Mar 5, 2018 2 min read

The whole country is watching the 18th Congressional District election, including me. I am a Bible-believing Christian with a degree in Bible theology, and I wonder how many church people will actually vote the Bible.

Contrary to popular opinion, voting the Bible is not about enforcing personal morality. The Bible says you cannot enforce morality by law (legalism). Allowing people the freedom to make their own choices is exactly what the Apostle Paul commanded when he wrote, “What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? God will judge those on the outside” (I Corinthians 5:12-13). Using law to regulate other people’s morality is not our job as Christians.

But the Bible does say much about how society should treat its poor, and it warns against showing favoritism toward the rich. The Apostle James writes (James 2:1-4ff) that favoring the rich over the poor is rooted in evil motives. The recent federal tax cuts are a perfect example: They benefit wealthy shareholders while cutting spending on safety-net programs. What would the Apostle James say about this?

Amazingly, there even are some so-called Christian thinkers who defend the cuts by claiming that “charity” is for individuals and private organizations, but not for government. In other words, private individuals should imitate the Good Samaritan, but government should do as the priest and the Levite did in that parable. Seriously?

Protecting the weak, the poor and the elderly (including your parents, and someday you) has nothing to do with redistribution of wealth. Rather, it is all about countering the concentration of wealth in the first place. The Bible is no friend of the rich who harden their hearts against the poor. Or of politicians who help them.

Dean Kennedy

Minerva, Ohio