I will respond to some of your points.
HondurasKeiser wrote: ↑Fri Feb 16, 2024 2:07 pm
4. I see nowhere in the NT that suggests in any concrete way that we can truly be "Dual Citizens" - with something like a foot in both the Heavenly Kingdom and an Earthly polity. That would require divided allegiances. We cannot, as Christians, have divided allegiances. To say "Jesus is Lord" has physical and cosmic implications far beyond my interior/emotional life of personal sin and temptation. It means He is our King in every facet of life; and no man can be subject to 2 different masters. Incidentally, that's why even in our "liberal" LMC congregation, we were taught to never say the Pledge of Allegiance or stand for the National Anthem.
I agree that as Christians we belong to a heavenly Kingdom and not an earthly kingdom. And even though our hearts and souls belong to the Lord, we are still on this earth and because we are on this earth we participate with aspects of the world around us. Government is one of those aspects. We have government issued social security numbers, we pay taxes to the government, we follow the government’s laws etc (Romans 13). Just because we participate in something pertaining to the government, doesn’t mean we have an allegiance to that kingdom. And that could include voting if someone sees fit to do that.
10. Romans tells us that God ordains government. Elsewhere the Bible suggests that God is actively involved in raising up and laying low specific rulers of nations.
11. Do you believe that to be true today? If yes, then why do you need to vote? Do you truly think God needs or even desires to act through a fiction of Primary, General and Electoral voting in order to enact His will? Do you think that sometime in the 18th Century and specifically in European countries, He decided to raise up leaders by method of Popular decision when for most of history He had chosen other means?
I agree that God ordains governments and is actively involved in raising up and laying low specific rulers of nations. So in the case of the United Sates, how do we know that God didn’t ordain a government that allows its people to have a say (by voting) in choosing leaders? How do we know God doesn’t use people as His instruments (voting) to choose leaders? After all doesn’t God have the power to move the hearts of the people to put into power that He wills? If we truly believe God ordains governments according to the Bible, are we telling Him that the representative government He ordained here in the United States was wrong. Do we have a right to condemn and judge fellow believers who do vote?
12. Or, do you believe that God doesn't raise up specific leaders today? Do you think His ordination of government is a general one and He lets the nations have the leaders they so desire?
God Left the nations have the leaders they desired in the Old Testament. Has He changed his mind?
BTW, I have voted in the past, especially on the local level, like for township supervisors, local school board members, etc. I have not voted recently. I just don’t think voting, is giving your allegiance to a "worldly kingdom" and is somehow evil. We believe the Bible (and rightly so) that God ordains governments, yet we then say we believe the current representative government God ordained for this nation is not of the Lord. I find that a bit confusing.
If we truly believed that any government involvement is not for Kingdom believers, we wouldn’t have social security numbers, wouldn’t pay taxes, wouldn’t have driver’s licenses, wouldn’t fly beings the government screens us, wouldn’t drive on government funded roads, would not accept government issued deeds for our land, etc. And I don't see that happening.