I Swear on the Bible

bible oathFourteen U.S. Presidents used cherished family Bibles. Presidents Harding, Eisenhower, Carter, and George H. Bush used George Washington’s Bible. And President Obama used Abraham Lincoln’s Bible and Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Bible.

Of course, I’m talking about the “swearing in” process of becoming President of the United States of America.  Every President except for John Quincy Adams and Theodore Roosevelt placed their hands on a Bible as they took their oath of office.

The recent inauguration has stirred me to consider the following point.  Irrespective of political party, what this country has needed in the past as well as in the present is not a President who puts his hand on a Bible to take an oath, but one who is willing to open that Bible and humble himself to obey its teachings.

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