In a few days, the citizens of the United States will elect a President. Either the incumbent will be re-elected or the challenger will take office in January.
It is not my place to tell people how to vote. It is my role, however, to articulate biblical morality and to stand firm on those issues that the Church throughout the ages has espoused. I am, in fact, to be a “defender of the faith.”
I am not a Republican, a Democrat, or a Libertarian although I have cast votes for all three in times past. On many issues there can be genuine disagreement.
While I support a strong military defense and support local law enforcement, I also realize that some authentic Christian believers can support, from their interpretation of scriptures, pacifism. I tend to support the “just war” theory but freely admit that some of the wars our nation has fought could not be classified thus.
I believe that if a person “doesn’t work neither should he eat” but I also recognize the need to care for the truly needy among us in a way that encourages them and preserves their dignity.
I think we are taxed too much but I also understand that Jesus said that we should pay taxes when required.
I oppose racism in all forms. I grew up in a segregated South and knew it was wrong even as a child. I also oppose “reverse racism.”
While I understand that unrestricted immigrations is problematic, I recognize that the Bible instructs believers to treat the “alien,” or “stranger,” with mercy, justice, and kindness.
I am a social, theological, and fiscal conservative but believe in equal opportunity, helping those who need it, and I believe in giving and in generosity. So, in the past I have voted for people who espoused so-called conservative causes, those who supported so-called liberal causes, and I have, in certain cases, expressed some Libertarian leanings.
However, I cannot and will not support a candidate or a party who advocates ending a child’s life and labeling such an atrocity as merely a matter of “choice.”
In the United States alone, since 1973, some 50 million — that’s 50,000,000 — young lives have been “legally,” but certainly not morally, terminated.
“Terminated” is such a sanitized term. So is “eliminated” or “disposed of” or “aborted.”
Six million Jews were “terminated,” “eliminated,” “disposed of,” or simply had their lives “aborted” in World War II by the Hitler government. But we don’t use those words — no, we say they were “murdered.”
It is morally repugnant to slaughter innocents whatever the reason. People and governments have done it for centuries for land, water, gold, timber, and a host of other reasons.
Children, who have yet to see their first light of day, are “eliminated” for no other reason than convenience.
Oh, I know that the issues of rape, incest, and the life of the mother are sometimes used as excuses but these cases are so rare as to be statistically insignificant.
I will vote for a pro-life Democrat and I will vote against a abortionist Republican. I will not vote for a pro-choice Democrat and I will vote for a pro-life Republican — or Libertarian, for that matter.
There were those white Southerners and white Northerners who turned a blind eye to slavery. There were God-fearing folks who approved the genocide of the Native Americans. There were German Christians who turned a blind eye to the Holocaust. History has judged them all and will judge those who slaughter children as well.
I will not tell someone how to vote or who to vote for. I can only be true to my own convictions and pray for mercy for a nation that has drenched itself in blood.
[David Epps is the pastor of the Cathedral of Christ the King, 4881 Hwy. 34 E., Sharpsburg, GA 30277. Services are held Sundays at 8:30 and 10 a.m. (www.ctkcec.org). He is the bishop of the Mid-South Diocese (www.midsouthdiocese.org) and is the associate endorser for U. S. military chaplains for his denomination. He may be contacted at frepps@ctkcec.org.]
