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In a sharply divided ruling, Colorado’s highest court on Monday upheld a lower court’s decision throwing out the sentence of a man who was given the death penalty after jurors consulted the Bible in reaching a verdict. The Bible, the court said, constituted an improper outside influence and a reliance on what the court called a “higher authority.”

“The judicial system works very hard to emphasize the rarified, solemn and sequestered nature of jury deliberations,” the majority said in a 3-to-2 decision by a panel of the Colorado Supreme Court. “Jurors must deliberate in that atmosphere without the aid or distraction of extraneous texts.” (more…)

Weather we like it or not, what has kept this country together is not just “we the people”, but the founder’s adherence to the importance of the Bible in the role of law in this country. Before you respond with the usual “the founders of this country were slaveholders” response, let me remind you of something: The only thing that changes is man’s actions–God’s word doesn’t.

As a Christian armed with the Bible, I can easily go back and point out all the faults of the founding fathers of this country. I can easily see how they raped, beat, and tortured OUR fathers in the name of God. But again, their actions has no bearing on the Bible itself.

Without getting too deep into this for now, here is an example of how white slave masters took the Bible way out of context:

Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ;. (Ephesians 6:5)

However, they buried this scripture away from their reasoning:

Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven.

(Colossians 4:1)

***Please note: There are a lot of historical and scriptural facts that I am purposely not mentioning here because it would take way too much time and would also divert our attention away from the original context of this posting: The recent ruling in Denver. If you like, I can pitch this one over to the virtual roundtable for further discussion)

As far as God is concerned, things like lying, adultery, fornication, stealing, homosexuality, etc. are still considered sin (let me add here that God hates the “act” of homosexuality, not the people who commit it. That means that because SIN is SIN, the act of adultery is just as wrong).

But Duane, I have seen all these things take place in many of the churches I have been a part of.

Bottom line: SIN is SIN. It doesn’t matter who is doing it.

What this ruling reflects is our nation’s constant move towards ridding itself of all and any absolutes. What we define as right and wrong is constantly redefined everyday.

The whole act of disciplining children (black folks just say “gettin’ a beatin’ “) comes from the bible:

Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. (Proverbs 23:13)

We have allowed Liberalism to associate “disciplining” our children with child abuse (which does happen in some cases but not all). Most of us know that we got what we deserved, we didn’t die, and we were the better for it in the long run. Try to correct a child today (I am not just talking about spankings, but just simply telling a child that you do not tolerate his actions and you could be looking at a lawsuit—in OUR own communities.

If we think about all the firm guidelines that many of us grew up with in our homes, you will see that many of them are in fact rooted in the bible–and we were the better for it. Many of us used to get the “switch” anytime we were caught in a lie, disrespected our parents or any adult, disobedient, etc. Well who do you think ORIGINALLY defined these things as “wrongs” (for a hint, check out the Bible).

Kids back in the day knew that there would be a direct consequence if they were caught doing something that was in direct violation to the guidelines that their parents set for them. Today, many of them just get a pat on the back.

We as adults have also taken full advantage of this negative trend. The bible strictly commands husbands to be faithful to their wives (and vice-versa), yet we see that even in most churches divorce is the norm. This is one of the reasons why I have a huge problem with preachers lining up with their own “contracts for America”. How can we rightfully demand America to abide by some moral standards when we as Christians have done poorly with keeping the “contracts” in our own homes (of course this does not apply to all Christians, but I think you get the idea).

Bottom line here is we as a society desperately need absolutes. The more we keep moving the boundaries because someone gets offended, the more we loose our sanity as a nation.

This turned out to be a more of a little rant as I am unpacking on this end. Thanks for bearing with me.