Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites), D-Mass. raises a fist as salutes a member of the audience after addressing delegates at the 95th annual NAACP convention in Philadelphia Thursday July 15, 2004.
Excerpt from the johnkerry.com official website:
With a 100% rating from the Human Rights Campaign since 1995, John Kerry is a powerful voice in the ongoing fight for civil rights for gay and lesbian Americans.
Preventing Hate Crimes
John Kerry is an original cosponsor of the Hate Crimes Prevention bill, which would extend federal jurisdiction over serious, violent hate crimes. These would include crimes motivated by sexual orientation. Hate crimes rose a disturbing 3.5% from 1999 to 2000.
Ending Discrimination
One of John Kerry’s first acts as a U.S. Senator, in 1985, was to introduce a bill prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. He supports passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and has adopted a nondiscrimination policy for his Congressional offices based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Protecting Gay and Lesbian Families
John Kerry believes that same-sex couples should be granted rights, including access to pensions, health insurance, family medical leave, bereavement leave, hospital visitation, survivor benefits, and other basic legal protections that all families and children need. He has supported legislation to provide domestic partners of federal employees the benefits available to spouses of federal employees. He was one of 14 Senators -- and the only one up for reelection in 1996 -- to oppose the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
Lifting the Ban on Gays in the Military
John Kerry opposed the Clinton Administration’s “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Policy” He was one of a few senators to testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee and call on the President to rescind the ban on gay and lesbian service members.
Support for Civil Unions
John Kerry supports same-sex civil unions so that gay couples can benefit from the health benefits, inheritance rights, or Social Security survivor benefits guaranteed for heterosexual couples.
Mr. Kerry I am so disappointed in our democrat party. Where are your morals?? I'm afraid I am going to have to change parties if this promotion of wicked lifestyles does't stop. I believe the bible teaches that God will curse our land under such wicked rulers. Money isn't everything!!! 2Chronicles 7:14 Are these not wicked ways? I know you people are smarter than that! 4 more years for Bush...........
2. Marital benefits are not civil rights any more than farm subsidies. No one is being denied any rights.
3. Confusing the issue of what marriage is does damage the institution because it helps people forget why it exists. Also, there is an extremely strong correlation between gay marriage and the collapse of the family in Scandinavia.
4. Apples to oranges comparison. Fundamental Christianity is defined by doctrines; fundamental Islam is defined by violence.
5 & 5: The Bible defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman in Genesis 1:27. Why does your church not honor God in this? What other doctrines are being ignored in your church? It could have eternal consequences.
You will notice that SermonAudio has posted your note, by the way.
Why is it that many Christians seem to believe that orthodoxy requires: 1. that anyone who disagrees with them be demonized, dismissed, or disdained; 2. that giving ALL taxpayers the same CIVIL rights should be based on sexual orientation 3. that allowing homosexuals to marry would damage heterosexual's marriage 4 that fundamentalism is a bad thing for Islam but a good thing for Christianity 5. that my church is wrong because we marry gay people every day, but the government is right because it denies those tax payer equal protection 5. that I am an unredeemed sinner because my beliefs differ from yours
I suspect this view IF it gets posted has already made you mad, and made my first point.
Hi Lance, sorry,i did not make it quite clear,:it was the article i read that made the point that Bush was currying favour in his visit to the Pope, not me personally.
If anyone is interested in the article i can pass on details,(maybe better to privately, though.)
Norman, I'm sure you're right when you say Bush is trying to curry favour with the Pope and win over the RC vote. No doubt he'll do whatever it takes to win over the Protestant and Jewish votes too.
However, if RCs vote for Kerry, it won't be on the grounds that he's an RC. In more naive days they may have voted for JFK, imagining that he stood for what they believed in. They couldn't possibly make this mistake about Kerry.
Again, in summation, the choice is between which of these 2 man pleasers is most qualified to shepherd a country that has argualy turned its back on God in every conceivable way. Oh, they praise Him with their lips, but their hearts appear to be so far away from Him. Ditto the nation for the most part, which is guilty of much national sin, abortion, homosexual "unions" All the more reason to pray for the heavenly kingdom to come quickly. Psalm 2.
