Posted on 10/12/2012 2:54:55 AM PDT by markomalley
Heading into the closing stages of Thursday nights vice presidential debate in Danville, Ky., moderator Martha Raddatz of ABC News steered the conversation away from foreign policy and the economy and toward abortion, a development that pleased both President Obamas re-election campaign and some liberal media commentators.
Raddatz, who has been under fire in recent days for her decades-old association with President Barack Obama, instructed Vice President Joe Biden and Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan to discuss their Catholic faith as it regards the emotional and intensely personal issue. (RELATED EDITORIAL: ABC fails ethics test)
We have two Catholic candidates, first time, on a stage such as this, Raddatz said. And I would like to ask you both to tell me what role your religion has played in your own personal views on abortion. Please talk about how you came to that decision. Talk about how your religion played a part in that. And, please this is such an emotional issue for so many people in this country please talk personally about this, if you could.
Both Biden and Ryan answered the question, with Biden temporarily discontinuing the erratic gesturing for which he would later be criticized. (RELATED: Krauthammer on Bidens disrespectful, hugely condescending demeanor)
Raddatz seemed determined to keep the conversation focused, steering the conversation back to abortion when Ryan raised the issue of Catholics fighting the Obama administration over Obamacares contraception mandate.
I want to go back to the abortion question here, Raddatz insisted. If the Romney-Ryan ticket is elected, should those who believe that abortion should remain legal be worried?
MSNBC reacts
This would be the left-leaning MSNBCs favorite debate moment. After last weeks first presidential debate that left the pro-Obama cable news channel with little to celebrate, Hardball host and MSNBC post-debate panelist Chris Matthews explained why the abortion moment was one of the evenings highlights. (RELATED VIDEO: Post-debate, MSNBCs Chris Matthews lapses into panic mode)
Abortion I thought that Ryan did a heartfelt thing but what he said was Im for outlawing abortion in a country of this diversity, Matthews said. He said that. A lot of people who are not of the Roman Catholic faith, the conservative Roman Catholic faith, [who] have a particular right-wing view about all kind of social issues, will say, Wait a minute here, are you telling me youre going to take away my right to make this decision myself? Take it away from my daughter because you have a point of view?
This is America, Matthews continued. This isnt old Spain. You dont tell people what you cant do because of your church views. You dont do that. I thought Joe handled it exactly the way, well, a lot of people would have handled it. I think thats going to hit home with people tonight, that abortion answer. And I tell you, the big three taxes, Medicare and abortion won for Biden tonight. I weight them heavily more than I do Syria and some of these other issues, and Benghazi. I think thats why he won tonight.
Matthews and his MSNBC colleagues apparently thought so much of Ryan and Bidens seven-minute exchange on abortion that they discussed it at least five more times during 90 minutes of coverage wrapping up a 90-minute debate.
Figuring most prominently in that coverage was an interview Lawrence ODonnell, host of MSNBCs The Last Word, conducted with Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards, who happened to be working on behalf of the Obama campaign in the post-debate spin room.
The early signs
In a conference call Wednesday morning, Richards and Obama deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter tipped their hand, indicating that abortion would figure prominently in the last four weeks of he election season.
Romney is trying to hide what he believes, but there is no hiding as president, Cutter said. His severely conservative positions that got him through the primaries are still there, and they have been there for six years, and now he is trying to cover them up because he knows they hurt women, seniors, and the middle class and they hurt his chances for winning the presidency so even the real Romney cant cover that up. (RELATED: Obama camp claims Romney hiding true abortion views)
Cutters appeared inspired by Romneys comment during a Des Moines Register editorial board meeting Tuesday that Theres no legislation with regards to abortion that Im familiar with that would become part of my agenda. He added in the same interview, however, that he would use an executive order to reinstate the so-called Mexico City policy,which bans private groups from using federal funds for abortions. The Obama administration overturned that policy in 2009,
Abortion is one plank of a war on women strategy the presidents allies believe might help the Obama-Biden ticket. Last month the pro-abortion NARAL Pro-Choice America rolled out an election strategy to reporters at its Washington, D.C. headquarters, laying out a model designed to help Obama win womens votes. (RELATED: Pro-choice group unveils detailed plan to sway Obama defectors back to Obama)
Reinvigorating that strategy could be important following a presidential debate performance by Romney last week that created a surge big enough to all but erase the presidents double-digit lead among women voters, according to Fox News.
