In a few conversations, in person and on social-media, during the last election cycle some friends accused me of being judgmental. Given the fact that I spent over twenty years in the Active Army as an officer and then twelve years as a teacher in high school and as an adjunct instructor for a community college, there is a good chance that I can be judgmental. After all, both of my professions placed an emphasis on evaluating things and people. I tend towards a binary world view of right and wrong as I understand them. That said, I do believe that as a Christian and thinking man, I must make judgment calls and evaluations. In a competitive democracy, this means evaluating a candidate’s character and their fitness for office.
I believe that character counts when evaluating someone for a position of leadership. I also understand that none of us are perfect. In fact, you do not have to turn over too many rocks in my past to find evidence of character failure. And while we are all sinners in God’s sight, there some behaviors rise to the level of moral turpitude. We always want to be gracious, but sometimes a person’s behaviors make them untrustworthy and disqualify them from positions of great responsibility. As a Christian who enjoys the franchise, I must evaluate a candidate’s character when considering them for an official position. So how do I evaluate without being judgmental.
Perhaps a good place to start is defining judgmental. According to the Cambridge Online Dictionary, judgmental means: tending to form opinions too quickly, esp. when disapproving of someone or something. We’ve all heard Jesus’s words found in Matthew.
“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.” Matthew 7:1-2
Do we take these words to mean that we’re to suspend our judgement? I do not think so. After all, we find this passage in scripture, also from the mouth of Jesus.
“Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” John 7:24
I am quite certain that Jesus was not confused or issuing capricious contradictory commands. He expects me to be gracious, but also use my God-given abilities to make appropriate evaluations when navigating this life. So when I evaluate a candidate, I do so with various screening criteria. I also keep multiple scriptures in mind. Here are three that I feel are particularly salient.
20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. Matthew 7:20
When I evaluate a candidate, especially one for high office, I give more weight to the fruits of their life. Do they exhibit such things as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control in their lives? Or are their lives marked by sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, and so on. Of course, we all strive to live lives that exhibit the first list, and there are days in which I may fail in some area. But, when I consider a candidate, I look for evidence of a strong moral compass. If they exhibit lives marked by items on the second list, I do not give them serious consideration. It is an issue of good or bad, light or darkness.
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Isaiah 5:20
Here the prophet Isaiah reminds me to call things as they are, and to avoid word games designed to obfuscate the truth. Does a candidate speak the truth? Of course, we’ve all made the mistake of shading things to our own benefit; however, if examination of a candidate’s record reveals an inability to handle the truth, then I do not give them serious consideration. If I cannot trust a candidate to tell me the truth while campaigning, how can I trust them to make sound decisions while in office? Are their lives open and aboveboard or are they surrounded by a cloud of suspicious statements and activities?
14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15 What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? II Corinthians 6:14-15
What kind of support and counsel does a candidate seek? Do they surround themselves with counselors of dubious character. Again, we’re not talking about perfection. We’re talking about the character of a person’s counsel team. Solomon’s son Rehoboam discarded the good counsel and instead embraced foolish counsel, which ultimately led to his kingdom’s destruction. Good men give good counsel, while evil men give evil counsel. If a candidate operates a revolving door for their counselors due to continual scandal, I must question their judgement.
These are some of the things that I consider when evaluating a candidate for any office. I do not believe that it is judgmental for me to base my support for a candidate on evaluating them based on scripture. Of course, that is a high bar for any candidate to reach; however, such an evaluation is not being judgmental. Instead, looking at scripture provides me with useful screening criteria and employing them helps me to navigate an often chaotic, convoluted, and challenging political system.
