God Gap?

God sets choices before us, and while sometimes our decisions may not be very clear-cut, still we can depend on Him for wisdom. Deuteronomy 30 says this:
15 "See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil,
16 in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess.

Life and good...OR death and evil - those are the choices, and God, Who is our source of absolute truth, gives us the capacity to make wise decisions that reflect His Word and His counsel.  This can apply in the upcoming election, where we need His direction.  This can also be a primary factor in the decisions we are called to make each day.  If the trajectory of our lives is a compilation of our choices, then we have to be so attentive to God's ways and take action that is consistent with His truth.

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There's a Scripture passage that is included in Faith Radio's Election Prayer Guide, which can be
downloaded from our website. It's from Daniel 2, where we read that Daniel said:
20b "Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, For wisdom and might are His.
21 And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise And knowledge to those who have understanding.

It's another Survey Thursday in The Front Room, and it's time, I suppose, to take a look at Presidential politics.  There was a piece that ran on the Christianity Today website just last week, the Thursday that the Democrat convention ended.

The article states:

In previous US elections, polls consistently showed that a person’s level of religiosity—how important their faith is to them and how often they attend church—was one of the biggest predictors in how they would vote. The more religious an American was, the more likely he or she was to vote Republican; the less religious, the more likely to vote Democrat.

The phenomenon related to such a spread was termed by Robert Putnam and David Campbell as the "God gap."

According to a Pew Research poll released in mid-July, Donald Trump leads Clinton by four percentage points among regular churchgoers, with a margin of 49% to 45%, which is a “notable shift” according to the Pew. In the 2012 election, Mitt Romney had a 15-point margin over Barack Obama in 2012 (55% vs. 40%), which was indicative of the usual spread between Republican and Democrat candidates among weekly worshipers.   The CT article goes on to say:

Similarly, George Washington University found that the difference between the percentage of weekly churchgoers voting Republican vs. Democrat spanned 40 points in 2012; during the 2016 primaries, there was less than 15 percentage points between the two, according to Religion News Service blogger Mark Silk’s analysis of the survey data.

Still, according to another Christianity Today article reporting on the Pew findings, 78% of self-identified white evangelicals plan to vote for Donald Trump, but "they aren’t happy about it." 55% of white evangelicals said they weren’t satisfied with their ballot options which is similar to the 58% of Americans in general who feel that way.

45 percent of white evangelicals said they meant their vote as opposition to Hillary Clinton, not as an endorsement of Trump.

Also, among African-American Protestants, two-thirds of whom are evangelicals, according to Pew, almost 90 percent said they would be casting a vote for Clinton and 60 percent said they were satisfied with their choices.  53% of Black Protestant voters said their vote was in support of Clinton and 34% said they were voting against Trump.  Those findings are similar with stats for  African Americans at large.

Finally, among the "nones," more than a third of them - 36% - plan to vote against Trump, representing more than those voting for Clinton, at 30%.  Only 10% are voting for Trump and 12% against Clinton.

So much data, so little time...and there has been so much discussion of the 2016 election.  With the advent of cable news and the Internet, there is plenty of information that is readily accessible.  And, with this being an unusual election year, to say the least, for some, it is very easy to get absorbed into the non-stop coverage.  We have to be discerning about the information we consume and make sure that we are taking a balanced approach to the non-stop election coverage.

And, I want to incorporate the thoughts that have been shared on this program by Stuart Shepard of Family Policy Alliance - he has discussed with me throughout the years about the importance of selecting a candidate whose views best line up with our values.  There likely will not be 100% agreement, but we do need to recognize where candidates stand and how they have conducted themselves.

I also think there has been a tendency among Christians during this election cycle to denigrate people with whom we do not believe.  Recently, there was a well-known author who laid out an exhaustive case for why believers should vote for one particular candidate. I began to see comments on social media that took him to task in a very strong manner, even attempting to discredit him.  This is not healthy for the body of Christ - we may disagree with one another, and there is a place for disagreement, but we need to do so with civility and without insulting others.  This does not contribute to a healthy Church, and Satan delights in our division.

Finally, we need to pray.  We really do!  God is ultimately in control, and we can depend on Him to guide our choices, to apply His principles in the selection of leaders, and then accept the final outcome.  He may not give us what we want, or may give us what we don't want, and we move forward to seek to do important things for the sake of the gospel, winning hearts and minds for Christ.