Fascinating phone conversation
I had a fascinating phone conversation this morning. The Director of Evangelical Outreach for Barack Obama's campaign called me. Not a bad move for a Campaign Director. Very often as Stark County votes, so votes Ohio, so votes the nation. RiverTree represents the influence of perhaps more than 5,000 voters in Stark County.
The conversation was a good one. I point blank asked if Senator Obama is a committed follower of Jesus. He assured me that the Presidential candidate has been a Christian for more than three decades--that his faith directly affects the way he carries himself as a husband, father and political leader.
We discussed the unfortunate series of events involving Barack's previous Pastor. Once again, he assured me that the views of the Pastor were not embraced by Obama.
The rest of our conversation centered around the issue of abortion. Obama's current stand on the "pro-life" issue is that a woman should be given freedom of choice to abort the child she is carrying at any time. He also stated that the Presidential hopeful will do everything in his power to reduce the number of abortions being performed in the U.S. each year. How? Through education and economic assistance that would both enable and encourage young mothers to carry their babies full term.
The discussion deepened . . . For me, there is a more foundational philosophical issue at hand. When does life begin? Simply for the sake of argument, imagine a woman who has made the decision to abort her child at seven months development. In most cases, given the right support, that child would survive outside the womb. In my opinion, to abort that child would be nothing short of infanticide. To end an innocent life steps outside the parameters of love as lived out and mandated by Jesus Christ.
I realize that you cannot legislate Christianity. Our government can, however, legislate morality. And taking an innocent life is immoral.
As we continued to talk, the Campaign Director thought that it would be best if Senator Obama could personally explain to me how he has been able to integrate his political stance within his faith context. I told him that I would enjoy the dialogue.
We ended the call with the Director of Evangelical Outreach telling me that he would set up the call with Senator Obama. We shall see. We shall see.
The conversation was a good one. I point blank asked if Senator Obama is a committed follower of Jesus. He assured me that the Presidential candidate has been a Christian for more than three decades--that his faith directly affects the way he carries himself as a husband, father and political leader.
We discussed the unfortunate series of events involving Barack's previous Pastor. Once again, he assured me that the views of the Pastor were not embraced by Obama.
The rest of our conversation centered around the issue of abortion. Obama's current stand on the "pro-life" issue is that a woman should be given freedom of choice to abort the child she is carrying at any time. He also stated that the Presidential hopeful will do everything in his power to reduce the number of abortions being performed in the U.S. each year. How? Through education and economic assistance that would both enable and encourage young mothers to carry their babies full term.
The discussion deepened . . . For me, there is a more foundational philosophical issue at hand. When does life begin? Simply for the sake of argument, imagine a woman who has made the decision to abort her child at seven months development. In most cases, given the right support, that child would survive outside the womb. In my opinion, to abort that child would be nothing short of infanticide. To end an innocent life steps outside the parameters of love as lived out and mandated by Jesus Christ.
I realize that you cannot legislate Christianity. Our government can, however, legislate morality. And taking an innocent life is immoral.
As we continued to talk, the Campaign Director thought that it would be best if Senator Obama could personally explain to me how he has been able to integrate his political stance within his faith context. I told him that I would enjoy the dialogue.
We ended the call with the Director of Evangelical Outreach telling me that he would set up the call with Senator Obama. We shall see. We shall see.
posted by Greg Nettle at 12:22 PM
13 Comments:
WoW! That would be an amazing phone call to have Greg.
Personally, I support John McCain. I support him because of his stance on the Iraq War, his pledge to cut federal spending, and his vow to not raise taxes.
However, I largely support John McCain because of his stances regarding social issues. McCain seems to align with my beliefs regarding abortion, gay marriage, and the basic principals of morals and values.
Barack Obama seems like a brilliant, engaging man...BUT...I sense a real character issue at the core of his platform.
It is hard for me to believe that he "missed" these numerous sermons spken by Rev. Wright. It is hard for me to believe that a Christian can support the murder of 1.4 million unborn babies every year. It is hard for me to believe a man that says that the Sermon on the Mount supports sam-sex relationships.
