Watermark Voter Guide

This is not written for one election or one season. It is a short account of the large issues Scripture speaks to plainly, the matters the Church should care about in any year and under any candidate. We are not trying to tell you how to read a particular race, how to weigh the shifting claims of a given cycle, or how to adjust for whatever has changed since the last ballot. We are pointing to what does not change, and leaving you to carry it into whatever is in front of you.

Under each issue is what Scripture says, with enough context to show what it means, and nothing more. We have named no candidate and no party on purpose. The work of deciding how to vote is yours to do, prayerfully, alongside the believers who know you and hold you accountable to God. Read a section, talk it over with your spouse or your community group, and let the text press on you before any candidate does. Voting is both a privilege and a responsibility, a trust we will each give an account for (1 Corinthians 4:2).

Character matters. For a believer casting a vote, the character of the person on the ballot should always weigh heavily, because Scripture never treats how a leader lives as a side issue. And yet God has often placed in power, or allowed to be placed, people who differed from or openly clashed with his values. Read through the kings of Israel and Judah, and you find far more who did evil than who did right, and God was sovereign over every one of them. So we hold two things at once. We take the character of a candidate seriously, and we take seriously that God accomplishes his purposes through outcomes we would not have chosen, which means that faithful believers weighing the same Scripture will still land in different places. We come at this from a settled position.

Christ has already defeated Satan at the cross (Colossians 2:15), and we vote from that victory, not toward it. Some treat an election as the battle that will finally secure the win, as though the kingdom hangs on the result and a loss leaves the victory still waiting to be won. Few would state it in those terms, but it is worth asking whether that is the assumption we have quietly adopted. It is not ours. This guide is simply us taking God’s Word and working out, before him, how to vote.

What follows is not arranged in any order of importance, and it is not exhaustive. These are large matters Scripture speaks to plainly, offered to help you think and pray, not to rank what should weigh most on your conscience.

Table of Contents

• Care of Creation
• Caring for the Poor, the Widow, and the Orphan
• Debt
• Economic Stewardship and the Fair Treatment of Workers
• Government, Justice, and the Rule of Law
• Marriage and the Family
• Religious Liberty and Freedom of Conscience
• Sanctity of Life
• The Sojourner and Lawful Standing
• Truthfulness and Charity Toward Those Who Disagree
• War and Peace

Care of Creation

The world is not ours to use up. It belongs to God, and all that fills it (Psalm 24:1). From the start, he placed humanity in the garden to cultivate and keep it (Genesis 2:15), giving us rule over it as a trust to be exercised, not a license to ruin. That dominion comes with care: a righteous man even regards the life of his animal (Proverbs 12:10), and the land itself was given rest under God’s law (Leviticus 25:4). How we treat the air, water, land, and creatures we were given to steward is a moral matter, not merely a practical one, and it belongs among the things a believer weighs.

• “The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.” Psalm 24:1
• “And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’” Genesis 1:28
• “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” Genesis 2:15
• “but in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath to the Lord. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard.” Leviticus 25:4
• “Whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel.” Proverbs 12:10

Caring for the Poor, the Widow, and the Orphan

Scripture ties the way we treat the poor to the way we treat God himself. To be gracious to the poor is to lend to the Lord (Proverbs 19:17), and to oppress them is to insult their maker (Proverbs 14:31). James defines real religion partly as caring for widows and orphans in their trouble (James 1:27), and Isaiah commands God’s people to go and seek justice for them (Isaiah 1:17). This is not soft sentiment. It is a standard God applies to a whole people, and Jesus receives care shown to the needy as if it were done to him (Matthew 25:40).

• “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” James 1:27
• “Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.” Proverbs 19:17
• “Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him.” Proverbs 14:31
• “Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause.” Isaiah 1:17
• “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8
• “Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.” Proverbs 31:8-9
• “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’” Matthew 25:40

Debt

Scripture treats debt soberly. The borrower becomes the servant of the lender (Proverbs 22:7), a warning about the freedom a person or a nation surrenders when it owes. Paul says to owe no one anything except the ongoing debt of love (Romans 13:8), and the Psalms count it righteous to repay what you have taken on (Psalm 37:21). This bears on how a government spends and borrows, and on whether we are handing our children a weight we were unwilling to carry ourselves.

