Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has won the presidential election. It’s surreal — a victory for some and disbelief for others. No matter the outcome, many Christians would respond with Romans 13:1-5, commanding us to submit to all leaders as they are all established by God. Although this is Biblical truth, we are not excused from turning a blind eye to our leader’s mistakes.
For perspective, God is sovereign — simply, God is in control and allows good and bad to happen. With that, infamous figures like Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Putin were allowed to commit their atrocious acts. Naturally, immoral leaders would also lead to sinful instructions on their people, which puts Christians in a dilemma — do we have to follow our leaders regardless?
Matthew 22:15-22 depicted Jesus’ thoughts on the matter. When the Pharisees suggested not to pay taxes to Cesar, Jesus said, “give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” Simply, we follow authority whether they’re good or evil.
However, there is an exception. We may be answerable to our leaders, but we cannot always obey their commands. In Acts 5:27-29, the Roman authorities tried forcing the apostles to stop spreading the gospel. The apostles responded: “We must obey God rather than men.” We may be subject to the laws and punishments of our leaders, but when leaders incite us to go against God’s values, that is when we obey God’s commands first.
By extension, we are also obliged to promote God’s values — entailing us to hold our leaders accountable for their actions. If a leader commits or promotes sinful acts, like any other Christian, we have the right and responsibility to criticize and correct them.
In order to hold our leaders accountable, they have to be critically and objectively evaluated for their actions. We can only accomplish this with critical thinking — the ability to effectively assess different sources of valid information in making decisions.
This skill can’t be developed overnight. The initiative and patience to research and verify potentially false information are small but needed steps in doing so. Though it’s difficult to initially practice and hone, thinking critically is necessary to properly fulfill our roles.
With leaders held accountable, they will be directed to be transparent and uphold integrity in their decisions. For example, Singapore mitigates corruption through its strict policies on integrity — with politicians risking jail time and massive fines for the smallest convictions. This practice will also prevent leaders from leveraging their position for personal gain, as remembered from Ferdinand Marcos’ dictatorship.
Therefore, remaining politically and socially complacent or neutral should not be an option for Christians.
“Politics should be discussed… You need to understand; these are important topics. Many Christians are brainwashed into thinking that politics is so dirty — you don’t get involved. That is a lie. If you study church history; if you study world history — you can see how Christians who entered politics had transformed their nation,” exclaimed Christ Commission Fellowship Pastor Peter Tan-Chi in a sermon on March 28, 2022.
Likewise, we all are part of Philippine politics, whether we like it or not. If you choose to follow or object to a president’s actions, that is your political stand. Similarly, if you choose to remain complacent or neutral with inaction and oppression, you choose to enable that oppressor. All our actions have a stake in our nation’s future. It is also our choice to follow God’s will by upholding His values with the coming administration.
The trajectory of our coming six years is unpredictable and frightening. Hopefully, our country fares well and progresses. At the same time, we must remain vigilant, critical, and cautious of the Marcos administration, no matter our political stand. Most importantly, 1 Timothy 2:1-2 calls us to pray for the elected in hopes that the Lord will change the hearts of our incoming leaders.
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