Our children learn how to vote by watching how we think.
Colonel keeping me company during Bible study. Knowing what we believe begins with spending time in God’s Word.
I have been asked many times how I approach politics as a Christian. How do I know what is true? How do I decide whom to believe? And how do I choose a candidate when neither one seems particularly appealing? I am also asked how to teach children about our political system and the importance of voting.
Think about the conversations that take place around your dinner table. When something happens in the news, do you discuss it with your children? Do you openly discuss the pros and cons of the candidates you are evaluating? Do your children know why you believe what you believe, or have they simply learned which candidates you like and which ones you do not?
I believe parents have a responsibility to teach their children how to think through difficult questions. We should want them to understand what we believe, but we should also want them to know how we arrived at those beliefs.
Know What You Believe
I am a Christian, and my faith is the foundation upon which I make decisions, including those involving politics. But claiming to believe in God and knowing what He teaches are two different things.
In Matthew 7:24–27, Jesus describes a wise man who built his house on rock and a foolish man who built his house on sand. When the storms came, only one house remained standing. The difference was the foundation.
I think about that passage when I hear people change their political opinions depending on the last person they heard speak. Someone makes a convincing argument, and they agree. The next day, someone presents the opposite argument, and they agree with that person too. How can we expect our children to develop convictions if we have never taken the time to understand our own?
Years ago, I taught an adult Bible study class where we were studying Scripture that had difficult passages to digest based on the political climate at the time. So, I decided to illustrate what many were struggling with as they tried to decide where their election day vote was going to go. I reached into my purse, pulled out a pair of scissors, and began cutting passages out of a Bible. I then crumpled the pages and threw them into the trash can. You can imagine the reaction from the class!
I asked the people listening how physically removing passages from Scripture was any different from ignoring parts of God’s Word when we went to the ballot box. We cannot treat the Bible like a loose-leaf notebook, keeping the pages that support our opinions and removing those that challenge us.
This same principle applies when we discuss politics. We should not begin with an opinion and then search for information that supports what we believe. We should begin by seeking the truth, even when what we discover makes us uncomfortable.
For Christians, that requires time in God's Word. It also requires prayer and seeking counsel from people whose judgment we trust.
Let Your Children Question You
We owe it to our children to let them know what we believe and why we believe it. And that belief needs to be grounded in God's Word. If your teenager comes home from school and announces that a teacher has said something you strongly disagree with, your first reaction may be to explain why the teacher is wrong. But before you do, ask your child what was said and why the teacher believes it. Then discuss the issue together.
If it is a policy issue, show your son or daughter where they can research to find the answer. Teach your child to GO TO THE SOURCE. If the subject involves a biblical principle, open Scripture and read the passage in context.
Deuteronomy 6:6–7 instructs parents to teach God's commands to their children throughout the day, including when they sit at home. This places the responsibility for teaching squarely within the family. Do not outsource these discussions.
Discussions about politics and faith should be part of our everyday life. The dinner table provides the best opportunity because the family is gathered together, and the conversations naturally unfold.
Be Careful Where You Get Your News
One BIG warning. Do not rely on social media for your news and teach your children this important lesson as well. Social media platforms learn what interests us and continue showing us similar content. Quickly we find ourselves surrounded by people who share our opinions, and we begin to assume that everyone agrees with us because those are the only views appearing on our screens. We are setting our children back when they see us gather our information this way. Instead, we should be teaching them how to think critically and search out the truth.
How did we handle this in our home? When an issue interested me, I would read articles from sources with different political perspectives. If I saw a claim that did not sound correct, I investigated further. When someone would quote a politician, I would find the original quote and read it in context, and I would read the entire article as opposed to an excerpt selected by someone else. If I needed to, I would read the original bill. It is surprising how often the language of a proposed law differs completely from the way people describe it, especially in today’s world on social media.
One important thing to teach children is to READ their news as opposed to watching a video or even relying solely on TV. This goes against our fast-paced, low-attention-span society, but in my opinion it is the only way to get to the root of an issue as opposed to listening to hours of commentary from people who are giving you more opinion than fact.
Teach children the difference between reporting and commentary. Most importantly, practice what we teach. If our children hear us repeating stories we have not verified, they will assume that is an acceptable way to form an opinion.
Learning to Disagree
I have dear friends on both sides of the political aisle, and we have had some wonderful conversations about subjects on which we strongly disagree. Sometimes those discussions have helped me better understand an opposing position. I may not change my mind, but I can appreciate why someone else reached a different conclusion.
In Acts 15, Paul and Barnabas disagreed over whether John Mark should accompany them on their next missionary journey. The disagreement became so serious that the two men separated and continued their work independently. Both men were committed to spreading the Gospel, yet they could not agree on how to handle this particular situation.
Two people can share the same faith and still disagree about how to address a problem. We should teach our children to examine the reasons behind those differences rather than immediately assuming the other person has bad intentions.
Teach your children that at your table, everyone is allowed to respectfully speak their mind on an issue, and others will listen. Children need to learn that interrupting, raising their voices, or making personal attacks does nothing to strengthen an argument. Teach them that writing insults on social media is never acceptable and says more about the character of that person than it does about the people on the other end.
I have always believed there is a difference between having a disagreement and having an argument. A disagreement works when both people are willing to listen. An argument starts when winning becomes more important than understanding.
Also pass along the knowledge that there will be times when a conversation needs to end because someone is no longer interested in a respectful discussion. Walking away is not giving up what you believe. Even Jesus walked away. When a Samaritan village refused to welcome Him, James and John asked if they should call down fire from heaven on those people. Jesus rebuked them, and they went on to another village (Luke 9:51–56). When He sent out the twelve disciples, He told them that if a town would not welcome them or listen to their words, they should shake the dust off their feet as they left (Matthew 10:14). In this instance, Jesus did not stay and argue or tell his disciples they could punish the village. Instead, He moved on to a new location where there were people who would listen.
What Will Your Children Remember?
I think parents sometimes underestimate how much their children learn simply by listening to conversations at home. A child may not understand every political issue being discussed, but he can recognize whether his parents have taken an issue seriously and if other people at the table treat each other with respect or contempt. And a child will remember when a parent admits to being wrong.
Eventually, our children will have teachers, professors, friends, and colleagues whose beliefs differ from ours. When that time comes, you want your children to be prepared for those conversations and be able to defend what they believe.
I have said many times that the table shapes the home, the home shapes families, and families shape society. This is one of the reasons I believe so strongly in gathering our families around the table, because one day our children will enter a voting booth and make decisions without us standing beside them. One day they will help elect people who will govern our lives. My prayer is that the children at our table will one day walk into a voting booth with confidence because they know what they believe, why they believe it, and how those beliefs are grounded in God’s Word.
Together with you,
Lisa Lou