• “The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.” Proverbs 22:7
• “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” Romans 13:8
• “The wicked borrows but does not pay back, but the righteous is generous and gives;” Psalm 37:21
• “The LORD will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands. And you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.” Deuteronomy 28:12
• “Be not one of those who give pledges, who put up security for debts. If you have nothing with which to pay, why should your bed be taken from under you?” Proverbs 22:26-27

Economic Stewardship and the Fair Treatment of Workers

God entrusts resources and then holds people accountable for how they handle them. Faithfulness in little proves faithfulness in much (Luke 16:10), and the one thing required of a steward is that he be found trustworthy (1 Corinthians 4:2). Scripture commends honest weights and measures (Leviticus 19:36), knowing the true condition of what you manage (Proverbs 27:23-24), and working rather than living off others (2 Thessalonians 3:10). It also stands hard against those who use their position to cheat the people who work for them. Wages are to be paid fairly and on time, and the cry of the laborer who has been defrauded reaches the ear of God (Deuteronomy 24:14-15, James 5:4). Brought into public life, this asks whether money is handled honestly, counted carefully, not loved for its own sake, and not built on the backs of the people doing the work (1 Timothy 6:10).

• “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.” Luke 16:10
• “Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.” 1 Corinthians 4:2
• “Know well the condition of your flocks, and give attention to your herds, for riches do not last forever; and does a crown endure to all generations?” Proverbs 27:23-24
• "Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin shall you have: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt." Leviticus 19:36
• “You shall not oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns. You shall give him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets (for he is poor and counts on it), lest he cry against you to the LORD, and you be guilty of sin.” Deuteronomy 24:14-15
• “Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.” James 5:4
• “For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.” 2 Thessalonians 3:10
• “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.” 1 Timothy 6:10

Government, Justice, and the Rule of Law

Government is God’s servant, established by him to restrain evil and commend good (Romans 13:1), and owed submission, honor, and prayer (1 Peter 2:13-14; 1 Timothy 2:1-2). But its authority is not unlimited. It is charged to judge impartially, favoring neither the powerful nor the poor and refusing the bribe (Leviticus 19:15; Deuteronomy 16:19-20), and when rulers are just, a people flourish, while unjust rule makes them groan (Proverbs 29:2). Where the state commands what God forbids, obedience to God comes first (Acts 5:29). Over all of it, God remains the One who raises up and removes rulers (Daniel 2:21).

• “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” Romans 13:1
• "You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor." Leviticus 19:15
• “You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous. Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” Deuteronomy 16:19-20
• “By justice a king builds up the land, but one who exacts gifts tears it down.” Proverbs 29:4
• “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.” James 2:8-9
• “Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.” 1 Peter 2:13-14
• “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.” 1 Timothy 2:1-2
• “He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.” Daniel 2:21
• “When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan.” Proverbs 29:2
• “Jesus said to them, ‘Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.’ And they marveled at him.” Mark 12:17
• “We must obey God rather than men.” Acts 5:29
• “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” Proverbs 14:34

Marriage and the Family

Scripture holds the household together as one picture. Men and women are both made in God’s image, equal in worth and equal heirs of grace (Genesis 1:27; Galatians 3:28), so much so that Peter warns a husband his prayers will be hindered if he fails to honor his wife as a fellow heir (1 Peter 3:7). Marriage is the one flesh union of a man and a woman, rooted by Jesus in creation itself and not ours to redefine (Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:4-6). Within that equality, Scripture describes real and complementary roles (Ephesians 5:22-25). And the family is where the next generation is formed: parents are charged to teach their children diligently and to raise them in the instruction of the Lord, not to hand that duty to anyone who asks for it (Deuteronomy 6:6-7, Ephesians 6:4, Proverbs 22:6). When law touches marriage, sex, or who holds authority over a child’s upbringing, this whole design is what is in question.

• “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Genesis 1:27
• “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” Genesis 2:24
• “He answered, ‘Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” Matthew 19:4-6
• “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:28
• “Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.” 1 Peter 3:7
• “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,” Ephesians 5:22-25
• “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” Deuteronomy 6:6-7
• “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” Ephesians 6:4
• “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6

Religious Liberty and Freedom of Conscience

Faith that is coerced is not faith at all, and Scripture assumes that a believer may have to answer to God rather than to the state. Jesus draws the line himself, telling us to render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God (Matthew 22:21), which means the government’s claim on us is real but limited, and it does not reach the conscience. When the authorities ordered the apostles to stop preaching, they refused, judging it right to obey God rather than men (Acts 4:19-20). Daniel kept praying at his open window under a law written to stop him (Daniel 6:10). Jesus told Pilate his kingdom is not of this world and would not be advanced by force (John 18:36). The freedom to worship, to speak, and to live out one’s faith without the state compelling or punishing belief is not a modern invention; it follows from who holds final authority over the soul.

