World

The general election of 2004 is just a few weeks away and the media of full of debates, polls and politics. How should a person decide who to vote for? Some people will vote for who they thought “won” the debates. Others will vote for who they think appears more presidential. Yet others will vote for the challenger because they want to see change. Still others will vote for the incumbent because they do not want to see change. I think that the Bible gives a better way on how to decide who to vote for.

If we look at how God says a leader should be chosen, it will show us the characteristics to look for in a leader, whether a President, a Senator or some other official. The classic example is found in 1 Samuel 16, where God chooses a leader for Israel through the prophet Samuel. The instructions that God gave to Samuel are found in verse 7, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” Bottom line, pick a leader based on heart characteristics, like character and values, rather than external factors.

Let’s move right to 2004 and ask how we are to determine the character, the heart characteristics of a candidate. The character of a man will determine his future effectiveness as a leader, not his good intentions or promises. Character is best judged by past experiences. 1 Timothy 3:10 says that “They must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons.” I have taken courses on best practices for job interviews and they agree. The best predictor of future performance is past performance. Don’t ask the applicants about what they plan to do, ask them about what they have done in the past. And so, we should judge presidential candidates the same way. Their past record gives the best indication of what they will do in the future, it shows the direction of their hearts. Therefore, choose the candidate whose plans are simply an extension of their past experience. If the candidate makes promises, but does not root them in his past performance or voting record, he has no credibility.

Leadership is to be based on principle and values, not on simply doing what the poll of the day indicates. A leader leads, he molds public opinion, rather than simply following public opinion.

The Bible indicates that God has designed three major institutions in society: government, the church and the family. The best candidate will understand the balance between these three institutions and see how each has a role to play in society.

A candidate’s stand on the issues and past record must be analyzed with respect to biblical values and teaching. A claim to be a Christian or to have a relationship with God should not be deemed credible if the record does not indicate the candidate has a biblical worldview. The stand of national level candidates on many issues can be found on many news websites, as well as others like, www.ivotevalues.org.

Not all issues are of equal importance to those who desire to vote based on biblical values. As important as issues like the economy, taxes, health care or terroism are, the way to assess the best candidate to deal with them is to look at a small set of non-negotiable issues. These issues have crystal clear answers in the Bible and most candidates have clear positions on them. If a candidate’s stand on these issues is correct, the rest of their positions will tend to reflect a biblical worldview. If the candidate’s view on these issues is incorrect, the rest of their positions will tend to reflect a non-biblical worldview.

Here are the non-negotiable issues, agreed on by every believer who knows and lives by the Bible:

1. Protection of human life is a responsibility of government. The Bible teaches that life begins at conception and so abortion must be opposed in every way possible. The choice to kill one’s own child is barbaric. Life continues until God takes it and so euthanasia, the active termination of life must be opposed in every way possible.
2. Issues in bioethics are not difficult to understand if one is guided by biblical principles. Embryonic stem cell research results in the mutilation and death of unborn children and must be opposed. Adult and other stem cell sources pose no ethical problems. Human cloning is an attempt to play God by manipulating the creation of life and must be opposed.
3. Marriage is held with high esteem in the Bible and provides the basic unit of society. From the beginning, marriage has been between one man and one woman. Society and government must encourage marriage and oppose anything destructive to it. Same-sex marriage must be opposed, in particular for the damage that it would do to future generations of children as well as society.

In the past, it may have been difficult to tell where candidates stood on these issues, but no more, especially at the national level. The major parties have taken stands on many of these issues and discussed them in their party platforms. Most candidates support their parties’ platforms on these issues, but there are exceptions, particularly at the state and local levels. Find out the candidates’ stances on these issues. Vote for the candidates who best support these non-negotiable values.

