Dear Christian, I want to put a question to you before we ever reach a ballot: what is civil government actually for?
As a watchman on the wall for Virginia, the alarm I need to sound this year is not first about politics. It is about a question most of us were never taught to answer — and this November, our silence on it will cost us. Two amendments to Virginia’s Bill of Rights are on the ballot. Before we can vote them well, we have to know whose job is whose.
So I want to hand you to someone who has thought about this far longer and deeper than I have. Tony Perkins — president of the Family Research Council and a former state legislator — has built a Bible-based training series called God & Government. In this session, about fourteen minutes, he lays out something every Christian voter needs: the biblical map of what government is, and what it is not.
The question beneath the ballot
Perkins’s core point is one our founders understood and we have quietly forgotten: civil government is only one of the institutions God ordained, and each one — family, church, and government — carries its own God-given jurisdiction. Education belongs first to parents (Deuteronomy 6). Care for the needy begins with the family and the church (1 Timothy 5). Government has its own proper and God-ordained work — but it is not the whole of life, and it was never meant to be.
And when we forget government’s God-intended limits, Perkins warns, two things happen. Families and churches lay down responsibilities God gave them — and government grows to fill the vacuum, in his words, at the expense of our freedoms. Hold that principle in your hand, and then look at what Virginia is being asked to do.
Two boundaries, one ballot
The marriage amendment would strike from our state’s Bill of Rights the definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman. The abortion amendment would write a right to abortion into that same constitution under “strict scrutiny” — the highest legal standard there is — a bar that could sweep aside long-standing protections such as parental consent and waiting periods.
Set the politics aside for a moment and see what these really are. They are the state reaching across a boundary God drew. Marriage and the family are not the government’s to redefine; God designed them before any legislature existed (Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:4–6). And the child in the womb is not the state’s to discard; I believe with all my heart that every one of them bears the image of God from the moment of conception (Psalm 139:13–14). What sits on our ballot is not merely a policy dispute. It is a question of whether Virginia will honor the boundaries of the One who assigns them.
Perkins gives a living example of this kind of boundary-crossing. He points to a California law, AB1955, that sought to bar school districts from telling parents when their child changes gender identity at school — government stepping between parent and child, claiming an authority Scripture never handed it. (Federal courts have since blocked the law’s core provisions on parental-rights grounds — a reminder that overreach can be turned back.) We are watching the same spirit at work here in Virginia, only in different clothing. When the family sphere is invaded, it is nearly always sold to us as compassion. But responsibility God assigned to parents cannot be transferred to the state without cost.
The two amendments: official text and sources
Right to Reproductive Freedom (HJ1) — legislative information page · full text
This proposed amendment would add a constitutional “fundamental right to reproductive freedom,” including prenatal care, childbirth, contraception, abortion care, miscarriage management, and fertility care, and would establish a compelling-state-interest standard governing when the Commonwealth may regulate those matters. It would continue to allow third-trimester abortion when, in the professional judgment of a single physician, it is medically indicated to protect the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant individual, or when the fetus is not viable — removing the current statutory requirement (Va. Code § 18.2-74) that a physician and two consulting physicians certify a late-term abortion.
Marriage Amendment (SJ3) — legislative information page · full text
The proposed amendment would remove the current constitutional provision defining marriage as between one man and one woman and require lawful marriages between two adults to be recognized equally under Virginia law, regardless of sex, gender, or race.
Watch, pray, and vote
So hear me, Christian. This is not the year to cede the sphere. I am not calling you to rebellion — I am calling you to the most ordinary duty a free citizen has. Watch. Pray. And in November, vote. “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29) does not always mean the barricades; sometimes it simply means showing up informed and refusing to bless what God has not blessed.
Do not tell yourself that sitting this one out is neutral ground. “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin” (James 4:17). We usually picture sin as something we commit — a wrong we go out and do. But Scripture is just as clear that sin can be something we omit: the good we knew to do and left undone. To see these amendments for what they are, to know how God would have us answer, and then to stay home in November — that is not caution. It is the sin of omission, and the silence will be ours to answer for.
And yet I will not leave you in fear. The same God who commands the warning still holds out mercy — to us, and to every neighbor who has been persuaded that these amendments are kindness. Our hope was never in a ballot box. He who sits in the heavens is not anxious about November (Psalm 2:4). So ask the Holy Spirit to make you a wise and watchful citizen this season — to give you courage without contempt, clarity without fear, and love for the very people you may find yourself voting against. He is faithful to answer that prayer.
Then watch Perkins’s session above, share it with your pastor and your small group, and explore the full six-part series at frc.org/GodandGovernment. Let’s walk into November with our eyes open.
A Prayer for Faithful Christian Citizens
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your holy name.
You alone are the Creator of all things. Before the foundations of the world, You established what is good, what is true, and what brings life. You created mankind in Your image, male and female. You knit each child together in the womb. You ordained marriage as the covenant union of one man and one woman. Your Word stands forever, even when the nations rage and the opinions of men change like shifting sand.
Father, forgive us for the times we have been silent when we should have spoken, fearful when we should have been courageous, and comfortable when You called us to stand.
Clothe us with the whole armor of God. Grant us the wisdom to recognize truth from deception, the courage to speak with both conviction and compassion, and the humility to remember that our battle is not against flesh and blood but against the spiritual forces of darkness that oppose Your kingdom.
Give us discernment as citizens. Help us to examine every law, every proposal, and every public policy through the lens of Your unchanging Word. Guard us from being swayed by words that sound compassionate while concealing what dishonors You. Teach us to love our neighbors enough to speak the truth in love.
Strengthen Your Church to be the watchman on the wall. May pastors preach the whole counsel of God without fear. May elders shepherd faithfully. May parents teach diligently. May grandparents leave a legacy of truth. May every believer understand that faithfulness extends beyond the walls of the church and into every responsibility You have entrusted to us.
We pray especially for the protection of the unborn, for children, for families, and for the sanctity of every human life from conception to natural death. Preserve the institutions You established, and raise up men and women who will defend what is righteous with grace, wisdom, and steadfast courage.
Keep our hearts free from anger, bitterness, or pride. Let us never forget that those who oppose Your ways are people made in Your image who also need the saving grace of Jesus Christ. May our words be seasoned with truth, love, and hope.
Above all, let us be found faithful. Whether our voices are many or few, whether the culture applauds or rejects us, may we stand firm upon Your Word until the day our Savior returns.
For Yours is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever.
In the mighty name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
Amen.
(Hymn: Find Us Faithful — 1 Corinthians 4:2)
The Two Amendments: Official Text and Sources
Right to Reproductive Freedom (HJ1) — legislative information page · full text
This proposed amendment would add a constitutional “fundamental right to reproductive freedom,” including prenatal care, childbirth, contraception, abortion care, miscarriage management, and fertility care, and would establish a compelling-state-interest standard governing when the Commonwealth may regulate those matters. It would continue to allow third-trimester abortion when, in the professional judgment of a single physician, it is medically indicated to protect the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant individual, or when the fetus is not viable — removing the current statutory requirement (Va. Code § 18.2-74) that a physician and two consulting physicians certify a late-term abortion.
Marriage Amendment (SJ3) — legislative information page · full text
The proposed amendment would remove the current constitutional provision defining marriage as between one man and one woman and require lawful marriages between two adults to be recognized equally under Virginia law, regardless of sex, gender, or race.
