National Bible Week

Floor Speech

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Mr. ADERHOLT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, first of all, I thank my colleague, Congressman Lamborn, for once again organizing this important Special Order, as he has done many times in the past. Not only that, but I thank him for his service to this legislative body.

He has been one of the good guys here in this body that has really stood for those principles that really, I think, date back to when our Founding Fathers first envisioned this great Nation, the United States of America.

We thank our colleague from Colorado.

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Mr. ADERHOLT. Mr. Speaker, the Bible has been and, really, it still is more than just a book. It is the foundation of our moral compass. It is the inspiration behind our laws. It is the source of strength and comfort for countless families and individuals, literally around the world.

From the founding of our great Nation, we have seen how the truths that are found in the Bible have shaped our culture, have influenced our leaders, and have guided the hearts of our people.

Here in America, as in so many places around the world, we have been blessed with the freedom to worship and the right to hold our religious beliefs without fear and without persecution. Unfortunately, there are a lot of places in the world that don't have that freedom, but here in America, we do.

However, with all that is said about the Bible, let us not forget the power that is in the Word of God and how it always gives us a hope that instills so much into the lives of so many people across the world.

There have been many books that have been written over the ages, and a lot of books have sold literally millions and millions of copies, some 200 or 300 million copies. You think about books like ``A Tale of Two Cities,'' ``Don Quixote,'' ``The Lord of the Rings,'' those that rank up there, and perhaps maybe 300 or 400 million copies have been sold.

As far as I know, there is only one book that has sold into the billions, and it is estimated that over 5 billion copies of the Word of God, the Bible, has been printed and put out there, and I would say that is a very conservative number.

It is no wonder the Bible is the most popular book ever written, as it holds the key to life and actually to life everlasting, for in the New Testament, we read the words of Jesus of Nazareth, and we read about his life. The words of the Bible are different from all the other books that were written. The words of the Bible cut like a double-edged sword, yet its full life is found to its fullest, and those are the words of Jesus.

We hear the words of Jesus in John 3:16: For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

As a young boy, like Congressman Lamborn, I realized what that meant and wanted to have that relationship with God myself, and realizing that I could have that directly through Christ, I asked him into my life through a simple prayer. That still holds true for any person today who wants to go down that road and take God up on that offer.

I thank Congressman Lamborn this evening for his dedication, but, more than anything else, for recognizing the Bible is the book of all books. It is the Bible, for it is in the Bible that life is found.

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