Purpose Driven Forum
In between segments of America's Best Dance Crew re-runs and New York Goes to Hollywood I caught the forum that Rick Warren had with Obama and McCain. To note, I'm not all that interested in politics. I never have been because I felt as though there was too much information to absorb. I would also pass the buck by telling myself that I didn't have enough time to learn all I needed to know. However, since the TV in the hotel in Plantation did not project MTV or BET very clearly, I watched a lot of CNN, which of course covered the 2008 presidential campaign. Long story short, I learned that Pastor Rick Warren, author of the Purpose Driven Life, would be holding a forum in which he'd ask questions of the two presidential candidates.
I digress for a minute to say that the Purpose Driven Life was not my favorite book. Like many Christians, my friends and I read the book, or had every intention to read it, but once you get around the 12 or 14 chapter it starts to become repetitive. Praise God for the people that the book really touched. My friends and I laugh because it is not a book end!
So, I caught a good majority of the forum. Warren asked a lot of up front questions about each candidate's faith, moral stance, and personal philosophy. For someone who has not paid attention to the election and hasn't kept up with each candidate, this forum would be helpful in bringing you up to speed. The forum was more of a personal conversation. From my stand point, I really got to see who Obama and McCain were.
Now let me say this there are many people voting for Obama just because he is black. Black people let's not go that route. Let's not take the mental short cut and only be interested in Obama because of his skin. It's hard for me to say that because I am a black male, but come on now, we've got to do better. Let's learn about the issues on both ends and develop our own philosophy. I have much more to say about Obama and black people so stay tuned.
So the forum. Let's be honest church is just as political as anything. You can say separation of church and state all you want to but you have to understand that the original intention of that phrase had nothing to do with keeping religious views or agendas out of politics. So the forum was held at Saddleback church before, we can assume, an evangelical audience. Praise God for Rick Warren for asking about each candidate's faith. It was refreshing to hear what each candidate had to say about that. I admire that they put their faith in God through Jesus on blast.
Then the more specific issues: marriage and abortion. McCain being conservative of course he was blunt and to the point--he's a Christian so he has a record against abortion and defines marriage as that between a man and a woman. As you will read, Obama had a more thoughtful answer that made a lot of sense. He's pro-choice but he made a valid argument. When one person sees a story one way based on their values and another person sees a story the opposite way predicated on his or her values there will be no middle ground for either. His stance was to allow women to make the choice but provide resources that would reduce the amount of abortions. Just because Bush supported pro-life policy, the number of abortions did not reduce. in the same manner, if a woman wants an abortion she's going to get it. There is a deeper problem associated with abortion rather than just the act itself.
Sorry if I sound pro-Obama, but he made up some good and reasonable points that Christians or anybody should take into account. Abortion is not so black and white. This debate has been nothing but an argument. From his response I believe that regardless of his stance he wants to address the deeper social issues.
(To be continued)
I digress for a minute to say that the Purpose Driven Life was not my favorite book. Like many Christians, my friends and I read the book, or had every intention to read it, but once you get around the 12 or 14 chapter it starts to become repetitive. Praise God for the people that the book really touched. My friends and I laugh because it is not a book end!
So, I caught a good majority of the forum. Warren asked a lot of up front questions about each candidate's faith, moral stance, and personal philosophy. For someone who has not paid attention to the election and hasn't kept up with each candidate, this forum would be helpful in bringing you up to speed. The forum was more of a personal conversation. From my stand point, I really got to see who Obama and McCain were.
Now let me say this there are many people voting for Obama just because he is black. Black people let's not go that route. Let's not take the mental short cut and only be interested in Obama because of his skin. It's hard for me to say that because I am a black male, but come on now, we've got to do better. Let's learn about the issues on both ends and develop our own philosophy. I have much more to say about Obama and black people so stay tuned.
So the forum. Let's be honest church is just as political as anything. You can say separation of church and state all you want to but you have to understand that the original intention of that phrase had nothing to do with keeping religious views or agendas out of politics. So the forum was held at Saddleback church before, we can assume, an evangelical audience. Praise God for Rick Warren for asking about each candidate's faith. It was refreshing to hear what each candidate had to say about that. I admire that they put their faith in God through Jesus on blast.
Then the more specific issues: marriage and abortion. McCain being conservative of course he was blunt and to the point--he's a Christian so he has a record against abortion and defines marriage as that between a man and a woman. As you will read, Obama had a more thoughtful answer that made a lot of sense. He's pro-choice but he made a valid argument. When one person sees a story one way based on their values and another person sees a story the opposite way predicated on his or her values there will be no middle ground for either. His stance was to allow women to make the choice but provide resources that would reduce the amount of abortions. Just because Bush supported pro-life policy, the number of abortions did not reduce. in the same manner, if a woman wants an abortion she's going to get it. There is a deeper problem associated with abortion rather than just the act itself.
Sorry if I sound pro-Obama, but he made up some good and reasonable points that Christians or anybody should take into account. Abortion is not so black and white. This debate has been nothing but an argument. From his response I believe that regardless of his stance he wants to address the deeper social issues.
(To be continued)
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