“The church should not resort to the civil power to carry on its work. The gospel of Christ contemplates spiritual means alone for the pursuit of its ends. The state has no right to impose penalties for religious opinions of any kind. The state has no right to impose taxes for the support of any form of religion. A free church in a free state is the Christian ideal, and this implies the right of free and unhindered access to God on the part of all men, and the right to form and propagate opinions in the sphere of religion without interference by the civil power” (Baptist Faith & Message, XVII. Religious Liberty).

It is important to Baptists not to confuse the mission of the church with the mission of the state. But that doesn’t mean that we are unconcerned with the fortunes of our political order or that we have no responsibility within it. We are Baptists, not anabaptists. Which is why the following is also a part of our confession:

“All Christians are under obligation to seek to make the will of Christ supreme in our own lives and in human society. Means and methods used for the improvement of society and the establishment of righteousness among men can be truly and permanently helpful only when they are rooted in the regeneration of the individual by the saving grace of God in Jesus Christ. In the spirit of Christ, Christians should oppose racism, every form of greed, selfishness, and vice, and all forms of sexual immorality, including adultery, homosexuality, and pornography. We should work to provide for the orphaned, the needy, the abused, the aged, the helpless, and the sick. We should speak on behalf of the unborn and contend for the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death. Every Christian should seek to bring industry, government, and society as a whole under the sway of the principles of righteousness, truth, and brotherly love. In order to promote these ends Christians should be ready to work with all men of good will in any good cause, always being careful to act in the spirit of love without compromising their loyalty to Christ and His truth” (Baptist Faith & Message, XV. The Christian and the Social Order).

We believe that the only way to truly transform a nation is for the people to be transformed. The only way for people to be transformed is through the regenerating work of the Spirit working through the gospel and through the word of God being preached to them by faithful Christians. But this Great Commission work does not preclude our interest in loving our neighbor and seeking the good of the “city” in which we live: “But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare” (Jer. 29:7).

In God’s kind providence, He has allowed us to live in a democratic republic in which we have a say in electing the leaders the represent and govern us. If it really is our “obligation to make the will of Christ supreme in our own lives and in human society” and if we really are required to “work with all men of good will in any good cause,” then we ought to steward our democratic privileges well by showing up to vote for candidates and policies that will promote justice and truth and human flourishing.

Vote pro-life. Vote against transanity. Vote for the strengthening of marriage and against any perversion that would undermine it. Vote for the protection of religious liberty. Don’t worry about the “progressive gaze.” The only “gaze” you should care about is God’s. The secularists are going to call you a Christian Nationalist no matter what you do, so we must not take their good opinion as a measure of what we must do on election day (Gal. 1:10).

We will always have imperfect alternatives, but do the best you can with the alternatives we have. Go vote this election day!

We mention two more articles in the discussion. Both of them are linked below:

The New York Times: “Christianity Today, a Voice of Centrist Evangelicalism, Is in Turmoil.”

Bonnie Kristian Substack: “Why I left Christianity Today.”

“When journalism crosses a moral line: A recent article on Elisabeth Elliot is way over that line” – WORLD Opinions

What kind of love enjoys all of a spouse’s blessings and health but puts a stiff arm up to a spouse’s trials and suffering? And then says, “I need companionship, and your suffering just doesn’t fit into my plans for my happiness.” What kind of love is that? I think most of us recognize that’s not any kind of love at all.

Would you marry a person if they wanted to revise the wedding vows to something like this? “For richer and for wealthier. In fitness and in health. Till ‘that point that you no longer meet my needs’ do us part.” Would you marry someone who wanted to say those vows to you? Someone who says, “I’ll love you right up to the point that it is no longer personally fulfilling for me to do so”?

You wouldn’t recognize that as love. You wouldn’t put up with someone trying to tell you that is love. And you would be right to do so. Because love doesn’t stop when life gets hard. Love proves it is really love when life gets hard.

[You can listen to the rest of the sermon below.]