• “They said, ‘Caesar’s.’ Then he said to them, ‘Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’” Matthew 22:21
• “But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” Acts 4:19-20
• “When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.” Daniel 6:10
• “Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” John 18:36
• “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” 2 Corinthians 3:17

Sanctity of Life

God does not treat life in the womb as raw material or mere potential. He treats it as a person he already knows and has already begun to shape. David says God wove him together in his mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13) and saw his days before one of them had come to be (Psalm 139:16). God tells Jeremiah he knew him and set him apart before he was born (Jeremiah 1:5). Set against that, the command not to murder (Exodus 20:13) and the reason under it, that man carries God’s image (Genesis 9:6), reach to the smallest and least visible among us. When a candidate speaks about the beginning or the end of life, the underlying question is: Does the law treat that life the way God does?

• “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb.” Psalm 139:13
• “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” Psalm 139:16
• “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5
• “You shall not murder.” Exodus 20:13
• “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.” Genesis 9:6
• "And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit," Luke 1:41
• And he said, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job 1:21

The Sojourner and Lawful Standing

The Bible commands real kindness to the foreigner and a single standard of law, and it holds both at once. God’s people are told not to wrong or oppress the stranger, remembering they were once strangers themselves (Exodus 22:21, Leviticus 19:33-34), and God himself is said to love the alien and provide for him (Deuteronomy 10:18-19). In the same breath, one law is to apply to the native and the stranger alike (Exodus 12:49). Compassion for the immigrant and respect for lawful order are not rivals here. Both belong, and collapsing one into the other helps no one.

• “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.” Leviticus 19:33-34
• “You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.” Exodus 22:21
• “He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.” Deuteronomy 10:18-19
• “There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you.” Exodus 12:49
• “You shall have the same rule for the sojourner and for the native, for I am the Lord your God.” Leviticus 24:22

Truthfulness and Charity Toward Those Who Disagree

How we hold the truth and how we treat the people we argue with are both matters of obedience. Scripture forbids bearing false witness and calls lying lips an abomination to God (Exodus 20:16, Proverbs 12:22), which bears directly on a public square full of distortion and spin. And it will not let us trade honesty for cruelty or cruelty for honesty; we are to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). Toward those who oppose us we are told to be at peace so far as it depends on us (Romans 12:18), to correct with gentleness rather than quarreling (2 Timothy 2:24-25), and that a soft answer turns away wrath while a harsh word only feeds it (Proverbs 15:1). Jesus pushes past mere civility to love of enemies (Matthew 5:44). In an election season, this is no side matter. The way a believer speaks and the way a believer treats the person across the aisle is part of the witness and often the louder sermon.

• “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” Exodus 20:16
• “Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight.” Proverbs 12:22
• “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.” Ephesians 4:15
• “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” Romans 12:18
• “And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness.” 2 Timothy 2:24-25
• “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” Proverbs 15:1
• “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” Matthew 5:44
• “but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.” 1 Peter 3:15

War and Peace

Scripture neither glorifies war nor forbids it outright. There is a time for it (Ecclesiastes 3:8), and government is handed the sword to restrain and punish evil (Romans 13:4), which means force under rightful authority has a place. Yet the same Scripture blesses the peacemaker (Matthew 5:9), counsels counting the cost before entering a conflict (Luke 14:31), and traces much of our fighting to the appetites in our own hearts (James 4:1). The question is not whether force is ever justified, but whether it is wise, restrained, and aimed at a genuine good.

• “a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.” Ecclesiastes 3:8
• “For he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.” Romans 13:4
• “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” Matthew 5:9
• “Plans are established by counsel; by wise guidance wage war.” Proverbs 20:18
• "Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?" Luke 14:31
• “What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?” James 4:1

However the vote lands, our hope has never rested on it. He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings (Daniel 2:21). Be faithful with what is in front of you, and leave the rest to him.