Should a Christian Vote for Barack Obama?

To say that Barack Obama is a Christian simply because he calls himself one or quotes Scripture also ignores the facts that:

• We are not voting for the best Christian or best theologian, but for a president. I would rather have a qualified unbeliever in the Oval Office who better represents my values when it comes to public policy than a so-called Christian who pushes anti-Christian legislation. Mitt Romney’s Mormonism is as about as irrelevant to the presidency as JFK’s Catholicism was 50 years ago.
• Barack Obama has stated publicly that there are many roads to heaven, which violates John 14:6, where Jesus said He is the only way, as any toddler in Sunday school knows.  
• Jesus said in Matthew 7:21that, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but He who does the will of My Father in heaven.” God looks at deeds, not just creeds.

God and the Government
Fourth, and probably the most unfortunate point made by Dillon, is that “government needs to back off and stop seeking to legislate morality.” In Dillon’s mind, it’s wrong to “impose God’s laws upon the government and infuse the government’s laws upon the people.” That’s why he doesn’t get worked up about a baby’s brains getting sucked out at Planned Parenthood.  

He writes: “Abortion is biblically wrong, but so are the efforts to take away a woman’s right to choose.”

Do you think Dillon would care if we kept that same logic, but just replaced some words?

Let’s try it: “Slavery is biblically wrong, but so are the efforts to take away a man’s right to property.”

You see, no government can remain neutral morally. The question becomes: Which standard will a government adopt—one rooted in Judeo-Christian precepts or one rooted in secular humanism?

Thankfully, we as a society aren’t conflicted about “imposing” that Commandment of “Do Not Steal” as the law of the land.

Scripture, Abortion and Same-Sex Marriage
Fifth, Dillon says he doesn’t classify abortion and same-sex marriage as deal-breakers because of Obama’s godly stance on myriad other issues. Hilariously though, the political positions he references are in large part discredited by Scripture itself.

He writes: “Jesus would solve the problem of gun violence and most of the murders in America by ridding our country of guns that were solely manufactured to hurt people.” Eh, doubtful. Jesus told his disciples in Luke to sell their cloak and buy a sword (22:36).

And this: With Jesus, “there would be no death penalty until the final judgment.” I think Dillon’s “Jesus” has a big beef with the apostle Paul, who told the Romans that government does not bear the sword in vain (Rom. 13:4). Dillon must also take issue with God Himself as quoted in Genesis 9:6. That’s where God first instituted human government after the flood and mandated capital punishment for those who deliberately shed innocent blood.

So there is that.

Dillon then serves up a party platter of left-wing talking points that, he argues, Jesus supports: And these goodies include President Obama’s overhaul of health care (which covers abortion), amnesty for millions of illegal aliens, progressive taxation, business regulations and the anti-war attitudes regarding Iraq.

Oddly, Dillon doesn’t offer an opinion about Guantanamo Bay, eminent domain, the gasoline tax and whether or not the boardwalk on the Jersey Shore should be rebuilt after Hurricane Sandy. That’s too bad. I’d love to know Jesus’ thoughts on all those issues, too, since we’re ascribing such specificity to the Good Lord now.

The truth of the matter is that the Bible is a holistic document, one that gives us principles for all of life. But many in the body of Christ today do not possess a biblical worldview. And as such, they rearrange the roles that God clearly ordained for the church and that which he set aside for civil government, they confuse the imposition of morality with the imposition of salvation—and in the process of renewing their hearts, they forget to renew their minds.

I can’t speak to the personal relationship that either Mitt Romney or Barack Obama has with Jesus Christ. But deciphering which of the two operates closer to a biblical worldview? Please. Even Blind Bartimaeus knows that answer.

Joseph Mattera has been in full-time ministry since 1980 and is currently the presiding bishop of Christ Covenant Coalition and Overseeing Bishop of Resurrection Church in New York, a multiethnic congregation of 40 nationalities that has successfully developed numerous leaders and holistic ministry in the New York region and beyond. Click here to visit his website.