Americans were horrified by what we saw that day. As the flames engulfed the towers, it dawned on us the terrible choice our fellow countrymen in those towers faced—”Should I burn alive or jump?” We witnessed with our own eyes what they chose. We watched in real time as so many of them leapt to their deaths from the towers. For my generation, the “falling man” has been forever etched in our memory. We will never forget him.

Not only did we see the airplanes crashing and the flames smoldering. Even as we sat stunned looking at the two towers ablaze, we also received the ominous report that the Pentagon had been hit. That symbol of our national might and security was engulfed in flames. The meaning of that building being under direct attack was not lost on anyone. We thought, “They can attack us there? If they can hit the Pentagon, what can’t they hit?”

The emotion of that day has left an indelible mark on me. The uncertainty. The questions. The threat of a coming war with unidentified enemies. The horror of watching all those people die. The specter of gas shortages and economic collapse. As the buildings smoldered, we had no idea who was doing this to us, and we didn’t know what was coming next. We all felt like another attack was imminent. We were just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Los Angeles? Chicago? Atlanta? Surely it was coming.

For the first half of my teaching career, I held this experience in common with my undergraduate students. We all went through it. We all remembered it. We all felt it. Over the last 15 years, however, each new crop of students has yielded less memory of that day. Today, none of my students have any memory at all because they were all born after September 11, 2001. The 9/11 attacks are to them like the JFK assassination was to me when I was their age—a remote national calamity that my parents experienced but that I could hardly fathom. Every passing year is like a wave washing away the sands of our national memory.

And I think this is the part that bothers me the most. We have forgotten something that never should have slipped away from us. A proud nation that fancied itself as an impregnable fortress got humbled on that day. We found out that the homeland is not invulnerable. And we looked death in the face. For a moment, every person in America put aside the soul-crushing amusements that we normally busy ourselves with. There was a moment when America actually hit the pause button on its incessant celebrity worship.

Churches across the country filled up and overflowed on September 16, the Sunday after the attacks. There was a palpable national feeling that we needed to hear something weighty and true to make sense of it all. And millions of Americans who never go to church went to church that day. And yet as a nation, we seem to have forgotten all this. What should have changed our national life didn’t—at least not permanently. As the horror faded, so also did our resolve to deal seriously with sin, righteousness, and judgment. The nation got back to its idolatries soon enough. Lord, have mercy on us.

My wife and I went to hear Tom Schreiner preach on September 16, 2001, the first Sunday after 9/11. His text was Luke 13:

“Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” –Luke 13:4-5

Could there be a more appropriate text for that day? I doubt it. Here we have a tower falling on and killing eighteen people. What is the lesson from the falling tower? We are no better than the people that perished in those towers. Indeed, if we fail to repent, we can expect an even worse judgment than those upon whom the tower of Siloam fell.

The message of the moment for everyone was this. Look death in the face, and contemplate what this means for your own life. Your life is short. It may end sooner than you think. Repent and turn to Christ as your only hope in this life and the next. Our nation didn’t do that, and we are the worse for it.

John Piper’s September 16 sermon is one that has proven to be prophetic (audio, transcript), especially the series of questions he asks near the beginning. He calls God’s people to turn away from their implicit trust in American military might and national prosperity. Americans by and large had taken for granted their own security in the world. Piper said 9-11 proves what the Bible already teaches—that such security is an illusory fiction. Our hope is not in the military and its ability to protect from all danger. Our hope is in Christ, and nothing can separate us from the love of Christ (Romans 8:35-39).

As I remember the tragedy of 9-11 this week, I also remember these messages from Schreiner and Piper. I am thankful for the reminder that we serve a God who is sovereign over all things, that we serve a Christ who once looked into the cold eyes of at a heartless Roman governor and said, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above.” I am thankful that while we have no basis for confidence in military might (Psalm 20:7), we have every reason to be confident in King Jesus who has promised to come again and to make all things new (Revelation 21:5). I am thankful for a Christ who loves sinners and who will one day banish evil from the new heavens and the new earth and wipe ever tear away.

That is our hope. Would to God that our nation might be gripped by this truth. It is our only hope in this life and the next.