We saw in the primaries a man who was leaning very far to the left. Now, with the nomination in hand, we see a man who is moving to the center to appease the mainstream electorate.
Greg, if this conversation were to happen, I pray that you stand with Jesus and not with politics. Personally, I think Mr. Obama would want the opposite and try very hard to persuade us to do the same. I pray that whatever the outcome, God will guide this great country in the right direction so that we are a light for the rest of the world.
I remember Rivertree during the 2004 elections. One of my favorite things to see was cars with Bush bumper stickers in the same lot with, sometimes right next to, a car with a Kerry bumper sticker. I like a community that can discuss and disagree and still get along.
This is not the place to debate abortion, but I will ask this: Do you really think any candidate will ever be able to roll back Roe Vs. Wade? The supreme court has basically said what's done is done. I think those who base their decision solely on the abortion issue are making a huge mistake.
Ryan mentioned Obama shifting in the last few months and I've seen this as well. I was much more impressed with him before he began to pander. McCain began pandering years ago. I used to have a lot more respect for him before he began running for president. The idealist in me likes to think a person could reach the highest office in the country without selling part or all of their soul, but the realist knows it's not true. I like to think I could never go that high in politics, because I could never betray my convictions, but sometimes the rooster crows and you look around and see you are someplace you never thought you would be.
I'm not one to excited about celebrities and certainly not politicians, but I think I would be a tad excited to talk to a future president. ;-)
Greg,
I hope you do get to speak with Senator Obama and get to hear his views on abortion as well as other issues that are happening in our country and our world.
I did want to comment on what Ryan had to say about the social issues of abortion and gay marriage. I hope that one day SOON we as a group that call ourselves Evangelical Christians will realize that abortion and gay marriage are NOT the only social issues that our country and world faces.
While I would like to hear what Senator Obama has to say about abortion, I would like to hear what his thoughts are on the World Food Crises, the decay of the family unit, poverty, helping widows and children on the margins of society, teaching our society basic values such as telling the truth, loving your neighbor as your love yourself, respect for others, honor, etc. These are the things that Jesus taught and these are the things that should matter to us and these are the things that we need to get on the bandwagon for.
re: anonymous' comments
Are you saying you would like to know what Mr. Obama's thoughts on these things as a human being or his thoughts as to what the government can do? I believe it tells us in the bible to care for the widows and the orphans and the hungry. The constitution says the governement's job is to provide for a common defense, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. Each canidate has his shortcomings. But we learned last week, it is up to the church to help people change from the inside out. It's not up to the government to fix every heart.
I hope you realize that infanticide was a common practice in the Roman Empire. And not abortion in the womb, as bad as that is, but taking a baby out and killing it with many kinds of horrific methods. No mention of it in the New Testament.
Why? Because the early church had no political power. And they, to quote scripture, "turned the world upside down." They didn't do it because they voted for the right person. The couldn't vote. They weren't even citizens.
They did it by knowing that true power came from God in Christ changing people's lives one life at a time.
And that's what I hope you continue to do, Greg. Please don't get enamored with any political candidate or the endorsement thereof. Both of them have flip-flopped. Obama has a short record. McCain is a completely different person now than he was four years ago, to his discredit.
The church has been weakened in the past decades by its embracing of a political party. The church has the real power and we have ceded it to the world.
Embracing two completely contradictory world views and declaring them both equally viable. He's a Marxist, too. Somebody said "character issue"...I'd certainly say so.
It's not about whether you or I say we're Christians...it's whether or not GOD does that matters. In general:
1.) What you do speaks so loudly that I can't hear what you're saying.
2.) If being a Christian was a crime...would there be enough evidence to convict you?
(and walking into a church doesn't make anyone a Christian any more than walking into a men's room makes me a man)
Senator Obama has said he does not want his daughters "punished with a baby". Check this out.
http://www.colossiansthreesixteen.com/archives/2175
Barack Obama's view is inconsistent with Christianity and morality, regardless of what his Director of Evangelical Outreach has stated.
