Christian Action Commission

Votes, Pills and Polls

Pills and polls have a lot in common.  Probably ninety percent of the readers of this article take some sort of pill or pills.  The pill reveals that something is wrong in the human body but it has the potential to make the situation better.  The pill is an indicator but taken as prescribed, it can become part of the cure.  But if the pill is left in its container and never taken, then it means absolutely nothing.

Polls, like pills, come with many different forms, definitions and implications.  Poll may mean casting and registering of votes in an election.  It can mean the place where you go vote and also the number of votes cast.  There are other meanings that have nothing to do with elections such as trimming the wool on sheep, etc. 

Many organizations will conduct a survey to gather information and opinions about a certain object, person, idea, or current event.  This is also called a poll.  During this midterm election year polls are being taken in every state and on every candidate who is running for governor or the United States House of Representatives.  The polls reveal public opinions about candidates and their performances.

Polls are informative and helpful but they are useless if they are not acted upon.  If a poll says my favorite candidate is leading by 9 points it means nothing unless I go to the poll and vote.  Voting in an election year is just as vital to this country as taking prescribed medicine is to having a healthy body.  Action on our part is necessary for pills or polls to be effective and helpful.

As a Christian it is our duty and privilege to vote.  Byron Barlowe of Probe Ministries wrote, “It is both a sacred duty and privilege for Christians to serve as citizens who salt (preserve) and light (illumine) our culture.  We believers have a duty to vote our values.  How else would we vote?”

It is my responsibility to take my Christian values to the polling both as I make my choices.  I am to be a Christian citizen.  “Christian citizenship is our expression of Christian values in public policy,” states Phil Strickland of the Texas Christian Life Commission.  How are we to do this?  Some individuals have withdrawn from the culture while others have compromised and merged with the culture by giving in to worldly values.  Others have followed the Biblical mandate to “be in the world but not of it.”

Some may question, “Is there such a thing as Christian citizenship?” An article from The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission speaks to this question.  In 1905 Mark Twain wrote, “Is there such a thing as Christian citizenship?  No, but it could be created.  The process would be quite simple, and not productive of hardship to any one.  It will be conceded that every man’s first duty is to God; it will also be conceded, and with strong emphasis, that a Christian’s first duty is to God.  It then follows, as a matter of course that it is his duty to carry his Christian code of morals to the polls and vote them.  Whenever he shall do that, he will not find himself voting for an unclean man, a dishonest man.  Whenever a Christian votes, he votes against God or for Him, and he knows this quite well.  God is an issue in every election; He is a candidate in the person of every clean nominee on every ticket; His purity and His approval are there, to be voted for or voted against, and no fealty [fidelity; obligation] to party can absolve His servant from his higher and more exacting fealty to Him; He takes precedence of party, duty to Him is above every claim of party.”

November 2, 2010 demands your attention.  You must go vote. Victory is claimed or lost in the polling booth and not in the polling surveys that gather people’s opinions.  If you do not go to the polls and vote you will probably need more pills before the next election.

The Christian Action Commission has placed a voter guide on its website and can be accessed by CLICKING HERE.  This non-partisan guide is to help inform you about the beliefs of each MS House Congressional candidate.  This is extremely helpful and you can download and print as many as you need to pass out to friends, family and colleagues.  See you at the polls on November 2, 2010!!!