Remain Separate from the World, by ARH
By Paul Miller
July 1, 2020
From a reader:
The Amish Voice seems to have a fairly modern teaching and views. I also am concerned that you would promote voting to such a level, if the scriptures teach us to remain separate from the world. -ARH
ARH,
Thank you for your letter and your concerns. I will try to share with you our perspective on these things.
Regarding a fairly modern teaching and views: You are right. We certainly hope our teaching applies to our modern culture, for that is what God intended. Just as the prophets took the writings of Moses and applied them to their culture, just as Jesus and the apostles took the Old Testament and applied it to their culture, just as Jakob Ammon and Martin Luther took the Holy Scriptures and applied it to their culture, so we desire to take the Word of God and apply it to our culture—not with new teachings, for our standard and source is not anything new, but the tried and true Word of God. The articles in The Amish Voice might often be written by people who are alive and well today, but just as it has been throughout history, we want to take the same Bible and teach God’s same truths.
Regarding voting: Yes, we are emphasizing it now, because an election is coming up that may have serious consequences for our nation, for Christians, for the unborn, and for many others. As with Esther, maybe it is “for such a time as this” that we are here to vote for leaders that may protect Christians rather than oppose God’s Word. Our sinful society seems to no longer be one in which we have many godly candidates, but is more often a battle between the forces of good and evil. God has blessed us in this nation with the privilege of choosing our own leaders, and if we decide to not take advantage of that freedom, and willingly allow the wicked to lead, then their sins are required at our hands.
If you sincerely seek God and His Word and believe that it is a sin to vote based upon the Bible, then you are free to not vote; however, it is not good to condemn all others who seek God and make a conscious and informed decision to vote. As the apostle Paul said, “Why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. . . . So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God” (Romans 14:10, 12).
Regarding being separate from the world: Most certainly the Bible teaches this. However, I’m sure as you read the Bible, you see that God is talking more about the inward person—the heart—than outward conformity.
Jesus, Martin Luther, Jakob Ammon, and others did not dress differently than those around them. Jesus did not teach that everyone had to dress like Moses, but that our hearts should be different than those of the world. Our desires, thoughts, words, and actions should be different than those who do not love God. Jesus taught that we can look different on the outside yet be filthy on the inside. If the inside is clean, the outside will be too. The apostle John did not teach that one could not use the inventions of their day, but taught that the heart should be different—that we should not love the world or the things of the world. Luther did not teach that we had to dress like the Israelites in Jesus’s day, but that our hearts should be pure and we should go to the Scriptures rather than the teachings of man.
—Paul Miller
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