When President Biden took the oath of office yesterday, he placed his hand on what the New York Times calls "a familial artifact."
It's a hefty Bible, about 6 or 8 inches in height weighing several pounds, and it's been in the Biden family since 1893, he says.
And he's used it every time he has been sworn in to a political office---and that's been several times.
His son, the late Beau Biden, also used this Bible for his swearing in to political office.
So, what role will Biden's Bible play in the Biden presidency?
Be informed, not misled.
The Bible and the presidency.
The big, old Bible, accented with a Celtic cross, has followed Joe Biden throughout his political career, which spans his entire adult life.
Bibles have always been important to US Presidents being sworn into office.
The Constitution requires an incoming president to take the oath of office, but it doesn't require them to place their hand on a Bible while taking the oath.
George Washington actually initiated using the Bible, by using one for his own swearing-in oath. Most, but not all US presidents have followed Washington's lead.
President Trump used two Bibles---one his mother had given him when he was a boy, the other, the one used for the swearing-in, of Abraham Lincoln in 1861.
President Obama used Lincoln's Bible and one of Martin Luther King's Bibles.
President Biden says, "Every important date is in there" of his family Bible. "For example," he says, "every time I've been sworn in for anything, the date is inscribed."
Professor Seth Perry, an associate professor of religion at Princeton, says: "It's difficult to imagine the ritual of the inauguration happening without that book."
Mark Dimunation is head of the rare book and special collections division at the Library of Congress. He says sometimes incoming president's use an open Bible to highlight a particular text that has special meaning to them.
He told the Times that there's electricity in using historical Bibles--- "It's been ensconced in these objects that really would seem to be nothing more than a book, but it carries the weight of its moment and history."
The Bible and the individual.
The Bible means different things to different people---including presidents of the United States.
Many of our presidents have seen the Bible as more than a mere "book" or an "artifact."
- George Washington said, "It is impossible to govern the world without God and the Bible."
- Andrew Jackson said, "That book, sir, is the rock on which our republic rests."
- Abraham Lincoln said, "I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given man. All the good from the Savior of the world is communicated to us through this book. But for it, we could not know right from wrong.
- Ulysses S. Grant said, "Hold fast to the Bible as the sheet anchor of your liberties. Write its precepts in your hearts, and practice them in your lives."
Many other presidents---in fact, most of our presidents, have affirmed the importance and the preeminence and authority of Scripture. Some have affirmed its infallibility.
Ronald Reagan said, "Within the covers of the Bible are the answers for all the problems men face."
In seeking to diminish the presidency of Donald Trump, the press---particularly yesterday---went to great ends to identify all the problems President Biden will face.
Will he look within the "covers" of Biden's Bible, or will he merely see it as a family artifact that records his own successes and accomplishments?
The test.
On Saturday, while announcing his "science team," now President Biden assured whoever was listening that he will follow "science and truth."
However, his actions already indicate otherwise.
Terry Jeffery, the editor in chief of CNS news noted Biden's abandonment of both science and truth.
He pointed out the hypocrisy of Biden's choice of Dr. Rachel Levine as his assistant secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
I mentioned Levine yesterday in this column, and we mentioned he/she on the radio yesterday as well.
Jeffery details Levine's transition from being a man to becoming a woman. Married to a woman for a number of years, Levine fathered two children and completed his education at Harvard and Tulane.
Now divorced, Levine began the transition to becoming a woman about ten years ago.
Jeffery makes the point that "science" says that whether a human being is male or female is determined by their chromosomes when fertilization occurs.
He says, "They cannot change their sex when they are in their teens or in middle age. That is the scientific truth."
Biden is not following science. He's following what the culture is dictating to him.
Terry also notes Biden's issue with abortion.
Back in 2012 in a vice-presidential debate, Biden was asked if he believed life begins at conception.
He replied, "I accept my church's position on abortion as what we call a de fide doctrine. Life begins at conception...I accept that in my personal life."
Biden then argued that he would not impose on other people his religious belief that life begins at conception by legally preventing them from killing unborn human beings through abortion.
He said, "I just refuse to impose that on others."
However, the fact that life begins at conception is affirmed by both science and the Truth of God's Word.
The Truth is that every abortion kills a little boy or a little girl.
Biden refuses to protect these little boys and girls, just as he refuses to recognize that mankind is one or the other; male or female.
In doing so he rejects both science and the Bible.
Why? Because in his political party, you could not advance to the presidency if you publicly recognized and acted on these fundamental truths.
Now---with the help of the far-left media---he will seek to impose that same denial of science and the Bible on all Americans.
Democrat President Harry Truman understood what Democrat President does not.
Truman said,
"The fundamental basis of this nation's laws was given to Moses on the Mount. The fundamental basis of our Bill of Rights comes from the teachings we get from Exodus and Saint Matthew, from Isaiah and Saint Paul. I don't think we emphasize that enough these days. If we don't have a proper fundamental moral background, we will finally end up with a totalitarian government which does nor believe in rights for anybody except the State."
And Democrat President Franklin Roosevelt said,
"We cannot read the history of our rise and development as a nation, without reckoning with the place the Bible has occupied in shaping the advances of the Republic."
He added,
"Where we have been the truest and most consistent in obeying its precepts, we have attained the greatest measure of contentment and prosperity."
The takeaway
Pray that President Biden will look beyond his own accomplishments noted in his family Bible and actually read what it says about the very issues he is now tasked with solving.
Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Faithful. Be Prayerful.