Why I'm voting for Obama -or- Rick Warren is awesome

I just watched Rick Warren's interviews with Obama and McCain. Before tonight, I was about 85% for Obama, because I think for one thing, I believe he is actually a Christian, but I wasn't totally sure.

After tonight, I am convinced that he is. I am less convinced about McCain's faith than before.

Also, I found out that Obama's beliefs about abortion and gay marriage are almost identical to mine. I have blogged about those two issues in the past, and I will try to find my blogs about them and repost them.

I think it is very significant that the Democratic Party just added to their platform that they "strongly support" lowering the number of abortions, which the Republican Party doesn't state as clearly. Of course, they would argue that by illegalizing abortion, that would lower it, but that doesn't really affect anything in the immediate future.

I already knew that Obama was stronger on most of the other issues that are important to me as an evangelical (i.e. justice, the environment), so I have to vote for him.

The best answer I thought was Obama's view of evil. Instead of these movie-like portrayals of us as the good guy and Islamic Extremists as the bad guy that Bush and now McCain have given, there is recognition that we are all fallen.

In essence, I think that Obama displayed a postmodern understanding of the world, where things are more complex than simple black-and-white statements. McCain critcizes this as being dodgy. But I think McCain is living in the 80s (he talks about Reagan incessantly) not only politically, but philisophically.

People don't view the world in black-and-white terms. I think Postmodernism is great in its rejection of certain Modernist ideas, such as this extreme categorization.

Yes, good is real, and evil is real, but like Obama, I believe that only God can solve the problem of evil.

Also, major props to Rick Warren for doing the evangelical community proud, by not just addressing the issue of the candidates' faith, which is so crucial to the undecided evangelical voter (like me), but for being the first person in this election to actually get the candidates in one place.

It's about time that the Church was a leader in culture again. I think this is a sign that God is at work in the American Church is a powerful and historic way.

Mark "the Swearing Preacher" Driscoll

Check out this video about what the most infamous swearing preacher has to say about harsh language in the Bible and in the life of a Christian.




This video is for John Piper's upcoming conference

I fully agree with him. It's what I've been saying for a few years too.

Cool stuff I learned about my family background today

There's someone else with the last name Ratiani who I've been in contact with on Facebook. He told me in a message I got today that the last name Ratiani is from the region of Svaneti in North Western Georgia. Check out wikipedia for more details.

I am pretty excited that Svaneti is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It says it's because it is one of the best preserved collections of medieval buildings anywhere, due to its isolation.

I am starting to doubt that a Ratiani castle exists (under that name).

It looks pretty beautiful. Apparently, this is right in the Caucasus Mountains.

Also, it is right next to Abkhazia, and since the Russians came through farther east in South Ossetia, I bet it's been bombed and invaded a ton in the last week.

Hopefully they don't mess up our castle (if it exists).

The Wikipedia article says that it is the highest inhabited region in Europe, at over 4,000 meters. That is 12,000 feet! I get altitude sickness at far lower elevations sometimes (and other times I'm fine). Crazy.

Georgia: The Motherland

As I'm sure everyone knows, there has been a war between Russia and Georgia in the last week. I wanted to write about it sooner, but I have had a really bad case of the stomach flu for the last few days.

I really cared about it, since my last name is Georgian.

Apparently, there is a Ratiani castle somewhere in the country.

I really hope it wasn't destroyed or damaged by the war this week. It would be cool to see it one day.

Apparently, the name Ratiani sounds very Italian, even to most Georgians.

Thanks to Facebook, I've been able to get in contact with a few of the other Ratianis in the world. Many have moved to the US in the last 10 years or less. It seems like this is largely in part to the westernization of Georgia.

My uncle or someone else in the family figured out that we actually aren't related to many of the other Ratainis. We descend from the Emperor, and they are descendants of serfs under the lords.

That is awesome.

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The other day I was thinking about how really Georgia started the war, and it is their fault, and how it would be fair to actually say that it's not Russia's fault. Then I realized that I am free to side with Georgia, since I am Georgian.

Although, I actually am just as much Russian.


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Edit:

In fact, my ancestors ruled the empire of Georgia at least 3 times.

Back before the internet had as much information on it, it was easy to find information on the Ratiani dynasties.

Georgia was an empire for hundreds of years, and my ancestors weren't just on the throne for 3 generations, but took the throne for 3 dynasties. There is also a Ratiani castle somewhere in the nation.

The above 3 paragraphs were originally in this blog, but since I can't find any sources for any of it anymore, I don't want people searching for info on our family to think this is a credible source. That very well may be what happened to me in the first place in 2001 when I was searching for this stuff.