Evangelicals are coming out for Romney

Last updated on: October 26, 2012 at 7:44 am By Tim Suttle

Content Director’s Note: This post is a part of our Election Month at Patheos feature. Patheos was designed to present the world’s most compelling conservations on life’s most important questions. Please join the Facebook following for our new News and Politics Channel — and check back throughout the month for more commentary on Election 2012. Please use hashtag #PatheosElection on Twitter. I’ve often gotten the question from other Evangelical Christians about Mormon faith, whether it’s a cult, whether or not... Read more

What’s Going On With Billy Graham (And Franklin)?

Last updated on: October 25, 2012 at 1:51 pm By Tim Suttle

I’ve read a lot about the political involvement of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Over the years Graham has played only a minor role in politics. He has even expressed remorse about the times he became overly involved (for instance supporting Richard Nixon before he went to jail). Graham was sort of a church elder who was available to speak to power, no matter the ideology of the power-broker. His independence gave his words power, and his power words that... Read more

Who Won the 3rd Debate & My Election Predictions at 2 Weeks Out

Last updated on: October 23, 2012 at 9:04 am By Tim Suttle

In the final presidential debate both candidates performed well and made their best case. Mr. Romney accused the president of weak leadership. President Obama painted Romney as a flip-flopper whose opinions are all over the map. The early poll from CBS said Obama: 53%, Romney 23%, a margin of victory which was slightly larger than the first debate win for Romney (46% to 22%). Other polls suggest a similar margin. A Google poll had it at 45/35 to Obama. A... Read more

Transcript of Third Presidential Debate – Election 2012

Last updated on: October 22, 2012 at 8:56 pm By Tim Suttle

BOB SCHIEFFER, MODERATOR: Good evening from the campus of Lynn University here in Boca Raton, Florida. This is the fourth and last debate of the 2012 campaign, brought to you by the Commission on Presidential Debates. This one’s on foreign policy. I’m Bob Schieffer of CBS News. The questions are mine, and I have not shared them with the candidates or their aides. SCHIEFFER: The audience has taken a vow of silence — no applause, no reaction of any kind,... Read more

Monday Morning Confessional

Last updated on: October 22, 2012 at 8:58 am By Tim Suttle

I confess that I have not watched 24 hour cable news in over a month and I don’t miss it at all. I confess that nearly all of my news and information has come from print media. I have been getting the NYTimes at home for the past couple of months and really enjoy it. The one exception is that I will read articles from CNN. I try to avoid anything generated by Fox News or MSNBC, even if it... Read more

Is Obama the Wrong Kind of Christian?

Last updated on: October 22, 2012 at 7:55 am By Tim Suttle

I am always shocked by the glee with which many evangelical Christians will pass judgment upon, and dismiss the faith of other professing Christians. I guess I shouldn’t be. Finding ways to be dismissive of those who come from a different Christian tradition, or have experienced a different kind of obedience to the gospel is all too common. But it still shocks me – disappoints me as well. This has been the practice of many evangelicals who disagree with the... Read more

Why Do We Think It’s Okay to Ignore the Sabbath?

Last updated on: October 21, 2012 at 6:36 am By Tim Suttle

Our culture is nothing if not over-busy and stressed-out. You don’t have to look very hard to discover that our society’s relationship to time is a complete mess. The most rudimentary teaching from the scriptures on how human beings should relate to time is called the Sabbath. Walter Brueggemann teaches that Sabbath isn’t the cessation of work, so much as it is the cessation of restlessness. For one day a week we stop our ceaseless working, generating, producing, consuming, worrying,... Read more

Should President Obama Lose This Election Because of the Economy?

Last updated on: October 19, 2012 at 8:27 am By Tim Suttle

In this election cycle we’ve heard a lot about the economy. Republicans have made the lack of jobs the center of their campaign strategy. R’s spend much of their time convincing everyone the economy is terrible and the president is to blame. D’s have run on the narrative that the stimulus bill kept America from the Great Depression 2.0, things are steadily getting better, but they need more time to work their plans. What’s really going on? It’s not a short... Read more

Why Is Reading the Bible So Difficult? Jovan Brown’s Excellent Allegory

Last updated on: October 18, 2012 at 6:25 am By Tim Suttle

Jovan Brown writes a blog I follow called Toward Fatherhood. He has a brilliant short allegorical take called “The Seven Siblings” on why it can be so hard for the church to read the scriptures, and why we’ve struggled with it for so many years. If you don’t try to make the story bear more weight than it’s intended to bear (every metaphor breaks down at some point), it provides a great snapshot of why biblical interpretation has been so... Read more

My Take on the 2nd Presidential Debate Between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney

Last updated on: October 17, 2012 at 7:33 am By Tim Suttle

Presidential debates are somewhat of a waste of time. Hardened partisans on either side will never be swayed to vote for the other guy by a presidential debate. That cuts out about 45% on either side. At the most these things are geared to entice between 6-10% of the people whose votes are still up for grabs. That sounds like a big prize. The problem is what you have to go through to win it. Candidates can’t attack their opponent... Read more