June 5, 2007:   Did God Provide His Input At An American Presidential Candidates Debate?

  In 2007, in early June, at St. Anselm College in the state of New Hampshire, there was a political debate hosted for Presidential Candidates of the 2008 Election. That election was eventually won by Barack Obama, but the election was still being contested at this time, of course.  Hence the debate.  This was the 3rd Presidential Debate of that series.

  A well known news commentator, a man named Wolf Blitzer employed with the CNN news network, was a moderator for the debate.  Wolf had a question for former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a man of at least partial Italian extraction and a Catholic, who was one of the candidates running for President.  He asked Mr. Giuliani to comment on a Rhode Island Bishop's recent comments concerning Giuliani's stand on abortion.

  To interject here with a little background, a certain Catholic Bishop named Thomas Tobin, from the state of Rhode Island, had recently been critical of Mr. Giuliani's position on abortion, and had written about it in his column in days prior to the debate. 

  Mr. Giulianni's stated position on at least one occasion was that he was personally opposed to abortion, but that, ultimately, government shouldn't be enforcing that position on a woman.

***  Should women who want their own flesh and blood, their growing baby, to be killed in their womb be enforcing that position on their growing baby?  There is adoption! (Deeds of God author) *** 

  This position suggests that Mr Giuliani has the moral training to know quite well that abortion is wrong, but is signalling that those who wish to commit abortion upon their unborn babies have nothing to fear from him, and should therefore not withhold their vote from him on that account.

  Bishop Thomas Tobin compared that position to the stance taken by Pontius Pilate, the Roman Procurator of Judea at the time of Jesus's crucifixion, towards Jesus.  When the Jews brought the Lord to him and demanded permission to crucify Him, he was opposed, but allowed it anyway.  Only a Roman authority could approve of a death sentence for a criminal at that time in Israel, so he could have stopped it.  (True, it was a prophesied event).

  Pilate questioned Jesus, and found no reason to crucify Him, no crime that Jesus had committed which would warrant such a thing.  But against the howls of the crowd, he gave in, and allowed Jesus to be crucified even while saying that he personally found Jesus innocent.  He even washed his hands publically with water, signifying that he wanted no part of the whole affair.  His own wife had warned him that she had received a dream that this Jesus was a just and righteous man.  But, he did take part in the affair, and is remembered, even today, as a key player.

   Comparing Mr. Giuliani's failure to take a strong stand to Pontius Pilate's actions, Bishop Tobin said that  ' ...he could just hear Pontius Pilate saying "You know, I'm personally opposed to crucifixion, but I don't want to impose my view on others."  '

  Tobin also has said: "As Catholics, we are called, indeed required, to be pro-life, to cherish and protect life as a precious gift of God from the moment of conception until the time of natural death.  As a leader, as a public official, Rudy Giuliani has a special obligation in that regard."

  So, as Rudy Giuliani attempted to answer Mr. Blitzer by explaining his reason for not approving of, but tolerating abortion, he barely began to speak when the sound of thunder was heard, and the power went out to the microphone, silencing him.  It was storming outside at the time. 

 His grinning rivals, McCain and Romney, who stood near him at their own microphones, stepped away from Giuliani in pretended fear, as if the interruption was an expression of God's displeasure.  The power returned, and Giuliani again attempted to answer, but again came thunder, and the microphone crackled, stopping his words. 

  At one point, Giuliani said "Look, for someone that went to Parochial school all his life, this is a very frightening thing that is happening!" 

  Well, for someone that went to Parochial school all of his life, maybe it should be! 

  Rudy Giuliani is no worse than many other politicians that take similarly accomodating positions concerning things that they know quite well are among the great evils of our day.  There are votes to be gained by accomodating the views of those who have chosen to openly oppose God.  But, those are probably pretty costly views, both for the nation that is led by such men and women as would help people to oppose God in exchange for power, and for the souls of those very politicians themselves, perhaps.

  I wonder where Pontius Pilate's soul will end up, or has ended up.  I wonder, if we could ask Pontius Pilate about taking such a stance, if he would recommend it to others in light of his present viewpoint, as a man who's life story is written and in the books? 

  Don't we all, as individuals, have to make basically the same decision many times in our life, as we try to seek Christ in an evil world, with an inherantly evil heart thumping in our breast?

  How many Christian politicians would stand on a sidewalk and, happening to watch a slow moving pudgy 10 year old steal a dollar from an old lady in a wheel chair, would say "I'm opposed to that personally, but I wouldn't want to impose my views on that slow moving pudgy 10 year old."  Why not try to stop the kid?  I'm sure they would try.  But for an unborn baby, no such urge to act, it seems.  But a good nation shouldn't treat its own flesh and blood like an unwanted E-mail that you decide to just delete.  I know there can be complicated circumstances, but not so often compared to the times that people just don't want the unplanned incovenience in their life.  

  Marriage, then sex.  That was a good rule!  It's never too late to make that our new personal policy, right?    

   Did God intend to interrupt the debate just at that point, or did it just happen?  We don't know, but we know that God always watches us.