Notes used in my debate with Greg Koukl against Giuliani
Notes used in my debate with Greg Koukl against Giuliani
Hopefully, more Christians will see the immorality of campaigning for and supporting openly wicked and murderous leaders. For those interested, here are the notes I jotted down in the hour before our debate:
Christians should not support mass murderers like Rudi Giuliani (who as a governing official and candidate promotes child killing through public hospitals, tax funding, police enforcement, etc.).
Moral relativist Christians would oppose a candidate who was caught embezzling funds (not because it violates God’s command, Do not steal, but because it is politically-incorrect). And while they’d not support a Republican caught embezzling, they support Republican candidates who brag of their support for killing children.
The Gospels mention a pragmatic political party, the Herodians, the religious leaders who allied themselves with Herod Antipas, thinking that the Herodian dynasty was the lesser evil (than any alternative allegiance, with a choice between Herod or Christ, they would choose Herod), thinking the Herods were the best the Jewish worshippers could pragmatically expect in their hopes of attaining to their kingdom on Earth. (I have this understanding of the Herodians from my recollection of reading, way back in the 1970s, Alfred Edershiem’s Life & Times of Jesus the Messiah, a classic written in the 1800s.)
Like Rudi Giuliani, Herod was personally sexually immoral and murderous. Greg Koukl’s moral relativism would defend supporting Herod. But John the Baptist, instead of joining the Herodians, rebuked Herod, and for his courage, this wicked ruler beheaded the man whom Jesus described as the greatest born to women (Mat. 11:11). But how would Jesus describe Koukl? Greg’s moral relativism might have led him to campaign for Herod (as he does for Giuliani), and instead of persecution, Herod might have hired Koukl as an apologist for his murderous reign and his hopes for the continued support of Ceasar after Antipas built Tiberias (Koukl: yes, Herod murdered John the Baptist, but I would still campaign for him to rule).
Greg Koukl is imitating the pragmatic religious leaders, the Herodians.
Mat 22:16, 18 …the Herodians, [said], "Teacher, we know that You are true, and teach the way of God in truth [lip service]… But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, "Why do you test Me, you hypocrites?” [also at Mark 12:13]
Mark 3:5-6 [Jesus saw] the hardness of their hearts, [and] the Herodians [plotted] against Him, how they might destroy Him.
"You shall not murder" (Rom. 13:9) "Do not kill the innocent" (Exodus 23:7)
Romans 3:8 mentions "do[ing] evil that good may come of it" (Romans 3:8), Paul considered it slander to be accused of something Christians now embrace, doing evil, that good may come of it.
"we must obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29)
Giuliani is not only radically pro-abortion, but for years even supported the especially horrific partial-birth abortion. Giuliani is radically pro-homosexual, and would ban all handguns.
New York Daily News, March 8, 2004 Rudy Giuliani came out yesterday against President Bush's call for a ban on gay marriage. … "I certainly wouldn't support [a ban] at this time," added Giuliani, who lived with a gay Manhattan couple when he moved out of Gracie Mansion during his nasty divorce.
Secular humanists who support Giuliani: Sean Hannity, Hugh Hewitt, Michael Medved, etc.
Publicans: tax collectors, public building contractors, and military suppliers.
The New Testament condemns the publicans, so Christians now sell their souls for the Re-publicans.
The theme of much of the Old Testament, from the books of Moses, through Joshua & Judges, through the prophets, is that God’s people did not trust Him, nor obey Him, not with national politics, and instead made alliances with wicked leaders, and so God abandoned them to their own destruction.
-Bob Enyart
Denver Bible Church & KGOV.com
