I only got to catch parts of the forum between Obama and McCain last night (darn Olympics will suck you in!), but I was impressed with the format and questions. I liked the fact that each candidate got an individual slot to answer questions with Rick Warren. That cut down on the typical forum backbiting where a large component of many answers is simply criticizing your opponent. For a change, I learned more about why I should vote for someone versus vote against someone else. That was refreshing.
I also liked the fact that the questions weren’t prefaced with a whole lot of hullabaloo on the church’s official position on a matter. Typically, we are so well known for what we’re against and a closed-mindedness for discussion/debate that repeatedly hurts the Church. There are serious issues and 300 million people in this country. We are NOT going to agree on everything. And Christians shouldn’t expect non-Christians to arrive at the same conclusions we do, but if you come to the table realizing that we share 80-90% of life in common, well, that’s a whole different mindset that allows for a lot of agreement and progress.
Good job Saddleback! You did us proud and helped the country in this process.
Hi, I'm Scott and this is my bio attempt. God has a sense of humor... I work at a church. That's not the path I figured coming out of grad school, but when He called, thankfully I didn't try to win a battle of merits between my plan and His. So, how'd that play out? Well, in 2001 I left commercial real estate and went on staff at North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, GA. This place captured my heart the first time I walked in the doors. God, thanks for letting me do this for as long as you let me do it!
So, who did you like?
Oh yeah, Steve, get me to commit publicly so I can alienate at least 50% of the population.
I’m not terribly thrilled with the candidates/results our political process turns out these days anyway. The system is horribly broken. That being said, this is still the greatest country in the world, so I will gratefully exercise my right to vote - probably for McCain. There I said it. What hurts is that politics is so nasty and polarized right now that the general population even demonizes those who voted for the other candidate. I’m not voting for Obama, but I’m really excited about the legions of voters he’s brought into the process. I think it’s good for the country, and I strongly embrace the call for change, even though I think Obama is just singing the sirens song that resonates with the country’s frustration and the substance to back it up is lacking. If he wins though, I will support him as my president. I can embrace almost anyone now that the Clintons are out of the political limelight! 