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[Page H9261]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
AMERICANS SHOULD RENEW IN THEIR HEARTS OUR NATION'S MOTTO
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from
Texas (Mr. Conaway) for 5 minutes.
Mr. CONAWAY. Mr. Speaker, our Nation's motto of ``In God We Trust''
is inscribed on the wall above our heads. The word ``trust'' is
typically defined as to have confidence, faith, or hope in someone or
something. In this case, it is obviously trust in God.
To have confidence or faith or hope in God requires that we know
something about God. This knowledge is gained by reading and studying
the inspired word of God, which is, of course the Bible. God has
revealed Himself to us in the pages of the Bible, and to trust in God
means that we also trust His teachings as revealed in the Bible.
Among those teachings is a prescription for the way we should lead
our lives, the way we should treat each other, and how we should rely
on God and His teachings to, in fact, trust in Him.
John Adams wrote that only a moral and religious people can self-
govern. In my opinion, the morals to which he is referring to are laid
out in God's teachings in both the Old Testament and the New Testament
of the Bible.
Almost every day we hear someone ask for God's blessings on our
Nation. The next time you hear someone ask for God to bless our Nation,
please ask yourself what is it about America and our Nation that we are
asking God to bless? Just what is there about our Nation that is, in
fact, blessable?
Are we asking God to bless the killing of more than 61 million babies
in the last 46 years? Are we asking God to bless the rancor and
incivility that permeates much of our public discourse? These and other
issues cause me to fear that we are on the verge of being an
unblessable Nation.
The Old Testament is replete with times when God's chosen people, the
Nation of Israel, would stray so far from His teachings that He would
subject them to awful events and terrible circumstances to cause them
to turn their hearts back to Him. I believe that we are on that same
destructive path.
We must ask ourselves what should we do to turn our Nation's heart
back to God? There is no legislative fix for this problem. The path to
a blessable Nation must start in the heart of each one of us. To return
to the moral high ground that has allowed our Nation to prosper under
God's blessings, we must each have a moral code to live by.
For me that moral code is the Judeo-Christian code found in God's
Word. Jesus Christ is my personal savior, and I try to live his
teachings every day. Some days I am better at it than others, but each
of us must have a moral code that is based on truth, not on whims or
feelings. This awakening must start now.
It can start by claiming God's promise to the Nation of Israel that
applies to our Nation, as well. It is found in II Chronicles 7:14,
which says: ``If my people, who are called by my name will humble
themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways,''
emphasis on wicked ways, ``then I will hear them from heaven, and I
will forgive their sin, and heal their land.'' Each of us individually
and our Nation as a whole has never needed that promise more than we
need it today.
Mr. Speaker, we should renew in our hearts every day our Nation's
motto, ``In God We Trust.''
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