I've been thinking about the fact that JWs dont vote in elections. The main reason for this, I guess is that they shall not be a part of this world and so on. There was no election in the times of Jesus, so yes I understand that it needs an intepretetion, but why is that intepreted that they shouldnt vote? Its a bit stupid in my opinion. What would have happended if JWs had voted in countries where they are persecuted? For example in Germany before Hitler came to power, I dont know how many JWs there were in Germany by the time, or if it had made any difference though... Anyway, just some thoughts thats circulating my mind.
Voting and elections
by Powermetal4ever 14 Replies latest jw friends
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blondie
1) in the first century what kind of elections were there?
2) who voted?
3) it would be nice if you showed some examples
4) Did the Israelites vote in any elections?
5) You'd be surprised that jws are not the only religious group that feels that voting/elections are not Christian.
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sir82
The explanation, as I understood it, is that by voting, you share in the responsibility of what the person you elected does.
I.e., if you vote for a president who engages his country in warfare, and lives are lost, you share in the bloodguilt, since by voting you in effect give your consent for the decisions the president has made.
If you abstain from voting, then you have not given your tacit approval for what that politician does.
That's what I remember from many years ago. With the trend of dumbing down the message that has occurred over the past few decades, they do not now go much beyond a simplistic "no part of the world" explanation.
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Powermetal4ever
I think I'll skip to answer those questions blondie But yes I am surprised by no.5. But that does only give me more fuel to the doubts I'm having. Care to give any examples of those groups?
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BluesBrother
The reasoning also also used to be that by voting you were making a choice for a Worldly Govt. when they felt dedicated to supporting a Hevenly govt. The vote would violate that dedication.
This must be topical in Scotland with the referendum due shortly, for independance from Britain. Any Scottish posters know if the flock up there have been reminded to remain "neutral"
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redvip2000
I don't think it had much to do with sharing responsability, but more the fact that by voting you are somehow putting trust in human goverments.
The fact is all of us are already putting trust in human goverments. We trust that they will give us the social services we need, and that they provides us protection along with other things. Why should we not get to choose to person who we think will do a better job at doing theset things?
If voting isn't the best way to choose, then why do congregations vote in order to pass a resolution? why does the GB vote when they want to make a decision?
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LP97
This must be topical in Scotland with the referendum due shortly, for independance from Britain. Any Scottish posters know if the flock up there have been reminded to remain "neutral"
It's been treated like any other election...inappropriate for a Christian to partake in. It's been referenced a couple of times in talks when talking about the political systems of this world, so yeah, the flock still have to remain "neutral" and not vote. Although I wouldn't be surprised if a couple of "spiritually weak" ones decided to head down to the polling station! It's the biggest political decision in our history after all.
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scotoma
If JW's voted they would vote conservative candidates like all other fundamentalists. Capital punishment. Anti-Gay legislation. Anti-abortion. Banning the teaching of evolution anti-gambling etc.
These issues would eclipse any of the other issues like anti-war.
Once you open the door to voting you open the door to running for political office.
Politics would divide the congregation.
I don't vote because I am outnumbered. Exercise in futility.
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truth_b_known
Romans 13:1-7 states that the earthly authorities are God's ministers. Doesn't that make the people we elected ministers of Jehovah?