It doesn’t matter if your family has traditionally voted for one party for years, the times have changed, believers must do the right thing today. Don’t vote for the candidate that you think will put the most money in your pocket, vote for the candidate that follows godly values. When you do the right thing as a believer by voting according to biblical values, not your pocketbook, it will lead to blessing on your family and the nation. It is sad that in a day when the choice of president is a black and white issue for believers, the country is almost evenly divided. Either half of the country is completely ignorant of what is at stake or they are willingly choosing the wrong rather than the right. Regardless of the outcome of the elections, you and your family will be blessed if you vote your values as believers.

NLT Proverbs 14:34 Godliness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.

About 150 years ago, many people, including scientists, believed in what was known as “spontaneous generation” of life. They would look at how mold or other organisms seemed to spontaneously generate in decaying material and they thought that by some mechanism life was being formed.

However, Louie Pasteur didn’t believe this was true. So in 1864, he conducted experiments to show that when all microorganisms were killed by sterilization (pasteurization), no life spontaneously generated. Pasteur said, “There is not a single known circumstance in which microscopic beings may be asserted to have entered the world without germs, without parents resembling them. Those who think otherwise have been deluded by their poorly conducted experiments, full of errors they neither knew how to perceive, nor how to avoid.”

Yet our public schools today teach our children that life arose by “spontaneous generation” from primordial ooze. Pasteur would be laughing at us. We should know better by now. Life begets life, always.

Genesis 1:26-27 Then God said, “Let us make people in our image, to be like ourselves …” So God created people in his own image; God patterned them after himself; male and female he created them.

After reading various critics, the majority of them very critical of Mel Gibson’s new movie, The Passion of the Christ, I went to see it for myself. My first recommendation is for you to go see the movie for yourself and don’t be dissuaded by negative reviews. On the movie review site Yahoo Movies, the critics give the movie a B- and 30,000+ average movie goers give it an A-. Personally, I would give the movie an A. It is a powerful and moving account of the last twelve hours of Jesus’ life and the resurrection.

The movie is based on the accounts of Jesus’ last hours in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Contrary to much of what you read in the media, these accounts are not contradictory in any fashion, but record eyewitness accounts of the events in Jesus’ life from four different perspectives. Three of the Gospels were written by eyewitnesses and the third, Mark, was written in close collaboration with an eyewitness, Peter. All of the Gospels have been historically dated to within the lifetime of the eyewitnesses and their accuracy has been confirmed by comparing the accounts to themselves and with extra biblical sources. For dramatic purposes, the movie develops the characters of Satan and Mary from what is recorded in the Gospels, but in a very plausible manner.

The Passion has been criticized for not telling the whole story of Jesus’ life. If a movie was made that told the whole story, as recounted in all of the Gospels, it would probably be 20+ hours long. The point of The Passion is that in order to understand the meaning, you must go and read the original sources, the Gospels themselves and visit a church that addresses contemporary issues such as The Passion in light of the Bible. The Passion was designed to raise questions that are not answered in the film. It is intended to be the beginning of a new way of looking at Jesus Christ for many people. Polls show that most people in the United States have erroneous views about Jesus that are not based on the historical documents found in the Bible. I believe that The Passion will encourage more people to read the Gospel accounts of Jesus.

Why is this movie so polarizing? Why is it such a blockbuster? It is because Jesus came to polarize the world into two camps, those who are with Him and those who are against Him. Jesus said in Matthew 10:34 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” Some people want to see Jesus, meek and mild, the good teacher who taught us to love one another. Jesus was a good teacher, but He was and is so much more. When Jesus is presented accurately, He will always divide people into two camps and The Passion brings a sword of division.

The apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:18 says, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” The crux, the focus of Christianity is not just love, it is the cross, which is the ultimate expression of love. The cross depicted in The Passion is foolishness to some and the power of God to others. What is your reaction to the message of the cross?

If you haven’t seen The Passion yet, invite a friend and go see it with an open mind. As you watch ask yourself, “Is this foolishness or the power of God?” Your answer will determine your destiny.