Media have leveraged war on women issues before
Thursdays debate did not mark this years only high-stakes political debate appearance of a contentious social issue impacting women. As the moderator of a January 2012 Republican primary debate, Raddatzs ABC colleague George Stephanopoulos took aim at then-Republican nominee hopeful Mitt Romney on restricting womens access to contraception (RELATED: Stephanopoulos struggles with fairness during NH debate):
STEPHANOPOULOS: Governor Romney, do you believe that states have the right to ban contraception? Or is that trumped by a constitutional right to privacy?
ROMNEY: George, this is an unusual topic that youre raising. States have a right to ban contraception? I cant imagine a state banning contraception. I cant imagine the circumstances where a state would want to do so, and if I were a governor of a state or
STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, the Supreme Court has ruled
ROMNEY: or a or a legislature of a state I would totally and completely oppose any effort to ban contraception. So youre asking given the fact that theres no state that wants to do so, and I dont know of any candidate that wants to do so, youre asking could it constitutionally be done?
That out-of-the-blue line of questioning was met with boos by the audience of GOP partisans. But Stephanopoulos, a former Clinton White House Senior Advisor, had set the stage for what conservative talker Rush Limbaugh and former Clinton adviser and Fox News political analyst Dick Morris later said was intentionally set in motion to make so-called war on women issues an unavoidable part of this years presidential contest.
The election is now just 25 days away. The Obama administration is absorbing criticism for potentially misreporting jobs data and mishandling a terrorist raid that killed Americas ambassador to Libya. And Obama is facing an opponent in Romney with momentum in his corner. Raddatzs decision to call attention to abortion may have been just what the doctor ordered for the presidents campaign.
I was raised Catholic when nuns were real and have recently done some research on Mormons. I was surprised to learn that their core beliefs are very similar. The main difference seems to be that Mormans believe in the pre-existance of the soul and Catholics do not. Both believe that we are children of a loving God Who so loved us that He sent His only Son to save us from our inability to live perfect lives. That is the crux of the issue. If you hold that belief it is hard to believe that God would discriminate on the basis of what we call ourselves. Mormans are most definately Christians and my observations tell me that they are much better at walking the walk than some Christians who call themselves by other names. Religions all claim to understand the workings and desires of God. I think all of them have some parts right, but I don’t think it is possible for humans to understand God and that is why God only requires faith. If we acknowledge His awesomeness we will understand that we CANNOT understand Him, only trust His love and onipotence and when we do those things good things happen in our lives AND we are guaranteed eternal life.
It may just be that the big takeaway on this debate will be a shift to R and R by some of these women that are so enamored with Obama.
&&&
I am a woman, and that just makes no sense to me.
Any woman who was ever smitten with Obama, let alone now, is just too clueless to live unsupervised for the greater part of any given day.
I don't understand why they persist in the belief that this is somehow a winning issue for them. It isn't 1992 anymore.
They won’t excommunicate because it might cost them donations; not that many many aborttion advocates are likely big givers anyway.
I support outlawing the TAXPAYERS having to pay for abortions.
IF you think you need one, go get it yourself. I should not have to pay one single penny for such.
Best the Catholic church and others just give up on them ~ Satan will know his own ~ and when it comes to Democrats he definitely has a tight familiarity already.
No they are not, and I'm not even a Roman Catholic.
The main difference seems to be that Mormans believe in the pre-existance of the soul and Catholics do not. Both believe that we are children of a loving God Who so loved us that He sent His only Son to save us from our inability to live perfect lives. That is the crux of the issue.
