Before You Vote: Seven Questions Every Christian Should Ask QUOTES

1 " Even if we lose every freedom and protection we have as followers of Jesus in the United States, and even if our government were to become a completely totalitarian regime, we could still live an abundant life as long as we didn’t look to political leaders, platforms, or policies for our ultimate security and satisfaction. We can still have hope, peace, joy, and confidence regardless of what happens in our government, as long as, like Fatima and Yaseen, we look to Jesus alone for these things, and all of our hope hinges on him. "

― David Platt , Before You Vote: Seven Questions Every Christian Should Ask

2 " I assume you already realize that no political candidate or party is perfect. That said, if we are not careful, we can subtly begin to promote and defend whatever a candidate or party does. In a similar way, we can easily find ourselves blindly supporting or habitually siding with certain candidates or parties without biblically assessing what they are saying or standing for. What’s more, we can be hesitant to hold a candidate or party accountable when what they are saying or doing does not align with Scripture. We must reject this kind of political absolutism (even if unintentional) because our trust resides in Jesus alone. "

― David Platt , Before You Vote: Seven Questions Every Christian Should Ask

3 " This world is a monarchy, and God is the King. Sure, we may use language about our rights, and we may even compose and ascribe to a “Bill of Rights,” but the reality is simple: God has all the rights, and we are subject to him. "

― David Platt , Before You Vote: Seven Questions Every Christian Should Ask

4 " If all governance belongs to God, and he delegates governance to people, and those people defy him, then no government in this world can be perfectly good, for every government is led by people who have rebelled against God. "

― David Platt , Before You Vote: Seven Questions Every Christian Should Ask

5 " We must reject this kind of political absolutism (even if unintentional) because our trust resides in Jesus alone. He alone has no weaknesses. He alone is pure and holy. He alone has a monopoly on justice. No political candidate or party can remedy human depravity or change the human heart, and no political candidate or party can provide for us, protect us, save us, or satisfy us. Jesus alone can do these things. That’s why our sole aim is his approval, not the acceptance of a political candidate or party. "

― David Platt , Before You Vote: Seven Questions Every Christian Should Ask

6 " It means that in any election, the church is not for any political party or candidate. No, we are for Jesus. All our trust is in his Word. All our allegiance is to his mission. All our hope is in his rule today and in his promise to return one day for those whose hearts belong to him. "

― David Platt , Before You Vote: Seven Questions Every Christian Should Ask

7 " what I am definitively advocating for based on God’s Word, is the realization that how we use our vote is a matter of faithfulness before God. For our vote is a unique privilege and responsibility that God has entrusted to us by his grace, and God calls us to use every means of grace he grants us to love him above all and love our neighbors as ourselves. "

― David Platt , Before You Vote: Seven Questions Every Christian Should Ask

8 " From the beginning of the Bible, God endows all people with the right to be treated honorably and judged equitably. God grants us the right to worship or reject him, to follow or forsake his Word. Such fundamental rights are part of the essence of who we are as men and women made in God’s image. "

― David Platt , Before You Vote: Seven Questions Every Christian Should Ask

9 " Even if we lose every freedom and protection we have as followers of Jesus in the United States, and even if our government were to become a completely totalitarian regime, we could still live an abundant life as long as we didn’t look to political leaders, platforms, or policies for our ultimate security and satisfaction. "

― David Platt , Before You Vote: Seven Questions Every Christian Should Ask

10 " The road to Jesus’s kingdom is paved not by political hostility but by spiritual humility. "

― David Platt , Before You Vote: Seven Questions Every Christian Should Ask

11 " The unavoidable truth is that each candidate and party possesses weaknesses and is prone to sinful temptations and idolatrous trajectories. No candidate or party has a monopoly on justice. Only Jesus’s kingdom—an eternal kingdom that “is not of this world”—is ultimately worthy of our trust. "

