Question:
A teaching is going around in our church that says when a vote is taken, if the majority supports it, it represents the voice of God to the people and should be accepted as truth. Should we really accept this?
Answer:
The schemes of men never seem to cease. There is probably nothing that is farther from the truth than such a teaching as this. God does work with order and organization, but there are limits. For a group to believe—whether it is a church, a medical institution, or an educational facility—that whatever decision they make by majority vote is divinely sanctioned and blessed is sheer ignorance of the Scripture’s instruction. This is precisely why there will be multitudes lost in the last days. As far as the Bible is concerned, the majority has never been in the will of God.
Looking over the centuries at the results of decisions formed concerning spiritual matters, the majority was never right. Jesus made this very plain in His instruction to His disciples in the Sermon on the Mount. (See Matthew 7:13, 14.)
The reason that such thinking comes into being is because someone wants to “run the show.” When this is done with a board of directors, there is usually a great deal of politicking going on. There are behind-the-scene meetings and phone calls made where ideas are advanced and proposals are strongly suggested, and then there is a push to accept these ideas as the only thing that is workable. The one who is pushing such ideas is usually a charismatic person who has a strong power of persuasion. But the truth of the matter is that when the majority vote is declared to be the voice of God, it is very possibly the voice of the devil, because of the manner by which the decision was arrived.
Further evidence supporting the truth that the voice of God is not heard in the majority is found in the fact that those who are making the decision may not have all the necessary information on which to make a godly decision. This is the reason subcommittees are often appointed to research information so that everything, as far as possible, can be brought into consideration for that decision.
It would be nice to have a Urim and Thummim on which we could call upon the Lord to help us make the right decisions, but unfortunately, we do not have such things today. We are told that we should not even cast lots in the decision-making process. So to invest a board with such powers as a vote in the majority is declared to be the voice of God only serves to set us up for fanaticism.
Godly decisions are based upon good and accurate information. Starting from a biblical point and then supporting the information through the Spirit of Prophecy is the only safe position for us to hold. Even when these steps are taken, we must make sure that we do not make these kinds of decisions the voice of God just because the majority votes them. In summary, we need to make sure that we support decisions based upon truth and not upon a majority vote of some committee.
Pastor Mike Baugher is Associate Speaker for Steps to Life. If you have a question you would like Pastor Mike to answer, e-mail it to: landmarks@stepstolife.org, or mail it to: LandMarks, Steps to Life, P. O. Box 782828, Wichita, KS 67278.