The Constitutional argument: It’s all about choice. The direct correlation between the Bible and the Constitution, and the societal drift from both. Dismiss at your own risk.

The correlation between the Bible & the Constitution…and why, as a nation, when we continue to move away from the former, we move away from the latter as well. It hinges on foundational texture…rock or sand.
One of my all-time favorite television shows is NCIS. I love Special Agent and United States Marine (no longer on active duty) Leroy Jethro Gibbs…especially his rules. They have been a mainstay throughout the show’s 13 year run. I remember the episode where he was reflecting back on the first time he met his late wife, Shannon, and as she shared one of her rules, he asked her, “Do you have a rule for everything?” Her reply, “Working on it. Everyone needs a code to live by.” How incredibly poignant…and so true.

The famed knights of the 13th & 14th centuries as well as the mythical King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table had a Code of Chivalry. It was rock solid, unbreakable, unbending, and consistent…not to mention honorable, ethical, and when followed, bettered society and everyone they came in contact with..whether friend or foe.

Without a code or foundational set of guidelines to live by, we, and our priorities and foundational principles, are tossed about like a “feather in the wind” as public opinion, societal trends, and the “flavor or issue of the month” change.

Whether people want to admit it or not, the foundational principles of this country were formed from Biblical principles  (simply look at the Declaration of Independence…”We are endowed by our Creator…” – with a capital “C”). The solid foundational principles of the Bible, the code & foundational principles the Founding Fathers and so many colonial leaders lived by, were then applied in the creation of the Declaration of Independence and ultimately in the US Constitution. By the way, let me remind you that no other country, in recorded history, has been governed by a single document longer than the young United States of America. Obviously, they got it right.

Yes, there have been 27 Amendments to the Constitution. They are amendments that reflect the documental changes necessary to govern the country represented by and depicted in two of the greatest documents ever composed. However, they don’t diminish the authority of the Constitution…nor do amendments or the amendment process make it a “living, breathing document”.

The Bible provides absolutism…clear right and wrong. The Bible gives a clear set of guidelines to live one’s life by. And just as the Bible provides guidelines on how we, as people, are to live, the Constitution provides guidelines on how to govern.

So what is the correlation? We, as people, don’t like absolutes. We don’t like to be told what to do. We like the rules of the game to change as we change…or as we want the rules of the game to change.

The Bible, like the Constitution, provides absolutes and authority. The further we get away from its principles, its guidelines, its authority, the further away we get from allowing a single authoritative component, in this case: a document, to govern us.

Of course, it’s not the document but the interpretation of it…and the value choices/ideological filter and that are used to influence that interpretation. Those values and “ideological filter” are the product of what we hold, and allow to be, our authoritative source. That, however, is and will the subject for another conversation. Until then…keep it real.