You haven't done enough of your homework yet. Mormonism's pre-existence of the soul is but one of a multitude of essential differences between the two. Mormonism applies completely different meaning to the words, "God Who so loved us that He sent His only Son to save us from our inability to live perfect lives" than ANY form of traditional Christianity. You would do well to research the MORMON DEFINITIONS of those Christian-sounding words Mormons use.
Mormans are most definately Christians and my observations tell me that they are much better at walking the walk than some Christians who call themselves by other names.
Mormonism preaches a different 'gospel'. It is not any form of the Christian Gospel.
Mormans are most definately Christians and my observations tell me that they are much better at walking the walk than some Christians who call themselves by other names. Religions all claim to understand the workings and desires of God. I think all of them have some parts right, but I dont think it is possible for humans to understand God and that is why God only requires faith. If we acknowledge His awesomeness we will understand that we CANNOT understand Him, only trust His love and onipotence and when we do those things good things happen in our lives AND we are guaranteed eternal life.
Our lack of exhaustive knowledge and human limitations is no excuse to ignore that which has already been revealed in God's Word. Just because we do not know everything does not mean that cannot know truly. We are not entitled to disobey God's eternal Word and make up our own version of the Gospel as did that evil, blasphemous, adulterous con-man Joseph Smith.
It is not just faith that bestows eternal life with God. Everyone has faith in something. The questions is, though, in what?, or more properly, in Whom? The Apostle Paul apparently believed we can know enough to be able to distinguish between the real and the counterfeit because he wrote the following:
Galations 1:
Mormonism is a different Gospel.6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel 7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under Gods curse! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under Gods curse!
Cordially,
One Word-————Money.
The Mormons believe in God and His Son, Jesus. They believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. That is the CORE belief of all Christian religions, and, I believe, the one that will bring us eternal life.
Cordially,
I don’t know what you mean by Mormon DEFINITIONS. I did find this; Brigham Young preached,
We have a Father; He is in heaven; ...He says that we are His children. ... we actually believe that God the Father is our heavenly Father, that we are His children; and we believe that Jesus Christ is our elder brotherthat he is actually the Son of our Father and that he is the Savior of the world, and was appointed to this before the foundations of this earth were laid. (Journal of Discourses, vol. 13, pp. 235-256, February 20, 1870)
What part of this do you disagree with?
Uh, that God the Father is a resurrected, "exalted" human being named Elohim who was at one time not God, but a mortal man on another planet who, through obedience to the precepts of HIS God, eventually attained exaltation, or godhood, himself through "eternal progression"; that there are other Gods who became Gods in part through celestial marriage; That there is a MRS. God, or even plural MRS's God. That Lucifer is our elder brother. That God the Father had sex with the virgin Mary to produce Jesus, to name just a few.
Do you want me to keep going?
Cordially,
Sigh...
So is Mitt's...
16, Exaltation is gained through the new and everlasting covenant; 714, The terms and conditions of that covenant are set forth; 1520, Celestial marriage and a continuation of the family unit enable men to become gods; 2125, The strait and narrow way leads to eternal lives; 2627, The law is given relative to blasphemy against the Holy Ghost; 2839, Promises of eternal increase and exaltation are made to prophets and Saints in all ages; 4047, Joseph Smith is given the power to bind and seal on earth and in heaven; 4850, The Lord seals upon him his exaltation; 5157, Emma Smith is counseled to be faithful and true; 5866, Laws governing the plurality of wives are set forth.
16Therefore, when they are out of the world they neither marry nor are given in amarriage; but are appointed angels in bheaven, which angels are ministering cservants, to minister for those who are worthy of a far more, and an exceeding, and an eternal weight of glory.
17For these angels did not abide my law; therefore, they cannot be enlarged, but remain separately and singly, without exaltation, in their saved condition, to all eternity; and from henceforth are not gods, but are aangels of God forever and ever.
