By David Wright
A man watched as his bride prepared a fine meal of roast, potatoes, and carrots. Before putting the meat in her pan, she cut off a piece of it and set it aside. Her husband asked why she had done this. “I don’t know,” she said. “My mother always cooks roast this way.” When questioned, the girl’s mom confessed that she always cut off a piece of the roast because she had seen Grandma do it. Curiosity aroused, the young bride phoned her grandmother and asked for an explanation. Grandma laughed. “Honey,” she said, “I have to slice off some of the meat because a big roast won’t fit in my pan.”
At the polls on November 2, some Christians will display the same sort of unthinking conformity. The candidate’s views on moral issues such as abortion, embryonic stem-cell research, euthanasia, religious liberty, the ban on open homosexuality in the military, and same-gender “marriage” will have no bearing whatsoever on the cast ballot. All that matters to these Christian voters is their family’s preference for Democrats or Republicans.
However, Grandpa and Grandma not only had a smaller pan to cook roast in but also less significant choices in the voting booth. In years gone by, American citizens made decisions concerning economic policy, foreign relations, education, and so forth. Now, though, the voter must choose whether to protect or end the lives of millions of unborn children and whether to defend biblical marriage or concede defeat to those intent on destroying it.
God’s word to Israel makes more sense than the practice of blindly following a family political tradition: “You shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may go well with you” (Deut. 6:18).
