Would Christ Vote?

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SaysWhat

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Jan 17, 2024
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No it's not, that's just a manipulation tactic and a way to sidestep the real issue, which is a lack of good options. As it is, no matter who you vote for evil is the end result.
You will be waiting along time for this world to be fair and perfect.

As it is you just don't like the choices so you rather refer to them as evil.
 

SaysWhat

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Jan 17, 2024
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I agree. Ideally people should vote; but voting for the lesser of two evils is still evil.

If people want to do something productive in politics they should work to get more parties to choose from. They should also work to get rid of the electoral college. For example, I live in a solidly red state. I knew voting would be a waste of time unless I voted for Trump, which was borne out; he won by a landslide in my state. If there had been some decent candidates to choose from, and if my vote would've mattered, I would've voted. The system is broken; it disincentivises people from voting.
It's broken because there wasn't any decent candidates that you like. That's being a dictator.
 

ResidentAlien

Well-known member
Apr 21, 2021
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You will be waiting along time for this world to be fair and perfect.

As it is you just don't like the choices so you rather refer to them as evil.
Who said anything about wanting the world to be fair and perfect?
 

SaysWhat

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Jan 17, 2024
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Who said anything about wanting the world to be fair and perfect?
You think it ends in evil regardless of voting. Voting has allowed everyone on this site. To speak their minds. You won't see anybody from North Korea,Iran, China speaking their minds. That is the result of the lack of voting.
 

sawdust

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Feb 12, 2024
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There are many ways to be salt and light. As I said in my previous post, if people want to engage with politics that's their right and I have no problem with it. What I have a problem with is being manipulated into it with illogical rhetoric.
That doesn't make any sense. If you know it's illogical rhetoric, how can you be manipulated? You would be doubly foolish if, in the knowing, you were still manipulated. :confused:
 

sawdust

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Your question boggles my mind.

Jesus said:

Jhn 9:5
As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

How was Jesus involved in politics during his incarnation?

Did he join forces with Simon the zealot to overthrow Rome, or did he call Simon the zealot to join forces with him in a different endeavor?

Mar 10:41
And when the ten heard it, they began to be much displeased with James and John.

Mar 10:42
But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them.

Mar 10:43
But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister:

Mar 10:44
And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all.

Mar 10:45
For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

Simon the zealot was one of the ten who heard Jesus contrast his servants with Gentile rulers who exercise lordship over others or who exercise authority upon them.

Meditate on this, and you will find the answer to your question.
You are looking at Christ 's actions when He came to save the world. Start looking at His actions when He returns and you will see His ruling of the world is the true politics. Foreign policy will be done a little differently. Instead of trade embargoes, He will withhold the rain which, is way more effective.

Zechariah 14:17
And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, on them there will be no rain.

We live in a fallen world, corruption is everywhere. If one is going to withdraw on the basis of something being corrupt in places, we will not be involved in anything. The whole point of my statement is to get in there to prevent the corruption overtaking the system and controlling it without any checks or balances. Why my statement should boggle your mind boggles mine. Should we (Christians) stand against nothing and let the corruption take over?

I'm in my Father's business which is one of redemption and reconciliation, not "eek, I don't want to get my hands dirty".

You go your way and I'll go mine. :)

ps. In my country, our politicians are called ministers. Our chief, equivalent to your President, is called the Prime Minister.

pps. It might also be worthwhile understanding what I mean when I use the word "politics".

Definition - The art or science of government or governing, especially the governing of a political entity, such as a nation, and the administration and control of its internal and external affairs.
 

posthuman

Senior Member
Jul 31, 2013
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I never said it was equivalent, it's like/similar mr. exaggerator.

And you got flipping a coin from got questions commentators. They use them for choosing leaders regardless. It's mentioned a couple of times in scripture for that purpose.
flipping a coin is a universally standard example of a probabilistic distribution, because it's easy to understand that it is a random outcome and nearly everyone is familiar with it.
maybe got-questions got it from me. i got it from studying math for 20 years.

a process with a random outcome, such as flipping a coin or casting lots, is explicitly not like ((or similar to)) voting. not even a little bit.
it is exactly the opposite of voting - it is specifically done in order to remove all human influence from a decision, because it is understood that only God alone can control a completely random event.
 

posthuman

Senior Member
Jul 31, 2013
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You think it ends in evil regardless of voting. Voting has allowed everyone on this site. To speak their minds. You won't see anybody from North Korea,Iran, China speaking their minds. That is the result of the lack of voting.
well no, Chairman Mao Zedong was elected by popular vote, actually. those kinds of oppressive regimes are actually the result of voting for charismatic, extreme right wing nationalists who desire great power and appeal to an unwitting populace by blaming their political enemies for everything that is wrong with the world - then giving them unreproachable power to do whatever they want without any consequences for or checks on their behavior.

grab some popcorn buddy
 

SaysWhat

Active member
Jan 17, 2024
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flipping a coin is a universally standard example of a probabilistic distribution, because it's easy to understand that it is a random outcome and nearly everyone is familiar with it.
maybe got-questions got it from me. i got it from studying math for 20 years.

a process with a random outcome, such as flipping a coin or casting lots, is explicitly not like ((or similar to)) voting. not even a little bit.
it is exactly the opposite of voting - it is specifically done in order to remove all human influence from a decision, because it is understood that only God alone can control a completely random event.
Thank you for showing that.
 