18And again, verily I say unto you, if a man marry a wife, and make a covenant with her for time and for all eternity, if that acovenant is not by me or by my word, which is my law, and is not sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, through him whom I have anointed and appointed unto this power, then it is not valid neither of force when they are out of the world, because they are not joined by me, saith the Lord, neither by my word; when they are out of the world it cannot be received there, because the angels and the gods are appointed there, by whom they cannot pass; they cannot, therefore, inherit my glory; for my house is a house of order, saith the Lord God.
19And again, verily I say unto you, if a man amarry a wife by my word, which is my law, and by the new and beverlasting covenant, and it is csealed unto them by the Holy Spirit of dpromise, by him who is anointed, unto whom I have appointed this power and the ekeys of this priesthood; and it shall be said unto themYe shall come forth in the first resurrection; and if it be after the first resurrection, in the next resurrection; and shall inherit fthrones, kingdoms, principalities, and powers, dominions, all heights and depthsthen shall it be written in the Lambs gBook of Life, that he shall commit no hmurder whereby to shed innocent iblood, and if ye abide in my covenant, and commit no murder whereby to shed innocent blood, it shall be done unto them in all things whatsoever my servant hath put upon them, in time, and through all eternity; and shall be of full force when they are out of the world; and they shall pass by the angels, and the gods, which are set there, to their jexaltation and glory in all things, as hath been sealed upon their heads, which glory shall be a fulness and a continuation of the kseeds forever and ever.
20 Then shall they be gods, because they have no end; therefore shall they be from aeverlasting to everlasting, because they continue; then shall they be above all, because all things are subject unto them. Then shall they be bgods, because they have call power, and the angels are subject unto them.
21Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye abide my alaw ye cannot attain to this glory.
22For astrait is the gate, and narrow the bway that leadeth unto the exaltation and continuation of the clives, and few there be that find it, because ye receive me not in the world neither do ye know me.
23But if ye receive me in the world, then shall ye know me, and shall receive your exaltation; that awhere I am ye shall be also.
24This is aeternal livesto bknow the only wise and true God, and Jesus Christ, whom he hath csent. I am he. Receive ye, therefore, my law.
25aBroad is the gate, and wide the way that leadeth to the bdeaths; and many there are that go in thereat, because they creceive me not, neither do they abide in my law.
Are you still killing your unborn? -- GOD |
They could at least TRY!
From the rest of your statement; you need to do some more.
For MOST of them, anyway.
That is the CORE belief of all Christian religions, and, I believe, the one that will bring us eternal life.
You are free to believe that; since authentic Scripture backs it up:
John 6:28-29
Then they asked him, What must we do to do the works God requires?
Jesus answered, The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.
1 John 3:21-24
Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. The one who keeps Gods commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.
But...
Be aware that the 'jesus' that MORMONs put THEIR trust in; is NOT the One the bible so CLEARLY describes.
Somewhere in the Book; there is a WARNING to avoid FALSE christs and FALSE teachings.
MORMONism fits perfectly.
I dont know what you mean by Mormon DEFINITIONS. I did find this; Brigham Young preached,
"Now if any of you will deny the plurality of wives, and continue to do so, I promise that you will be damned;
and I will go still further and say, take this revelation, or any other revelation that the Lord has given,
and deny it in your feelings, and I promise that you will be damned.
Brigham Young - JoD 3:266 (July 14, 1855)
What part of this do you disagree with?
The Articles of Faith outline 13 basic points of belief of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The Prophet Joseph Smith first wrote them in a letter to John Wentworth, a newspaper editor,
in response to Mr. Wentworth's request to know what members of the Church believed.
They were subsequently published in Church periodicals.
They are now regarded as scripture and included in the Pearl of Great Price.
THE ARTICLES OF FAITH
OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS History of the Church, Vol. 4, pp. 535541
Joseph Smith |
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