So I'll be voting for the ones who I feel will be fighting for protecting the sanctity of a human life, God's design for marriage, teaching our children in the way of the Lord, not allowing our society to turn its back on God, and the rights for people to worship in America.
And before we get too cynical, remember God is in control of the leaders in this world. Read Psalm 2. Also, we must realize the battle that is going on and get involved! It would be much different if we lived in a country where we didn’t have a voice, but we do. How sad it is when we can complain about how things are going without using our rights as citizens to vote for biblical standards. How do you think the elected would vote if they heard from the majority of people opposing same-sex marriage?
We are in a country where we have a voice to vote who should be elected. And if we as Christians allow others to vote in who they think is right, then we will continue to have the elected continue on the path of removing God from our society.
Personally, I realize how much we do have in America. I can sit around complaining that I should have more money and be upset over others having more, but I see how much other countries don't have. We waste so much here in America, while we have the right to go out and make more money. Other people around the world would love the opportunity to have 1 job and access to clean water and food. We tend to forget that God’s promises us daily bread and shelter for each day…its not our God given right to have loads of money. And if God does bless us with an abundance of money, we should be good stewards of it and help those around us.
I'm surprised I'm reading "Christians are not to vote". Where on earth did this come from?
This is part of the reason why our country is in the position it is in. Most Christians say they are praying but they really don't (not accusing anyone here of that). It easy to pray, "God change them" and get up and feel like you did your part. But we should pray and get up and do something. You don't show your neighbor love by prayer alone; you get up and go where they are at. Christ not only prayed for people, He went to where they were and ate with them, prayed with them, healed them, and instructed them.
"George Bush is showing his leadership by reviving a stagnate economy. snip
We also have liberated millions of people. He also prevented Iraq from building an atomic bomb in libya"
Kyle, I admire your fervency. I agree with your tax comments. However, whether Bush is effectively shepherding the economy is another issue. Under his leadership, credit expansion has ballooned to historic highs. We can't carry the debt created under his watch for long. We have neither sound banking nor a sound economy in this country.
Regarding war, it is a good example of how plutocracies work. Mj. Gen. Smedley Butler annotated the role and purpose of war in his classic book "War Is A Racket." As he states, war is an calculated decision for the benefit of Wall Street. Good read. I recommend it.
Further, the brand of capitalism being pushed on the world is why collectivist socialism (UN, WTO, Kyoto, etc.) is a gathering force. They are the same. It's kind of like deciding between a Ford Escape SUV and a Mazda Bravada SUV. Behind them both, it's Ford!
Monopoly capitalism and collectivist socialism are converging means for gaining control over all resources (financial, natural and human), to which the monied class is the benefactor.
Robert, you offered a very cogent comment, i.e. Kerry speaking as if the state grants rights. Most statists speak this way - as though it is a sitting government which grants or recinds human rights. This is a prime example of the state stepping outside of it's proper role.
The idea that the state is the grantor of rights to natural (God-created) persons is a popular misconception. We've been educated to believe this, but it doesn't hold logically.
The state did not create you or I (albiet, they are creaters of artifical persons - "drivers", "taxpayers", "employees" and so on) and thus don't have the ability to grant or deny unalienable human rights. Your capacity as a natural person is enormous. This self-evident truth does not depend on the state, as was reaffirmed by the Magna Charta, and various foundational colony and US republic documents.
John Kerry and his liberal movement want to remove God from public life. He wants the government to grant rights to the people. This is contrary to our country's founding documents which state that all rights are given to men by God. If God is removed from daily life our laws will come from men and not God. Removing God from government and daily life is one of the first steps towards Communism/Socialism. John Kerry is not fit to run this country. He is supporting the removal of God by supporting social agenda’s like gay marriage, abortion. He even stated himself that he believes birth begins at conception but yet he will not support a bill to ban abortion.
John Kerry is also not for the middle class. He wants to raise taxes on the wealthy which will stop this booming economy in its tracks. History has proven that tax cuts create wealth. Our government does not manufacture any products other than more government. Letting the wealthy have more of their own money, which they earned, creates more jobs. George Bush is showing his leadership by reviving a stagnate economy. This economy has overcome a Clinton/Gore recession, 9/11 and a war in Afghanistan and Iraq.
