Evaluating Candidates Before Voting

Using God's Transcendent Ideals of Governance in the Bible

The Biblical Pattern for Evaluating Candidates Before Voting

Elections and voting are ideas that came from God. The Bible indicates that after Israel was released from slavery in Egypt that Moses gave to the people the right and duty to vote for their local city governors (called “judges” – Deut 1:9,13). This democratic component of Israel’s government began about a thousand years before democracy was attempted in pagan Greece.

It was God’s idea for holding government leaders accountable and empowering citizens. In the New Testament era the right to vote was only available among the Greeks and so the Apostle Paul seems to encourage Christians in Corinth to use this freedom to find better judges (1 Cor 6). And one of Paul’s assistants named Erastus became an example of this when he became treasurer of the city through an election (Rom 16:23).

If God’s people today have the freedom to vote then they also have a duty to use this for the best possible good in the governments of nations. But sometimes the best possible good is uncomfortable. The person or party we help is far from perfect, but the alternative is worse. And the idea that we cannot in good conscience vote for someone who does not meet all the standards we hold to, only helps someone who is even further away from our standards. It perhaps makes us feel good about ourself to withhold our vote from an imperfect candidate, but it only harms our nation and our fellow-man.

How Did God Grade Government Leaders in Israel?

We have to get over our discomfort, because the enemy of the good is the idolatry of the perfect. In this world, we have no perfect nations because all men are sinners and all political systems are less than ideal. Israel in the Bible was chosen and led by God in one sense but was always a seriously flawed and sinful nation with government leaders who ranged from decent to horrific. Yet God still identified with them and did not let idolatry of the perfect keep Him from helping His chosen nation. Why should we?

Every king in Israel was given a grade. In Chronicles it summarizes their political actions and then ends by saying that either they did “right” or they did “evil.” It almost never says they did “good” - only “right.” There was a reason for this term. God did not expect a sinner in power to be “good” – only God is good. And in fact, often even kings who committed adultery or some other personal sin (such as David with Bathsheba) still received a grade that he did “right” meaning straight or within the guidelines.

How was the evaluation then determined? What were the guidelines for making a good grade? It was all based on if the king and his government lived in alignment or within the limits and purposes laid out in the Hebrew Constitution, otherwise known as the “Book of the Covenant.” A king’s personal life was important but not part of the criteria God used for the evaluation. So also, Christians today in our nations should not be voting for someone based on things in their personal life. It is not God’s main measurement for governance.

So when comparing the USA presidential candidates (Harris and Trump) our vote has nothing to do with their marriages or their words or their manner with people. It is all about public policies. Are their proven actions while in government in the past in proximity to a Biblical worldview of governance or not? Or which of the candidates come closer to that standard when evaluating their stated proposals or expressions of agreement with various political issues? Our modern nation does not have a constitution written by God Himself as Israel did, but is still a relatively useful standard for measuring candidates.

Ten Transcendent Ideals of Governance

God never expects us in America to copy every law in Israel’s constitution for our modern governance. However, we can use the transcendent and universal principles for good government that were summarized in the Ten Commandments. These Ten principles were not strictly laws but a preamble (Exod 20:1-17) to Israel’s complete constitution (Exod 20:18-chapter 23). These general ideals of good governance can be an evaluation tool for all nations today.

In previous blog posts I have explained that the Ten Commandments were not given primarily for individuals to know how to live. Rather, they were given to government leaders in Israel so they would know how they should govern. And mainly, they were stated negatively (i.e. “you shall NOT” do something) to put limits on government power and protect individual human rights. It was to maintain a small state which is the most basic difference of thinking today between pagan socialistic governance and Biblical government. [The way I interpret the Ten Commandments I found from various ancient Christian writers whose books are out of print. One rare modern book is Democracy and the Ten Commandments by Shinkoskey, although I differ with him on several points.]

So, without explaining here the details of each commandment as I did in earlier posts, I offer below a restatement of them in the form of questions we can ask ourselves.

Which candidate seems more inclined to use state power to:

…mix pagan or secular worldviews into their policy ideas? (Commandment 1; no other gods)

…favor unnatural or immoral sex, or require people to support or at least be silent about their beliefs or practices contrary to such activity? (Commandment 2; no images)

…undermine free choice in the marketplace; causing inflation, controlling prices, increasing taxes, etc? (C. 3; no misuse of God’s name)

…hinder parents from home-schooling or religious schools; or hinder access to communications/media that contradicts ideologies favored by the state? (C. 4; no work once a week so that families can “remember” causes of slavery and freedom)

…protect and strengthen the rights of parents especially in education, sexuality, medical choices, etc? (C. 5; Honor father and mother)

…violate or fail to prosecute those who harm the life of citizens? (C. 6; no murder)

…violate or fail to prosecute those who harm the private property of citizens? (C. 7; no theft)

…violate or fail to prosecute those who harm natural marriage among citizens? (C. 8; no adultery)

…violate or fail to prosecute those who harm the justice system with false witnesses or biased prosecutions? (C. 9; no false witness)

…violate or fail to prosecute those who harm the private decisions of citizens in regard to everything else such as spouses, children, employees, property, speech, religion, etc? (C. 10; no coveting)

Take time to answer these and do research from reliable sources

For many people it is not easy to find trustworthy data to accurately make these evaluations. Almost certainly, you will not find it from random posts on social media! But there are some Christian organizations that compile comparisons of the candidates stand on certain issues. These can be helpful but are also not nuanced and can be biased. Another helpful evaluation is a comparison of the party platforms for general worldviews likely held by the candidates. But if you are diligent, you can do your own research.

About 80% of Evangelicals have been voting for Republicans for about thirty years now for a reason. This consistency shows that it is not about the person as much as it is the policies and philosophy of governance that has convinced Christians to vote in this consistent pattern for a while now.

For paid subscribers I am including below an article written by my friend Joseph Mattera on How to Use the Ten Commandments as a Guide to Vote this November. It is based on the more common way of understanding the Ten Commandments which I actually think is a secondary application for individual lives, not the primary way as I have applied them above for governance. But Mattera’s way of interpreting them has value also. See Mattera’s article below:

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