Posted on 11/24/2015 11:53:58 AM PST by Engraved-on-His-hands
Frank Luntz, the moderator of the Presidential Family Forum on Friday night, asked former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) if there was ever a time he cursed God.
I was surprised by the question because I thought it was deeply personal, and not exactly an aspect of one's life that a candidate would want to put on full display. Santorum gave a graceful answer to that question that I found very encouraging and inspiring. It also sheds light into the depth of his character.
Here's a transcript:
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Very moving. I am not supporting Rick Santorum this year but his answer is definitely worth reading.
I am a Trump person, but have always felt Santorum was a class act, and Luntz can show himself to be outside of understanding on things beyond hos own universe. I am not strictly pro-life, but am sympathetic to those who feel the way Santorum does, because his personal act hurts no one.
Luntz is the Peter Principle carried out to the absolute max.
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No thanks.
Indeed it was. I’m glad I read it.
Transcript:
“I often give a testimony that when I came to the United States Senate I found the Lord. I know most of you don’t think He is there, but He is. And it is really true. I really came alive in my faith and in my relationship with Jesus Christ when I came to the United States Senate, and two people had a profound effect on me including a third which of course was my wife Karen who walked on that journey with me.
But when I did find the Lord I found myself in a situation where I felt called to take up issues that I vowed I would never do before, and one of them was the issue of life. It just so happened that the issue of partial-birth abortion was on the floor of the Senate at the time and President Clinton had vetoed it, and the person who was supposed to override that veto – fight for it – was a senator from New Hampshire who was up for re-election and he didn’t want to do it because New Hampshire is a tough state, as we all know, on that issue. And so no one else wanted to take it, and I was growing in my faith and felt called to do something, and long story short, I ended up managing a bill, after having spent five years in the House and Senate never saying the word ‘abortion’ – refused to say it. But I walked that journey with a lot of faith, trying to follow what God was calling me to do.
I’ll never forget, the last day of the vote, Diane Feinstein got up and talked about how we have to keep this procedure legal because late in pregnancy, sometimes women would find out that their child would have no eyes or no ears or be blind or lame or have a cleft palate – I mean, she listed all these things. And I got up and said, you know, my wife is pregnant – 20 weeks old – and we have a sonogram in a few days and I don’t know whether our child is perfect or not but they’re no less of a child if they have some sort of disability. Well, a few days later, we lost that vote. I poured everything into it. I never felt better, that I was doing what I was being called to do.
And we went to that sonogram and I’ll never forget the sonographer going over Karen’s abdomen and looking up to us and saying, ‘Your child has a fatal defect and is going to die.’ Our little kids were there at the time and they didn’t know what was going on, but they knew their mommy and daddy were crying. We rushed out of that room and we got in the car and I tried to drive home but I couldn’t. All I could do was cry, and speak bitterly to a God who I thought was calling me. And this was His answer: He was going to take my son. So no, I was not happy with God. This newfound friendship was not as easy a course as I thought. We did everything we could. We resolved we would not lose our son. We had intrauterine surgery, something very experimental, and it worked – except three days later Karen got an infection and he was delivered at 21 weeks. We were blessed he was born alive. And we had the opportunity to hold him for two hours in which he knew only love. Then he passed in our arms.
I was very angry with God. But I was blessed. I was blessed with a wife who, while angry, poured that anger out on pages in letters to him, explaining her love – our love – for him. I was equally blessed to have a mother-in-law who encouraged her to publish that book. And that book took pain and horror and turned it into something beautiful. The book ‘Letters to Gabriel’ sold thousands, tens of thousands of copies, saved I don’t know how many lives. People wrote us and told us that what we went through – our pain – gave them the courage to save the lives of their children. And so what I learned was, if you are faithful, God will be faithful.”
Moving testimony.
Not giving Rick a hard time here, because I think that was as good an answer as you can give. It’s highly personal and really nobody’s business outside of religious circles. If Rick chooses to tell the story unprompted, fine. That’s his choice.
Luntz is a snake. This was an unforgivable question, and an unforgettable answer.
This is not the type of question you ask a political candidate. It’s one of no consequence in the political spectrum. “Oh, he was mad at God, can’t elect him.” “Oh, he has never been mad at God. Liar! Can’t elect him.”
Did we expect less from Santorum? No. So he gets very little upside even if it’s a great response.
On the other hand, if he slips up there’s plenty of down side.
Luntz knows this. He’s no friend of Conservatism. He might just as well work for the DNC. Frankly, I’m not convinced he doesn’t.
Wow, Thanks for sharing. Santorum is a good man, and I hope he can find someplace to serve once this election is over. I voted for him in the primary in 2012, but to no avail. The GOPe was he** bent on Romney. Only Romney could win. Yeah, right, how’d that turn out?
I was deeply moved by Rick Santorum revealing his personal pain from this tragedy.
I don’t know what Luntz was getting at but if everyone reacts like me they will think the better of Mr. Santorum now.
A parent losing a child has to be the worst thing in the world.
That was super sweet and healing. Thanks for posting it.
Wow! Nothing ever brings a tear to my eye anymore, but that did.
While I agree that the question may not have been of “normal” expectation, it was a God-given opportunity for him to reveal his personal relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ—not a “religion,” as you say—and he took it and exhibited the grace of God in the outworking of his life’s struggles and provings of his faith.
And this is everybody’s business, this is the business of life, so to speak. If it was restricted to religious circles, the Christian faith would be a dead faith, and thus not a true faith at all. So glad that Rick Santorum had a public forum and also that I and others who saw this post and read the comments got down to #7 and were blessed to read his response to the interviewer.
Yes, Romans 8:28 exhibited.
I think you’re confusing the issue of Santorum revealing his story in public, and Luntz more or less forcing him to.
I agree with a decision to do it.
I do not agree with Luntz’s decision to force it.
Thanks
The correct answer is: “So Frank, when did you stop beating your BF”
My point is that God is sovereign, despite the intentions of man. It was a God-given opportunity to share something about a faithful and good God and a believing man’s relationship with that God.
Besides Romans 8:28, it reminds me of Genesis 50:20, Joseph’s words to his brothers who had sold him as a youth and were afraid that he would pay them back in full:
“And as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.”
thank you for your response
Thank you for posting. Light grey is so hard on the eyes when you are looking at a monitor 12 or more hours a day. I was just about to contact the blogger but decided to scroll through before I posted it myself.
Losing a child IS the worst loss according to studies. Knowing that, imagine having the power to save your son and allowing his death plus suffer your utmost wrath all to save humans. Hard to imagine. Think of this though, his son will avenge his own death (along with the death of all innocents) against those who reject his suffering sacrifice.
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