Two years ago, Chuck Colson recorded what would be his last BreakPoint commentary on a national election. If you have any doubt as a Christian whether or not you should vote this year, please, please listen to Chuck’s impassioned plea. I don’t think you’ll hear a better explanation of why we as Christians, out of love for our neighbors, must stay involved in the political process.
Here’s Chuck Colson on the importance of voting:
So, have you voted yet? If so, well done. If not, as soon as this broadcast is over — or as soon as you’re off work — I want you to go and fulfill your Christian duty to be a good citizen and go vote.
And while you’re at it, call a few of your Christian friends. Find out if they’ve voted yet. If not, tell them that you’re going, and you’d be glad to stop by and pick them up.
Now is not the time to buy into the lie that your vote doesn’t really matter. As a result of my Watergate felony conviction, I lost the right to vote for 28 years. When my right was restored, I was able to vote in the 2000 presidential election. That year, the national election — the presidency — was determined by just 500 votes in Florida. Mine was one of those votes. So your vote does matter.
And let me say this. The next time you hear someone tell you that Christians ought to take a vacation from politics, tell them to go fly a kite!
Listen, it’s our duty as citizens of the Kingdom of God to be the best citizens of the society we live in. If your pastor no longer has energy or courage to motivate his flock to speak out on public issues, maybe you can lovingly “buck him up.” Remind him or her that God’s people are to love their neighbors, to desire the best for them, to pursue the common good. And we can’t do that on the political sidelines.
When a rabid secularist tells you to stop forcing your religion down his throat — simply correct him. You might say, “Excuse me, but who is suing the government to remove crosses from cemeteries? Who has filed lawsuits to remove ‘under God’ from the Pledge of Allegiance? Who’s trying to tell doctors and nurses and pharmacists that they have to participate in medical procedures that violate their religious conscience? Who’s banning Bibles from schools?”
In other words, who is forcing their point of view on whom?
We Christians are simply trying to PRESERVE and PROTECT the rights and liberties that we Americans have enjoyed from the founding of our republic. We are the ones who take seriously our nation’s founding creed: that “all men are created equal and endowed by their CREATOR with certain inalienable rights, and that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” meaning virtue.
Our Founders recognized that true rights come not from government, but from God Himself. Government must not take those rights away.
And to protect those rights, we must vote.
Yes, the elections are upon us. Don’t be intimidated. Do not retreat to the sidelines.
Go out and vote for the candidate of your choice. Vote as your conscience informs you. And yes, allow your faith to inform your conscience.
Well, if you were on the fence, I hope you are on the fence no longer. Please, as Chuck said, go and vote. And for more on voting your conscience, we’ve got a great article at BreakPoint.org called “Chuck Colson Would Be Proud of Billy Graham’s ‘Endorsement.’” It’s by one of Chuck’s closest friends and advisors, Dr. Timothy George. Please check it out at BreakPoint.org.
Eric Metaxas is a co-host of BreakPoint Radio and a best-selling author whose biographies, children's books, and popular apologetics have been translated into more than a dozen languages.
BreakPoint commentary airs each weekday on more than one thousand outlets with an estimated listening audience of one million people. BreakPoint provides a Christian perspective on today's news and trends via radio, interactive media, and print.
Publication date: November 6, 2012
