Year of the Bible Resolution Upsets Atheists

http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/news/local_news/atheists-sue-pa.-over-bible-resolution

I suggest that it might help our dear atheist friends if they would spend their time reading the Bible for themselves instead of swallowing the lies they have been told about the Bible.

I think it is a good thing that Pennsylvania passed a resolution declaring this year of 2012 to be “The Year of the Bible.”

Before you get all wound up and have a fit because you think this is a violation of the separation of church and state, I have a question for you to think about.

What church is the Bible?

Year of the Bible

2/8/2012

A simple resolution passed the House unanimously on Jan. 24. It recognizes the significant impact the Bible has had on our country. It in no way inhibits anyone from believing in any faith or no faith. Most citizens don’t remember that a joint session of Congress passed a similar resolution signed by President Ronald Reagan on Feb. 3, 1983, declaring that year as the Year of the Bible in America.

Of course, after our resolution, a few complained and aired the same false arguments that God was never a part of our founding and we should not include God in government, but that is easily refuted.

In fact, I just want to offer a few quotes from the founding fathers and past presidents on the importance of the Bible in America.

George Washington himself spoke frequently of the Bible, and in his very first act, emblematic of the office he was about to take, he chose to lay his hand on the Bible to take that oath. That tradition has been carried on by every president after him, swearing their oath of office on the Bible, frequently choosing, as Washington did, a specific verse within that they believe has special meaning.

Benjamin Franklin, a noted founding father, but also the 23rd speaker of the PA General Assembly and former governor of the Commonwealth reminded us: “A Bible in every home is the principle support of virtue, morality and civil liberty.”

John Adams noted in his diary on Feb. 22, 1756, “Suppose a nation in some distant region should take the Bible for their only law book and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited. . . What a Utopia – what a Paradise would this region be!”

John Jay, president of the Continental Congress and first Chief Justice of the United States, said, “The Bible is the best of all books, for it is the word of God and teaches us the way to be happy in this world and in the next. Continue therefore to read it and to regulate your life by its precepts.”

Benjamin Rush, signer of the Declaration of Independence, participant in the Continental Congress and vice president of the Philadelphia Bible Society wrote, “The Bible contains more knowledge necessary to man in his present state than any other book in the world. The only means of establishing and perpetuating our republican forms of government is the universal education of our youth in the principles of Christianity by means of the Bible.”

Andrew Jackson, our seventh president, insisted, “The Bible is the rock on which this Republic rests.” One of our greatest presidents, Abraham Lincoln, stated, “I believe the Bible is the best book God has ever given to man. All the good from the Savior of the world is communicated to us through this book.”

Finally, one of our most beloved presidents, Ronald Reagan, reminded us that, “Within the covers of the Bible are the answers for all the problems men face.” He also stated, “Of the many influences that have shaped the United States into a distinctive nation and people, none may be said to be more fundamental and enduring than the Bible.”

Our founders and great leaders throughout our history have turned to the Bible for wisdom, inspiration and solace. The notion that God or the Bible was ever separate from government in this regard is a denial of history. “God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?”
Those aren’t my words; they are the words of Thomas Jefferson, chiseled in granite at the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C. More than a hundred such references are proudly displayed around our capital there and our beautiful Capitol in Harrisburg. Opponents grind their teeth when they walk past the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, the very icon of our heritage and independence, which sports a quotation from Leviticus 25:10 on it.

Visit the Lincoln Memorial and inspect the wall where the Gettysburg address is inscribed reminding us “that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom.” By the way, Lincoln’s second inaugural address referred to God 12 times and quoted the Bible three times, defying and obliterating any notion that he felt God and government should be separate.

And remember the Bible was a textbook in our public schools for 150 years.

I could supply hundreds of more examples. The bottom line remains, when you look at the facts, there is no denying the influence of this great book on our nation and its most respected leaders.

It is time well spent for all our leaders to acknowledge and reflect upon this book in times of trouble in our country, or is it as Ben Franklin once asked, “All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a superintending providence in our favor. To that kind providence we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And have we now forgotten that powerful friend? Do we imagine we no longer need Him?”

I think the unanimous vote in the PA House last week suggests that although it may not be politically correct to admit, our leaders certainly do recognize the value of God’s word in government. We will all be better off for it.

State Representative Rick Saccone
39th District, Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Contact: Ty McCauslin
tmccausl@pahousegop.com
717.772.9979

This entry was posted in Apologetics Issues--Atheism and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

6 Responses to Year of the Bible Resolution Upsets Atheists

  1. ken sagely says:

