A couple of weeks ago, Barak Obama and John McCain went on national television and allowed themselves to be individually examined by Pastor Rick Warren. He asked them questions about their world view, what its means to be a "born again" Christian, abortion, taxes, gay marriage, and several other great questions. I'm not going to rehash the entire discussion, just pick out 5 major themes. I'm going to do 2 posts - one for Obama and the other for McCain. This post is about Obama's responses.
What about Jesus?
Obama did better in explaining what Jesus means to him as a Christian than McCain. He actually used the word "sin" as that thing Jesus saved him from. The only thing that bothered me about his response is that he said "hopefully" his sins would be forgiven. If you are a "born again" Christian and have put your faith and trust in Jesus, your sins, by definition, are promised from God to be expatiated. You will not be punished, although you and I should be, because Jesus took our punishment for us. He may have been trying to sound humble as to not alienate non-christians. It is one of the gripes of non-christians that Christians are so sure, so confident, and are even sometime called "arrogant". It's not arrogance we just know that God will do what he promised he would do. What other religion can give you that kind of blessed assurance of reconcilliation with the one who made everything?
Abortion?
Obama's response on Abortion really bugs me. I realize he is trying to sound humble. He does not want to alienate any would-be voters. The problem is that if you are Christian it does not matter what you or anyone thinks. All that matters is what God thinks. We know what God thinks about Abortion because the Bible tells us. If God tells us all lives belong to him, do we really think that He is pleased about surgically sacrifices children because they are inconvenient to the lifestyle we want to live? Men are just as guilty because some men father children and abandon the women to raise them. I see no difference between that and the ancient Canaanites sacrifices their babies to idols as burnt offerings. God destroyed them. Rick Warren had also asked Obama when does an unborn baby becomes entitled to human right. I thought Obama, under the guise of humility, tried to weasel out of answering by asserting that the authority to answer was "above his pay grade. " Agreed. But God did answer it. All he had to do was say what God said. It's a question that falls in line with what all Christians struggle with. Are we going to obey the one to whom we belong? Are we going to go with God's judgement or are going to try to figure it out on our own. Unfortunately, in this area, Obama has decided to figure it out on his own as most of America....this is why keep coming up short.
Taxes?
I think Obama did a great job when he talked about taxes and about who he would tax and how it would affect people. I think that Obama's economic plan is a little more realistic than McCain's. McCain is saying that he wants to cut taxes for everyone, but I don't see how we are going to balance any budget without people paying more in taxes and wealth being re-distributed by the Government to close the gap between the "haves" and the "have-nots". Like it or not the gap between rich and poor is getting wider (and only the rich is benefiting). When I was a kid in the 80's a salary of $50K - 60K a year as great for a four-person family. However with banks failing, people loosing their homes, not being able to have health insurance, and generally working harder but not living as well, I don't see why we would not want the government to do something. I'm not placing the blame solely on Republican economics but "trickle-down economics" never helped me nor anyone else I know. McCain's ideas about less government and everyone taking care of their own insurance has not really worked out that well the past 8 years. Are you living better today than you were in 1999? Me Neither. I've got to add that at least on this point I think Obama won.
Gay Marriage?
I liked Obama's definition of Marriage. I just not sure I like the idea that he is unwilling to define it in the constitution. Here is an opportunity to "draw a line in concrete" and establish an ideal that we and our children will live by. The reason why marriage is not defined in the constitution because the framers, never in their wildest imaginings, ever thought it would be a question. Western Civilization is in trouble. Countries in Europe have already recognized homosexual unions as viable marriages. They are also on the brink of falling away from Christianity and towards Islam. Obama said he did not believe same-sex unions threaten his marriage or our society. If we do not categorically define marriage and leave it up to people anything will go. Society will slide further into disarray. It's a slippery slope to more debauchery. When I was a kid, if someone said "I love ____" someone else would say, "If you love ____ so much why don't you marry it." This will literally happen. People would start marrying their pets and there will be no logical reason to say that its wrong. Pedophilia will have to be recognized as legal. Why would polygamy be illegal? Eventually none of it will be illegal.
Is there evil?
I thought that Obama answered this question much more circumspectly than did McCain. He more broadly defined it than McCain did. It's more than just the Islamic terrorist that hate us. He points out that we need to be humble and remember that although we must confront evil leave room for God to define who and what is evil. The problem I have is that not everything that I consider evil is what Obama considers evil. I think abortion is evil. He doesn't. This is why God's laws and viewpoint must be the standard for what evil is, not us. We are so tainted by own sins, and so blinded by the thought "I'm not as bad as so and so" that we cannot be trusted to know what is wrong and what evil truly is. Evil is what God isn't. It's the absence of his purpose and direction, contrary to his will.
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