog post I framed a question in order to tease apart the considerations of how a Christian should consider voting in the upcoming US Presidential election.  By the way, I am NOT going to conclude by telling you, or even me, who to vote for.  That's between you, your conscience, and The Holy Spirit.  My interest here is how we will each make the decision.

I want to start by considering that every Christian has two citizenships.  If you have read Augustine's brilliant book Two Cities, then you'll know where I am heading with this.  If you haven't then it'll still seem familiar because of Augustine's huge influence on our thinking.  Yes, I have a citizenship in my nation here on planet Earth.  I was British, but now I am American. (By the way, you may have been born in America, but I chose America - so I am definitely patriotic!)  One day, 36 years ago for me, I chose to follow the Lord Jesus Christ for the rest of my days.  I turned away from my old life and its self-centered priorities and identity, and started a new life with the living Jesus Christ as the center of the universe, recognizing that the Holy Bible was food to me, prayer was breathing, and fellowship with believers (i.e. church) was a drink of water to me.   A new life, a new identity, and a new citizenship...in heaven.  Heaven is more that a location, it is a Kingdom where God reigns unchallenged.  Heaven has collided with 'the world' and continues to intersect in the heart of every Christian, and in every place where God is working to redeem and recreate the fallenness of His original creation.

It is more than just a metaphor then to refer to heaven as a 'place' where the new, ultimate reality of our new life as Christians takes place.  It is, I would argue, more real, more actual than our old lives lived without reference to God.  One fine day, Heaven will overwhelm and transform this old world.  The apostles referred to that total re-creation as the 'new heaven and the new earth'.  Indeed the two go together because they will then be the same thing.

In the meanwhile we are in this world but not of it.  Paul in Philippians gives us language and thought to help us live in the 'already, but not totally yet' nature of the heaven that has started to break into the old world. Philippians 3:20 "But our citizenship is in heaven...".  yes indeed.  That is our primary identity.  And from there we take our values.  This is a permanent citizenship and in all ways is superior to our worldly citizenship, which is temporary.

Consider Jesus' teaching in Luke 20:20-26.  The scribes tried to trick Jesus into either committing blasphemy by paying homage to the Caesar Cult, or transgressing Roman law by refusing to pay Rome's taxes.  Christ resolves the political conflict by changing the frame of reference.  Paying to Caesar what is Caeser's was more that a deft tactic to slip out of the dilemma.  What 'amazed' the crowds was the second part of His answer: Give to God what is God's.  What belongs to God?  Everything!  Even the tribute that Caesar demands.  So by understanding that God has first-call on everything, you are now free to render the tax to the civilian authorities that they demand.    God's priorities first, then the state's.  Heaven's rule first, and then within that context, consider our earthly obligations.

If you doubt this interpretation, lay it alongside Romans Chapter 13.  We Christians render the honor that civilian authorities require of us only because we understand that our first duty, to God, is fulfilled when we do so.  Good government gives us civic peace, and the gospel can readily spread when there is peace in the land. Sure enough, there can be earthly government that utterly conflicts with God's rule.  When that happens (the 'beast state') Christians are to stand up for heaven's values and lovingly confront evil government.  (Romans 13 is tempered by Revelation 13.)   Christians are liable to be persecuted and even executed when that happens, but none the less, that is the call placed upon each of us.  Christians have been executed for standing up to evil empires from Nero to Nazi.  But let's not have any nonsense talk that we in the US today are in that situation.  We are nowhere close to it.  Maybe if you lived in North Korea, but not North America.  Let's reject hyperbole.

So, back to Philippians and 1:27a "Only, live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ..."  Yes, while I am here in this little, short, wonderful life, I will live with the call of God as my first priority.  I will order all of my earthly business in the light of my higher identity - my citizenship of heaven.  I will love Christ by living obediently to His commands and values.  Being a Protestant, I understand that I will work that out personally.  Not individually, for I am part of the church, but personally.   I am a member of the church, and so I also reject the rampant individualism of the modern age.  That is why I am writing all this on my blog - so you, my Christian brother and sister, can help us to think this through with me.

Now that I understand that I will make my voting decision based on my identity as a Christ-disciple, a Christ-follower, a 'little Christ' - that is, a Christian, I want to consider in part 3, a couple of different approaches.

Thank for reading this far.  You're obviously a thinker! :-)