Sullivan church of Christ – Sullivan, MO
Date: January 20, 2007
WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE 2008
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES?
Ben Justice
Election season is upon us once again. It seems to be never ending. This upcoming
presidential election is one of the most important ones ever. With America at the
crossroads, it is imperative that the right man be elected. We live in very
consequential and transformative times. With an enemy that is bent on destroying
America as we know it and with immorality running rampant, it is absolutely
imperative that we carefully consider each candidate and weigh the issues.
Christians must not haphazardly cast a vote, but weigh the issues and make an
intelligent choice based upon the teachings of God’s word. God’s word teaches us
how to vote, and we must be concerned with upholding God’s word first and foremost
in our lives. We must understand as well that moral issues will always take
precedence over all other issues. In fact, where a person stands relative to moral
issues will determine, by in large, where he stands on other issues. Morality is the
great regulator in a person’s life. A country simply can’t survive when morality is
pushed to the side. This has been demonstrated throughout the annals of history.
There are many who are pushing for a return to godliness and moral clarity, while
there are those who are doing everything in the power to take us away from the moral
moorings that made America so great.
With these things before us, it is vitally important that we know where the 2008
presidential candidates stand. This review will not be of every single candidate nor is
not intended to be exhaustive but to simply highlight some of the major areas. The
main focus will be upon where the candidates stand relative to moral issues, such as
abortion, gay rights, etc.
RUDY GIULIANI
Rudy Giuliani was former Mayor of New York city. Some say that he occupied one of
the most difficult positions in the entire country. What Giuliani did for New York is
remarkable. He turned a dead-beat city into a vibrant city. While Giuliani advocates
many conservative principles, his stand with regard to moral issues is dead wrong. It
is no secret that Giuliani is pro-choice. He has stated more than once that he hates
abortion but still supports a woman’s right to choose. Think about that if you will.
That’s like saying, “I hate murder, but people can go ahead and practice it.” When
asked the question if Roe v. Wade was overturned, and the Congress passed a federal
ban on all abortions and it came to his desk, would he sign it, he stated, “I probably
would not sign it. I would leave it to the states to make that decision.” Giuliani has
stated over and over again that this is a decision that is ultimately left up to the
mother and her doctor. Throughout the 1990’s, Giuliani donated to Planned
Parenthood, which is one of the most pro-abortion advocates in the country.
Amazingly, he has also not supported a ban in the brutal practice of partial-birth
abortion.
Giuliani, at least right now, is against a marriage amendment in defining marriage as
between a man and a woman. He has stated, however, that if several states were to
start to create a same-sex marriage law, then we should have the amendment.
However, Giuliani’s past shows sympathy toward the gay movement. In 2004, when
President Bush called for a ban against gay marriage, he stated that could “not
support a ban at this time.” It is also the case that when Giuliani separated from his
wife, he took up residence with a gay couple. Giuliani is on record of supporting
domestic partnerships. When Giuliani was Mayor of New York, he presented his
domestic-partners bill. This bill extended benefits to gay and lesbian couples.
With all the immoral baggage that Giuliani has, he did a lot to clean up New York
City. He reduced crime considerably while Mayor; he drove pornography out of the
Time Square; he got thousands off of welfare and put them to work; he reduced taxes
considerably; he was been very strong on the war of terror; he is against the big social
government programs for health care, schools, etc.
When all is said, Giuliani simply doesn’t measure up to Biblical morality that is so
desperately needed in this country.
BARACK OBAMA
If you thought that Giuliani is liberal when it comes to moral issues, you haven’t
seen anything yet. Obama is about as liberal as they come. One author described
Obama as “the most pro-abortion presidential candidate ever.” Even those who are
otherwise pro-abortion but who have voted against partial-birth abortion, Senator
Obama was in favor of this barbaric practice. When Obama was asked about his view
of partial-birth abortion, he stated, “. . . And I trust women to make these decisions
in conjunction with their doctors and their families and their clergy. And I think that’
s where most Americans are. . . . But, the broader issue here is: Do women have the
right to make these profoundly difficult decisions? And I trust them to do it. . . .”
Obama has openly voted to support infanticide, not just aborting an unborn embryo or
fetus. Allow me to lay some background to what I am about to say. Jill Stanek was a
nurse at an Illinois hospital in 1999. She discovered babies being aborted alive and
shelved to die in soiled utility rooms. What Stanek discovered was infanticide. As a
result of this practice, there was legislation presented on a federal level and in
various states called the “Born Alive Infants Protection Act.” This Act declared that
all live-born babies were guaranteed the same constitutional right to equal protection,
whether or not they were wanted. Even the die hard liberals in Washington supported
this bill, and it passed by unanimous vote. President Bush signed this bill into law in
2002. But, in Illinois, the state version of this bill repeatedly failed, thanks in large
part to then-state Senator Barack Obama. It only passed in 2005, after Obama left
and became US Senator. Obama reasoned that banning this practice would infringe
upon a mother’s right to have an abortion. Obama also did not want to concede that
these born-alive babies, with hearts beating and lungs heaving, were in fact
“persons.” One night Nurse Stanek witnessed an aborted Down’s Syndrome baby
born alive taken to the soiled utility room by another nursing co-worker. Nurse
Stanek said she couldn’t bear the thought of this suffering child lying alone in a
soiled utility room, so she cradled and rocked him for the 45 minutes that he lived.
Senator Obama, not once, but twice, voted “no” for protection of babies just like
these. Is there even a need to say anything more about Obama!