Talk Back! 
Most Read stories this week
Most Emailed stories this week
RSS
Rick Warren asked right questions
Rick Warren for president? Probably not the best idea. Why would he want to take a step down just to be president?
Last week, the pastor of California's Saddleback Church led a nationally televised forum that featured one-on-one interviews of the two major-party presidential candidates, Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain.
Warren may not have all the answers, but he seemed to have most of the important questions. And the person who knows the right questions usually has some of the answers.
All too often, politicians are answering the questions nobody is asking.
A column Wednesday by E.J. Dionne of The Washington Post carried the headline, "Evangelical political change under way." He wrote, "The fact that the Saddleback discussion took place at all is a sign that both parties now intend to fight for the votes of religious Christians."
Warren, famous not only for his preaching but also for his best-selling books "The Purpose-Driven Life" and "The Purpose-Driven Church," served as an impartial presenter of some difficult questions. Neither candidate had the home field advantage.
British journalist Dan Wooding noted Warren's introductory words concerning McCain and Obama: "They both care deeply about America. They're both patriots."
Charles Babington of The Associated Press wrote a story titled: "Candidates find abortion issue tricky." Since that time, the abortion issue seems to be coming to the front and may become the most important question in this year's election.
From the time I first realized that abortion means snuffing out the life of an unborn human being, I have found it difficult to even think about giving such action a viable status. If it is not premeditated murder, what else could it be called?
Warren, as he approached the issue, reminded his vast audience that there have been 40 million abortions in the United States since the early days of Roe vs. Wade. What a terrible loss to the nation and the world.
Kitty and I were among those at the 1994 National Prayer Breakfast, including the highest officials of our nation, many of whom were not opposed to abortion, when the sainted Mother Teresa passionately declared: "The greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child ... and if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another?"
Even in a lavishly carpeted room, you could almost hear a pin drop.
As I grow a little older, I am determined not to vote for anybody who believes that taking the life of the unborn is permissible and acceptable. Those who would take the life of a child not ready to be born into the world would not hesitate to take the life of an older person who is not ready to leave it.
In "The Purpose-Driven Life," Warren calls our attention to two verses from the Word of God: "I am your Creator. You were in my care even before you were born" (Isaiah 44:2a). He added: "You shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother's womb" (Psalm 139:13).
It was obvious that on this issue, Obama struggled and seemed unsure. McCain was sharp, convinced and to the point.
Most of us do pretty well when we have a script, but we must know the truth in our minds and hearts when others cannot tell us what to say.
Bill Ellis, former pastor of Peoples Church of God in Decatur, is a syndicated columnist. Contact him at bill@billellis.net or Box 345, Scott Depot, WV 25560-0345.
Previous Page 
Subscribe 
Email Alerts 
Print this story 
Email this story
del.icio.us
digg
newsvine
facebook
Search By Issue
Search By Keyword
