The election is coming up this year, and I am beginning to feel pressure to choose a candidate to vote for. Too bad I don't really care. I think any of the candidates are going to screw things up and not really accomplish as much as they claim, so why does it matter? I think the Democrats and the Republicans have both lost their center and have become all about being opposed to the other party, and I don't really want to get involved with those kind of politics.

But I have been taught for most of my life that it is my "civic duty" to vote, by religious and non-religious alike. I sometimes wonder whether they really think it is my duty, or if they have an agenda in getting me to vote (like getting their candidate voted in). Is it really my "duty" to vote, or is it merely my right that I may choose to use? Does God care about my "civic duty"?

I know that there are verses in the Bible that talk about "giving to Caesar what is Caesar's" (meaning pay your taxes), but does the Bible talk about participating in government? Would participating in government be living too much in the world? Or is it pretty much a take it or leave it thing with God?

Does God really call us to change the world? That is one thing I have run into, is that many Christians seem to think we are called to change the world, and I'm not sure where exactly God said that (I'm sure He said something that has been interpreted that way, but I don't know). I do know that God's biggest concern is that we love people the way He loves His Son and the way He loves us. Voting seems irrelevant when held up to the two greatest commandments.

And it seems to me that voting someone in because we are concerned about how they will affect our lives is not the right reason either. How many of us actually wait until God tells us to vote and who to vote for? If we don't then we are making assumptions about what is best for us, and that seems rather arrogant to me. Besides, we are getting off track if we get so concerned about taking care of ourselves and our families, because never did God say it is our job to make sure godly laws are put in place or godly people are put in office. He does say that He appoints rulers (somewhere in the Old Testament I think), but that verse brings up a whole bunch of other questions that I'm not going to deal with now (like why Hitler, Hussein, Bin Laden, and others were rulers).

But on the other hand, it is easy to see the other perspective on this issue. If we have a chance to affect the world for good, why wouldn't we? It's not like voting is some huge ordeal that we have to sacrifice greatly for. And I suppose one could argue that voting for the best person is a loving thing to do, because you are helping those poor ignorant people who don't understand the great evil they could be voting into office (okay, so I'm exaggerating a bit now, but that's kind of what the legalists made it seem like). Really, I think the biggest argument that pro-voters have is that it's not a very hard way to make a difference.

But this brings me no closer to the answer of my question, does God care about whether or not we vote? Does He care who we vote for? Does He really care that much about the details of a government that has little or no concern for Him and His ways? I know He cares about the people involved in government, but does He actually care about the government? The Bible says "God so loved the world" (meaning the people in it), but it says nothing about "God so loved the United States" or "God so loved the governments." Maybe it is just a take it or leave it kind of deal with God. I'm sure it's not as big a deal for Him as it is for most of us.