    hello jerry, the bible is the word of god and thats why alot of men reject it today, it tells us that we are sinners,rom 3/23, the wages of sin is death rom 6/23, its appointed to man to die and after this comes judgement heb 9/27, thats the bad news. the good news is that jesus christ came to die on the cross for our sins and demonstrate his love for us rom 5/8. what does god then desire from us to have eternal life? rom 10/9 that if thou shalt believe in thine heart that god hath raised him from the dead,thou shalt be saved. as a believer verses like in psm 119/7 i will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when i shall have learned thy righeous judgments. 119/9-11 wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.vs 10 with my whole heart have i sought thee; oh, let me not wander from thy commandments.vs 11 thy word have i hidden in mine heart,that i might sin against thee. psm 119/18 open thou mine eyes,that i may behold wonderous things out of thy law. prm 119/49 remember the word unto thy servant,upon which thou hast caused me to hope.vs 50 this is my comfort in my affliction; for thy word hath give me live.psm 119/67 before i was afflicted i went astray,but now have i kept thy word.119/71 it is good for me that i have been afflicted, that i might learn thy statues. psm 119/80 forever, o lord, thy settled in heaven. 119/130 the entrance of thy words giveth light; it givbeth understanding unto the simple. the word of god is sharper than any two edged sword heb 4/12. i pe 2/2 says that we are to long for the pure milk of the word that we may grow thereby. i pe3/18 were are to grow in grace and knowledge of our lord jesus christ. the daily intake of the word of god is the key to spiritual growth rom 10/17 so,then, faith cometh by hearing,and hearing by the word of god.

  2. Jerry says:

    Dear Ken,

    You are right. People do not want to be called sinners. They want to live their own way. Of course, God gives them that freedom. But wiser people would read this site, Real Bible Study.com, and learn a bit about how to read the Bible independently for themselves. That is what is most needed today.

  3. Jerry says:

    Here is an un-edited sampling of comments from non-believers against the Bible from the site that mentioned the 2012 “Year of the Bible.”

    http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/news/local_news/atheists-sue-pa.-over-bible-resolution

    Cindy Rosecrans • Top Commenter

    Proof, my dear pastor, is for those who believe in it to provide. Not for those who don’t. That is not the point. The point of this is that goverment must stay neutral and not favor any one single religion. Not one single christian on this board has said they would be just fine with Pennsylvania calling 2013 the Year of the Muslim. Why is that? Equality is what America stands for, not christianity, not the bible, not religion. The bible does not run this country, the Constitution does. And if you need proof that the bible is false, then all you need to do is google the Nag Hammadi or research the fact that the Council of Nicea, a council of bishops years ago, removed many of the books of the bible as it stands now because they were considered anti-christian. The bible you read from now is only half there, and the books thrown out proved a bit of a different jesus than the white, blue eyed one christians pray to now.

    Cindy Rosecrans • Top Commenter

    Vincent, that’s not true. The god of the bible set up Adam and Eve, and their kids, brothers and sisters, had sex to have kids. What kind of god would allow a brother to have sex with his sister to have kids? Let’s talk about the violence. In the bible, god causes a pack of dogs to tear apart several CHILDREN because they were making fun of one of his prophets. Sad, isn’t it? Such violence. This bible god, VERY racist, called gentiles “heathens’ and ‘dogs’. Don’t get me started on the sexism. So you’re saying all of that was designed by the biblical god to draw attention to man’s sins??? Why the, did this all powerful god create it in the first place? For his own enjoyment??? Why did this all powerful god who according to the bible KNOWS the future of man, knew you before you were born, then, allow racism and sexism? You say its to draw attention to mankind’s sins. That, my dear Vincent, is a total contradiction then because if the biblical god sees the future and still allows racism and slavery and sexism then he is an evil and vindictive god at that to sit back and watch it happen knowing it’s going to happn so he can punish mankind.

    Cindy Rosecrans • Top Commenter

    Come on. None of you approving of this ‘year of the bible’ have even attempted to face the reality of how you’d feel if the Pennsylvania lawmakers would have named it the year of the Qaran . Anyone want to tackle that one???

    Bill Kaszycki

    Yeah, I’m feeling very uncomfortable with the bible because it promotes slavery, genocide, misogyny, child abuse and a whole bunch of other morally bankrupt ideas. And I’m sick and tired of all the people who suffer from this delusion about some sadistic sky fairy trying to use the power of the government to shove their delusion down my throat – in direct opposition to the Constitution.

    If this is not enough, you can follow the link to see more.

    What Cindy Rosecrans has posted is very typical of what ordinary man or woman on the street atheists have to say.

    When I taught literature in high school, I shared a quotation that said, in so many words, that what you have to say about a work of literature (like Shakespeare’s plays and poems, or the Bible) says more about you than it does about any shortcoming of the work of literature.

    Clearly, we need to do a better job of reaching out to unbelievers.

    Wilbur Smith wrote in one of his books I have that people who do not believe in the Bible or Christianity are most often not disbelieving the Bible or Christianity but a caricature of them built up in their mind from second and third hand experience and information. They have not really heard the truth of the Bible or Christianity. Once faced with the truth of the Bible itself, some of them will come to believe it.

  4. ken sagely says:

    hello jerry, i cor 2/12-116 offers alot of insight of the spirtual condtion of the world today.”now we have not received,not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is god: that we might know the things freely given to us of god. 2/13 which things also we speak,not in the words which the holy spirit teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 2/14 but the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of god: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them,because they are spiritually discerned”. vs 15 but he that is spiritual judgeth all things,yet he himself is judged of no man.vs16 for who hath known the mind of the lord, that he may instruct him ? but we have the mind of christ! jn 14/27″he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsover i have said unto you. all these vs in i co and john mean alot to me in understanding the bible!

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  6. Jerry says:

    I hope you will continue to visit my site. Feel free to ask any questions you might have. I will be pleased to answer them to the best of my knowledge.

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