In my one on one interview with mega-church pastor Rick Warren, he made clear that he is still committed to the pro-life and pro-traditional marriage agenda but he sees a bigger picture than just those two important issues. Watch his answer above. Read below:
So whoever got the idea that we only care about abortion and gay marriage. Now I care deeply about those issues. I am firmly pro life, and I am firmly committed to the fact that for 5,000 years every single culture and every single religion has defined marriage as between man and a woman, but that’s not all I’m committed to.
And So I’ve moved beyond from what I’ve called pro-life to “whole life.” And that is I still care about that little girl before she’s born. Deeply.
If you’ve read Chapter 1 and Chapter 22 of A Purpose Driven Life you’ll know that I’m pro life because God had a purpose for your life before you were even born.
But I’m not just pro life I’m whole life which means I care about whether that little girl was born in poverty. I care about whether that little girl gets an education. I care about whether that little girl gets AIDS from her mother and her mother’s milk. I care about whether she’s a crack baby.
And to me, many people think because I’m trying to expand the agenda that I’ve left the prior agenda. I have not. It’s just we have to go back to what Evangelicals have been for 2,000 years.
The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ went into every village preaching, teaching and healing. One-third of Jesus’ ministry was health care. He cared about the sick. He was a healer. And one-third of Jesus’ ministry was teaching. He was an educator. He said “you know the truth and the truth shall set you free.”
It is not by accident that for 2,000 years the first church, the first school, the first hospital in almost every country was started by Christians. Certainly.
We are a preaching, teaching and healing faith. We don’t just have a Savior. We have a healer and a teacher, and I care about all three.