SaysWhat

Active member
Jan 17, 2024
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well no, Chairman Mao Zedong was elected by popular vote, actually. those kinds of oppressive regimes are actually the result of voting for charismatic, extreme right wing nationalists who desire great power and appeal to an unwitting populace by blaming their political enemies for everything that is wrong with the world - then giving them unreproachable power to do whatever they want without any consequences for or checks on their behavior.

grab some popcorn buddy
Mao Zedong is the leader of China today. There's no opposition allowed anymore.

Sorry I don't do popcorn.
 

sawdust

Active member
Feb 12, 2024
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flipping a coin is a universally standard example of a probabilistic distribution, because it's easy to understand that it is a random outcome and nearly everyone is familiar with it.
It's not a random outcome, it's an unknown outcome. You can't just go throwing randomness into the universe and expect it to turn out the way you want.

If we knew (or could control) beforehand all the forces applied to the the toss , directly and indirectly, we would know the outcome before the coin was flipped.
 

SaysWhat

Active member
Jan 17, 2024
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well no, Chairman Mao Zedong was elected by popular vote,
From what I've read on china a bit ago. The country has never had open elections where the people of china can vote for a leader. Before 1949 communist take over, there where dynasties and other authoritarian rulers.
 

posthuman

Senior Member
Jul 31, 2013
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It's not a random outcome, it's an unknown outcome. You can't just go throwing randomness into the universe and expect it to turn out the way you want.

If we knew (or could control) beforehand all the forces applied to the the toss , directly and indirectly, we would know the outcome before the coin was flipped.
in a famous exchange of letters between two friends who were fairly good at physics, A and B, an argument took place over whether the physical universe is deterministic or probabilistic - that is, does all the evidence show that we could totally predict the future with 100% accuracy if we knew all the forces applied to it, all the positions and velocities of all the things involved?
A lost the argument.

"God does not play dice with the universe"​
- Albert Einstein​
"who is Einstein to tell God what to do?"​
- Niels Bohr​
 

posthuman

Senior Member
Jul 31, 2013
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From what I've read on china a bit ago. The country has never had open elections where the people of china can vote for a leader. Before 1949 communist take over, there where dynasties and other authoritarian rulers.
Mao Zedong was elected by over 600 delegates in the 3rd congress of the communist party after their revolution overturned thousands of years of imperial rule.

by contrast, in the american system the popular vote is technically meaningless - the president is chosen by 538 state electors who are under no compulsion to vote in a way that reflects the expressed wishes of the small percentage of people of their respective states who turned out. the constitution of the united states doesn't even require those electors to be chosen by voting. the states can flip coins if they want.

538 < 600
 

sawdust

Active member
Feb 12, 2024
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in a famous exchange of letters between two friends who were fairly good at physics, A and B, an argument took place over whether the physical universe is deterministic or probabilistic - that is, does all the evidence show that we could totally predict the future with 100% accuracy if we knew all the forces applied to it, all the positions and velocities of all the things involved?
A lost the argument.

"God does not play dice with the universe"​
- Albert Einstein​
"who is Einstein to tell God what to do?"​
- Niels Bohr​
Maybe they should have stuck with common sense instead of their limited knowledge of the forces governing this universe.
 

posthuman

Senior Member
Jul 31, 2013
37,844
13,558
113
in a famous exchange of letters between two friends who were fairly good at physics, A and B, an argument took place over whether the physical universe is deterministic or probabilistic - that is, does all the evidence show that we could totally predict the future with 100% accuracy if we knew all the forces applied to it, all the positions and velocities of all the things involved?
A lost the argument.

"God does not play dice with the universe"​
- Albert Einstein​
"who is Einstein to tell God what to do?"​
- Niels Bohr​
Bohr was actually conceding that his own work modeling the atom was wrong, by doing this - but the evidence was undeniable and overwhelming. the universe is constructed in such a way that at its most fundamental levels only God, with complete omniscience and control, can predict it.

reading some of Heisenberg's work is quite interesting, too. it turns out further that without consciousness observing the entire universe simultaneously, it cannot exist. that's right - quantum mechanics shows that there has to be an intelligent, omniscient Creator Who knows what is unknowable and sees what is impossible to observe.