Anonymous,
Barack Obama's view may be inconsistent with your view of Christianity and morality, but there are other Christ followers who hold views similar to those he espoused in that video clip.
I absolutely agree with your stance on abortion ......however, I am not seeing how the conversation is so fascinating.....it's just a higher profile figure, so it seems fascinating. The fight is still the same.........
I don't think it's fascinating to know how or why someone chooses to dilute their moral values with political gain........
just a thought.
livingdedgrrl - it's not a character issue, its an issue faced by all who call themselves Christian and are trying to find their voice in the democratic process. Our faith is not democratic (nor republican, nor the conservative right – for the record), but we are faith filled people living in a democratic society. Obama has clearly defined why he stands where he does.
But, we've had what most consider a 'conservative' Pres for the past 8 years - are there fewer abortions today? So why do we keep pretending that it's all the Presidents fault and that the most important stance for a candidate is pro-life? Abortion is an awful practice and reality in the world we live in. But if we, as the U.S., don't figure out our foreign relations and our dependency on foreign oil - not to mention overall treatment of our environment, then abortion will cease to be our biggest problem. We should rejoice though, that there are two decent candidates, neither can speak fully for Jesus and his followers, but then again, how could they? Jesus doesn’t want us to be the dominate political party, he wants us to be the dominate voice of love in our dying world.
According to the associated press on July 17th, Mr. Obama has raised over $340 million during his campaign thus far. After reading through your blog I started thinking about what I would like to ask Mr. Obama. If I could ask Mr. Obama one question, I would first have him watch the you tube clip on your blog (www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R3F8cQ2LJI) and then ask him if he believed that money could have been spent more wisely? I am no math wiz, but that $340 million could have provided malaria nets for well over 19 million families. That same $340 million could have also fed over 2 million Uganda children for life, or provided over 5 million goats to families in Indonesia. Why do presidential hopfulls believe it's okay to spend millions and millions on a campaign that could lead to a job that pays what, $400,000 a year? If Mr. Obama is a Jesus follower, what does he have to say to all those children and families around the world that could have been helped? Instead, he bought air time for commercials,some campaign posters, and got to travel around the country trying to convince everybody that he cares about the average person? This is not party specific issue, I only bring this up because you may be having a conversation with this man, how can he justify the amount of money that he is spending, when there are so many people in poverty? These people just want malaria nets and goats for Pete's sake! Just my two cents...
Everyone has such great thoughts. I have been challanged lately to really think through my role as a Jesus follower and as an American. I want to vote in November with some confidence in who i am voting for.
Just this morning i picked up the book, The Myth of a Christian Nation, How the Quest For Politcal Power is Destroying the Church by Gregory Boyd. The main premise of the book is the differences between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdoms of this world and how Christians seem to fuse them together.
I am not far in the book, so i can't recommend it, but it is making me think and i am only through the 1st two chapters. Might be worth a read.
Greg. I hope you get the chance to talk with Senator Obama. I hope when you do you can get the word out just like you did when you were going to talk to Howard Stern. This seems like a great opportunity to share the love of Christ with not just Senator Obama, but possibly millions of others as well. It matters not what he stands for but how you will carry yourself in that conversation. I have known you for a long time and the way I see it there is not one person better equipt by God to talk with Mr. Obama. Show him all the love and kindness you can and add in your personality. He will not stand a chance. Anyone who can read more than 50 feakin books a year for over 20 years can surely be used by God to talk to a possible future president of the USA. I know I haven't even started 50 books in the last 20 years let alone read 50 a year. Now smack yourself before your head starts expanding like your arm did when the snake bit you and let us all know when and if you will talk with Mr. Obama so we can pray for you like we did with Howard Stern. Let's just hope he does not ask you some of the same questions Howard did. You know what I mean. Love you brother. Show him your snake bite.
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