National Bible Week

Floor Speech

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Mr. ARRINGTON. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague, Mr. Lamborn, my brother in Christ, and one of our spiritual leaders here in this great Chamber.

I so appreciate the gentleman leading this effort to pay tribute to God's holy, inherent, infallible, active Word, that Word that has created the heavens and the Earth. The Word that became flesh and dwelt among us in the person of Jesus, God's Son.

This Word of God, this Bible that we speak of, I don't know that there is any book that has had a greater influence on the world. It is no accident that the words behind me above our Speaker and our Nation's motto are ``In God we trust.'' And as we trusted God, God blessed us.

As I trust Him in my life, He blesses me. And when I depart as His child, as a follower of Jesus, and I say to Mr. Lamborn that I have to confess, I depart from time to time. And when I do, I don't have that peace that surpasses understanding, that hope and that joy unspeakable, but because of this great gift of the Bible, I cannot only know the will of God, the mind of God, the character of God, I can actually have a relationship with God.

And that is mind-blowing. And the fact that I wouldn't run to the Bible every day first thing when I get up, and I wouldn't cling to it at night, every night, before I went to bed, is also mind-boggling, knowing the power and the richness, the depth of the wisdom of God in those Holy Scripture.

And one of my favorite things to talk about back home is--and I do this often with school children--I talk about what has made America great. Because like all of us, they have heard that statement over the last couple of years, and they, I am sure, have pondered that question. What has made America great? And how do we make America great again?

Well, I say America is great because America is free. And no other Nation in all of the world has been gifted with that freedom like the United States. And I say America is great because America is brave. It is the 1 percent in every generation that is willing to sacrifice everything for these liberties and the opportunities that we are blessed with. But, ultimately, what makes America great is the goodness of America.

Alexis de Tocqueville who set out to study what makes America great, said these words, and I think they are important for us to reflect on. He was a French philosopher. He came over here for a year, kind of a sabbatical, and his thesis was: What makes America great?

He said: ``I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers--and it was not there . . . in her fertile fields and boundless forests and it was not there . . . in her rich mines and her vast world commerce--and it was not there . . . in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution--and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.''

So I say this from my own personal perspective in my own life, and I say this to this great Chamber and to this amazing country we have been blessed to live in; we must return to the Bible and our relationship with God, so His goodness, through the power of the Holy Spirit will flow through us, so we can love our neighbors, serve our communities, and we can make America great again.

Amen. God bless America. And I thank the gentleman for this great opportunity to share in this tribute to the Bible, God's Holy Word.

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