Whatever will be will be
By Paul Bawden
A short summary of the old song, “Que, Sara, Sara,” sung by Doris Day.
As the elections are just a couple weeks away, as of this writing, such can be how a person feels. Since whatever will be will be, why vote anyway, for whatever is going to happen, will happen.
Evidently, that is an attitude among those who will not vote in this election. In fact, I understand that some 32 million Christians who attend church aren’t going to vote this year, which is far greater than the number of votes that have decided every election going back decades, according to “My Faith Votes.”
Why this reluctance to vote? A couple of excuses Chris Woodward has heard from Christians over the years were included in an article he wrote in the recent American Family news.
Some think that church and state should be separate. Such goes back to the letter that Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Association. In that letter, Jefferson wasn’t talking about the church keeping out of government, but that the government shouldn’t impede or restrict the church from influencing government. Wrote Woodward, we have totally forgotten that.
Another excuse Woodward has heard for Christians not voting is that we should not impose our morality on others, or we should not legislate morality. Woodward was quick to point out that all laws have some form of morality undergirding them. It’s just a question of whose morality will inform the public policies today.
Then he mentioned that we have today the idea that young people should be able to determine their own gender identity, for if a boy wants to identify as a female, let him choose that lifestyle and receive hormone therapy or transition surgery. Who is going to step in and help our children make the right decisions about their bodily integrity and mental health? (I would add that they are created male and female). Who is going to protect them from making a bad decision that they’re going to regret the rest of their lives? Penned Woodward.
That’s why Os Guinness, quoted in an article in “The Washington Stand” said that Christians must not disengage this election. He pointed out that what made this country unique, going back to the early Founders, was the great understanding that freedom is only possible if you have moral virtue and faith underlying it – because otherwise it will wash away.
And I would add that true freedom is found through faith in Jesus Christ (John 8:32) -to live for Him and display through your life, relying on His inner power, His moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly love, and love (2 Peter 1:5-7).
I trust, if you have already voted, you voted for morality and freedom. Still, needing to vote, vote for morality and freedom in the United States of America. You have the privilege to change the idea that whatever will be will be. You can be part of restoring some biblical sanity and common sense to this great U.S.A.!!
Paul Bawden is married and served in the pastoral ministry for 45 years, retiring in 2011. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a B.A. in Speech and attended Dallas Theological Seminary, receiving a Master of Theology. He has taken counseling courses at Trinity Evangelical Seminary in Deerfield, Illinois. Paul is a lifetime member of the Evangelical Free Church of America, as well as being a member of Interim Pastor Ministries (IPM), which serves churches during their time of transition in searching for a new pastor. He writes for Union Gospel Press, as well as being a volunteer writer for GotQuestions.org. Paul likes to write, read, bike, and work in the yard. The Bawdens have had the privilege to travel to Mexico and Romania on mission trips and visited various countries in Europe.