Kingdom of God Does Not Come By Voting


Luke 17:21

"Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you."

I watched a good deal of both the Republican and Democratic Conventions. Citizenship requires an informed and educated populace and I feel as if I should do my part to hear out the respective platforms and speakers.

I sense Mitt Romney and Barack Obama are both men who care about their country and are serving for the right reasons, whether I agree with their positions or not. Yet, I do think we are breaking the political system by putting far too much hope in it. We expend a great deal of resources pulling causes one way or another and I have to wonder if all of this political rope pulling, like a Tug-Of-War, leads to exhaustion and stalemates. Or worse yet, a frayed society and even the snapped rope of cynicism.

The genius of America was voluntary civic associations and charities, not government as god. Government has a charter to enforce contracts, promote legal justice, and punish evil (what is called the ethics of creation, anything that destroys life and property). As far as I can tell, that is the consistent witness of the Bible.  Government is to have a monopoly on such things because the need for them is universal and cannot fall into a few hands of the elite or deconstructed into chaos. Order in human affairs is necessary. Freedom should be allowed to flower where it can and we need to be careful to not let everything become a function of the state. History has shown that death is the result when this happens.   

In Jesus day, the people of Israel wanted to be liberated from their Roman oppressors and occupiers. They wanted the Messiah to kill their enemies. Little did they understand that the enemy was within their own  hearts. Jesus could have wiped out the Romans with one wave of his hand, but sin still would have reigned in Jerusalem, just another Caesar with a different name and nationality.

Christ on the Cross rather than a King on the Throne. Jesus attacked the problem where it started. That is where the battle is fought, not the ballot box.    

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