[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 194 (Thursday, December 5, 2019)]
[House]
[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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