National Bible Week
Floor Speech
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Mr. WALBERG. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, Representative Lamborn, and I appreciate his intentionality in bringing us together each year to talk about this, having had that opportunity, now into my fifth term, each year to remind ourselves of the impact of the Bible.
It has had a rich heritage in this country, a country that is free, a country that offers liberty for all who would have personal beliefs, religious and otherwise. It even allows freedom in this country, a country that was truly established on Biblical principles, but, nonetheless, it allows freedom for people to not even have a belief or a religion.
I think that is the beauty of my understanding of the Bible in that it is a book that offers freedom to people to come to understand it, to read it, to have it impact their lives.
I can say for a fact that the Bible is more than just a book, a historical book, a book of tradition, a book of writings of religious perspective and spiritual nature; but, rather, it is a book that has changed my life. It is a book that I believe, and I believe the facts would bear it out as sincere people test it and search into the Bible to see that it is truly a book that is God-given.
I remember the inscription in one of the earliest Bibles that I ever had in my possession as a young boy. It was a book, as I recollect, a Bible that was given as a reward for attendance in Sunday school, given by my teacher. I had had other Bibles that I had gotten from my family, hand-me-down Bibles that I had carried, but this, I think, was my first Bible.
In that Bible inscription, it said: ``This book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this book.''
My friend and colleague, I think that was given by my Sunday school teacher as, really, a point to encourage me from doing the normal thing as a young boy would do. And that I wouldn't call sin. I would call it bad behavior. But I know, ultimately, the Bible called it sin.
I found it to be true, that as that book became part of my life, that it changed my life. While I have never achieved, to this very day--and I admit that to you--perfection yet, that Bible altered my existence. And when I did do those wrong things that the Bible calls sin, I was convicted of that and I was encouraged to change.
An early verse that I remembered from the Bible came from Psalms, the Book of Psalms, Psalms 119:11, that said: ``Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You.''
The Bible is a practical book that is meant to change lives, to alter the way we live, to impact others as well.
I think John Witherspoon, who signed the Declaration of Independence, one of our earliest officials, government officials, who happened to be a minister as well, but served his country well, said: ``A republic once equally poised must either preserve its virtue or lose its liberty.''
I think he had the context there that virtue came from something beyond humanity. It came from, in his mind, I am certain from other readings I have read of John Whitherspoon, from his understanding of the Word of God, the Bible, that ``a republic once equally poised must either preserve its virtue,'' that virtue that comes from something outside of ourselves, greater than ourselves, and given to God, Himself, or else, without that virtue, we would lose our liberty.
He probably understood the principle found in Proverbs 14:34 that said: ``Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.'' That was written in the context of a great nation. Righteousness built it up; sin tore it down.
John Adams, another one of our great leaders who understood Scripture very well--and you just need to read his letters to his wife and his wife's letters back to him, let alone his writings in relationship to our government and our Constitution--said: ``Our Constitution is designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for any other.'' And John Adams, in writing about what it meant to be a holy and religious people, referred his life very clearly to the Bible, God's Word.
The Bible is an amazing book. It is a controversial book, to say the least. It is a comforting book. It is a challenging book. It is a timeless book. And I have found it to be a book that is true, without error, and it has changed my life.
Voltaire fought against the Bible in many different ways, writings and otherwise, and he said it would be out of existence within 100 years of his life. Yet, in approximately 50 years after Voltaire's death, the Gutenberg Bible was printed on Voltaire's printing press.
Isaiah 40:8 says: ``The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God''--the Bible--``stands forever.''
The truth of the Bible, God's Word, can never be forced on anyone; but when it is honestly and sincerely considered, it changes lives. It changed my life, and it continues to change my imperfect life.
The Bible says, in Psalms 119, the psalmist David wrote that--the longest passage of Scripture in the entire Bible, an entire passage of Scripture, the longest, written about his love for the Bible and the Word of God. He says: ``Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.''
Ephesians 5, in the Bible, says: ``Therefore, be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.''
My friend, we see that all over the world today, don't we? Evil, evil things are happening, evil people doing evil things, hateful things, hurtful things, horrific things. And none of those things are being done after the pattern of what we find in the Bible.
It continues, in Ephesians, saying: ``So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.'' And that will is found in His Word, the Bible.
``Trust in the Lord,'' Proverbs 3:5-6 says, ``with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.''
The Bible continues to hold itself out as a straightener of paths, pointing us to the source of life and the Savior who is the ultimate message of the Bible whom to know personally is life eternal.
I thank God for the Bible. I thank God for the opportunity even tonight to talk about the Bible in this august Chamber with my colleagues and to remember the impact that the Bible, the Scripture, has had on this great Nation and, I trust, will continue to have on this Nation; and I offer it to any who would dare to consider its life- changing message.
I thank God for the Bible.
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