― David Platt , Before You Vote: Seven Questions Every Christian Should Ask

12 " Jesus totally transformed the way the disciples thought about their lives, and he can transform the way we think about ours, too. According to Jesus, the aim of life is summarized in two statements that we began to consider in Question 1 of this book. First, life is found in loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. What an astounding aim—to experience intimacy with the God of the universe. "

― David Platt , Before You Vote: Seven Questions Every Christian Should Ask

13 " Based upon the biblical commands above, and the unique grace that God has given us as followers of Jesus and “governing” citizens in a representative democracy, it seems we have a responsibility before God and one another to steward our vote for the sake of good, God-glorifying governance. "

― David Platt , Before You Vote: Seven Questions Every Christian Should Ask

14 " No worldly leader is worthy of our hearts. No governmental authority or political party is worthy of our trust, allegiance, or hope. "

― David Platt , Before You Vote: Seven Questions Every Christian Should Ask

15 " True religion apparently doesn’t consist of monotonous participation in superficial pious activity. It doesn’t consist in simply saying or doing the right things. True religion consists of just and consistent demonstrations of supernatural, selfless love for the poor and marginalized, particularly widows and orphans. "

― David Platt , Before You Vote: Seven Questions Every Christian Should Ask

16 " In other words, we as pastors do not have the right or authority to stand before the people of God and call them to vote for a certain candidate, take a certain position, support a certain policy, or participate in a certain activity unless we can show clearly in God’s Word that every Christian should believe or act in that way. In other words, we are responsible to God for promoting the Christian position, not our political conviction. "

― David Platt , Before You Vote: Seven Questions Every Christian Should Ask

17 " To be clearer, a Christian embraces the gospel. The gospel is the good news that the one and only true God, the Loving Creator, Sovereign King, and Holy Judge of all has wonderfully, equally, and uniquely made all people in his image. Nevertheless, all people have rebelled against him in their sin, are separated from him by their sin, and deserve death because of sin. But God has done the unthinkable. He has sent his Son, Jesus, God in the flesh, to live a perfect and powerful life, to die a sacrificial and substitutionary death on the cross for sinners, and to rise from the grave in victory over sin, Satan, and death. As a result, anyone who repents and believes in Jesus—anyone who turns from their sin and trusts in Jesus as Savior and Lord—will be forgiven of all their sin and restored to a right relationship with God forever. This is the gospel. "

― David Platt , Before You Vote: Seven Questions Every Christian Should Ask

18 " Consider how political campaigns are designed to appeal relentlessly to our personal preferences. Candidates and parties woo crowds with promises of a better life for you and your children. With an air of nationalistic pride, electioneers paint a picture of a superior and more prosperous country in which you can achieve all your individual dreams. As voters, we are inundated with messages about our rights, our opportunities, all the privileges we are entitled to possess, and all the comforts we deserve to enjoy. But do we ever stop to wonder if these election messages are actually dangerous for our souls? After all, where in the Bible does Jesus beckon us with all the privileges we are entitled to possess and all the comforts we deserve to enjoy? Where does Jesus woo us with promises of everything we want in this world? When does Jesus ever encourage us to promote our nation as superior or prioritize our preferences as supreme? "

― David Platt , Before You Vote: Seven Questions Every Christian Should Ask

19 " The Christian’s supreme concern is the reputation of Jesus Christ. We live and die for his honor. So whenever we say, “The Christian position is …” we must be certain that it’s a position that is clearly and directly expressed in the Bible. Otherwise, we will do what we have done all across our country in political discussions: we will misrepresent the Word of God and malign the glory of Jesus in the process. "

― David Platt , Before You Vote: Seven Questions Every Christian Should Ask

20 " But decisions of who’s in and who’s out are God’s alone to make. So be careful not to take that stand and make that statement unless you can back it up with clear, direct words from God himself. Otherwise, be warned. You might be causing division in the church in a way that is contrary to God’s Word. "

― David Platt , Before You Vote: Seven Questions Every Christian Should Ask