We also have liberated millions of people. He also prevented Iraq from building an atomic bomb in libya
A believer, it is true that we are not commanded to vote. However, it is also true that Rome was a republic similar in many way to ours, and Paul (see Acts 16) did take advantage of his citizenship. I would argue that it glorifies God when we take part in our republic as citizens by voting in an informed manner.
(BTW, we are absolutely NOT a democracy. If you're unclear on the subject, read the Federalist Papers)
Back to the topic (and continuing the old), Kerry's unfitness for office shows as he talks about the government granting rights. If he respected the founding documents, he would know that the historic view of rights in the United States is that they're God-given, and most certainly do not include medical benefits for homosexual couples.
To none of our surprise, no civil government meets the biblical standard Paul sets forth in Romans 13:1-7. That said, as God told his people through Nehimiah: while you are aliens in Babylon, put down roots; raise families, work toward the honest prosperty of the nation you are in. We are citizens of heaven but called of God be fully engaged in our temporal home. To me, this means positively affecting our communities in every possible way - political, economic, social, moral.
Personally, I believe the civil governments are usurpers of God's natural law. God has a totally different idea of how government works from what we accept in modern day democracies. God's hierarchy of of 1) self-government, 2) family-government, 3) church-government and finally, 4) civil-government has been turned on it's head (for more on this, see the book "Ruler of the Nations" by Gary DeMarr, http://www.freebooks.com). Civil governments have made themselves gods of a kind, and we are suffering poor, corrupt governance because of it.
As I'm sure many of you suspect, neither of the mainline parties in the US are for the middle classes or the poor. It's sad to say, but the US government, like it's counterparts in Canada and most other nations, is effectively a plutocracy - rule by the rich.
Both Bush and Kerry come from a *very* small socio-economic clique. Mathematically speaking, the chances of these two men vieing for the presidency is astronomically small. That should tell you something right there. There is something else at play besides character, vision and policy.
To shed some light on who's behind these men, you may want to visit http://www.opensecrets.org. You can see for yourself who is contributing to Bush and Kerry (or your favourite congressman, senator, etc.). Don't be surprised to learn that many of the same corporations are major doners to both presidential campagins. It's a classic case of financial elites backing both horses in order to protect their interests regardless of the outcome.
Responsibility? Where in scripture is a believer commanded to vote? When the Apostles and Jesus were on this earth, there were no true democracies as we define them that existed. We are to pray for our leaders. They like all of us need much prayer. If your conscience bothers you, then you don't have to eat meat, etc.
The freedoms which men and women died for include the freedom to make a choice to vote or not vote.
Wow, it's sickening to see how you are turning down one of the greatest freedoms we enjoy, despite the fact that so many lost their lives. Not only is it a freedom but more importantly, a responsibility.
Face it, folks - God isn't running for President. Non of us are perfect and I wouldn't expect anyone to be (hence, all are "ungodly"). We are not a chosen people and thus will be judged by the leaders we choose. So, it comes down to choosing the lesser of two evils.
If you are really a purists, you'd look at someone like Mike Peroutka from the Constitution Party [see http://www.constitutionparty.com/ ].
There is no excuse not to vote. We are responsible for the leaders over us (read the Bible).
-N
P.S. If you think Kerry and Ewards really stand for the unwealthy, take a peek at their tax returns and see how they have just as guiltily taken advantage of the tax loopholes to pay less than their share (which would have benefitted many of whom the "stand" for). Note that all of these loopholes will still exists in their increasing tax plan.
Also, economic policy does not make up for advancing homosexual and pro-choice agendas.
Mike, consider the moral implications of voting for the Bush/Cheney ticket as well. Mr. Cheney's wife has made her support of gay rights very public. I wonder if it has something to do with the fact that their own daughter is openly gay and living in sin. While Bush publically states his opposition to gay marriage, he does not have a problem with "civil unions", which is a vote against what the bible itself has to say about sodomites. I'll be sitting this one out, because both men are showing themselves to be ungodly, seeking only to please men for political gain.
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Rev. Colin Mercer | 11/19/2012
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