Ryan Walters wants taxpayers to buy Bibles for Oklahoma classrooms

This is a very conservative state, but many here aren't happy with his shenanigans concerning the Bible. I'm not sure how people here aren't seeing the problem? Why is using the Bible for your own political gain okay? What's the matter with Christians who think it's okay?

As ResidentAlien has posted since I logged back in, the state since has amended the request...

"At first, the request asked for Bibles with unusual specifications but that fits the Bible that Trump told his supporters to buy at a site where they’re available for $59.99."

"Oklahoma has amended its request for 55,000 school Bibles in classrooms so other versions can meet the requirement for state approval - and not just the one backed by former President Donald Trump.

The request was changed on Monday removing the requirement that certain US historical documents be included, such as the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, Politico noted."

https://www.the-independent.com/new...bible-oklahoma-classrooms-amend-b2626753.html

I agree 100%. I'm from Oklahoma too but I didn't even know about it till there was a story in the national news. He keeps saying he only wants the Bible taught as history. He wants 55,000 Bibles, but does Oklahoma even have 55,000 history teachers. Some reports I've seen say he also wants them in literature classes. I can't really see what literature has to do with the history of the US's founding.

I know Walters has a history of sketchy behavior. There seems to be enough evidence to open an investigation at least. If he's innocent I hope he's cleared, but we need to know.

Agreed, but yet again CC I can't react!! Please get this fixed!

I was just about to mention the Gideons, did concerts for them more than once.

A funny story. We went to Destin FL hubby and I with my parents. Where I come from in Canada, we don't have Motel 6. So it was my job to book a place that didn't cost too much and I booked a Motel 6. Oh brother, when we drove in, it was bad. People had hibachi's in front of their rooms. You could tell by the people hanging around it was the type of place that was used for one night.

We got in to our room and it had no hangers, no furniture to put clothes in, and the beds were prison hard. Hubby was trying to keep it all in and stay calm. Then I heard him yell, " They don't even have a Bible in this place!!! What motel doesn't have a Bible?!!" We still laugh about it. It was the one thing that made him snap, no Bible in the side table. rofl We got our money back and moved to a better motel... with a Bible.

Standing O, you said it!! Totally agree!

Agreed, got no emoji to show it. lol

It's still misleading to claim this is a Trump Bible.


https://www.oklahoman.com/story/new...lters-criteria-for-ok-classrooms/75510021007/

Also, it is singer Lee Greenwood that is behind this Bible publication. Trump only endorsed it.

And as the article reports it wasn't the only Bible for consideration.


Left wing media makes it out like Trump wanted his Bible in OK classrooms.
That's never been the case.

I didn't say it was a "Trump Bible." I said Trump endorsed Bible, which in the beginning was one of the very few that met the requirements, another that met requirements was endorsed by Trump Jr . And I've read several news articles on this and I haven't seen one that has made out like Trump wanted "his Bible" in our classrooms. This is about Walters.
Besides, we've moved on from that, because Oklahoma amended the request, thankfully.

Not sure I understand. Is it a bad thing that Trump or Don Jr. endorse bibles? Or is it a bad thing that the Bible they want to put into the schools in OK are ones that Trump also likes? You do realize this is a Christian forum? I would think that most on this forum (not necessarily you) do not think Bibles are a bad thing, nor do they think that political leaders who like the Bible is a bad thing, and they definitely do not think that Bibles in schools are a bad thing.

Now I get that the left think it is a bad thing, the teacher's union thinks it is a bad thing and the Federal department of Education thinks it is a bad thing.

I also get that people on the right criticize Tim Walz because he endorsed Tampons in the boys bathroom.

So the choice is clear, pick the guy who endorsed tampons in the boys bathroom or the guy who endorsed a Bible in the schools.

BTW I met Ryan Walters last night and heard him share his position on this, I thought he was right on point.

Yes, I realize this is a Christian forum. What a hoot lol. I'm a Christian and I live in Oklahoma, and I do not agree with the use of the Bible for political gain. And personally, I don't want anything to do with a Trump endorsed Bible that he makes money off of. There are plenty of non-Trump endorsed Bibles we could use...and as I have said already more than once Oklahoma amended that request so we don't have to use the Trump endorsed Bible.

You can think what you want, doesn't mean I have to agree.

I like what Rob Miller, the Bixby Superintendent, said, "As a Christian myself, the idea of diminishing the word of God to a mere classroom prop is repulsive to me."

In my original post I said "Donald Trump God Bless the USA Bible." Perhaps I misspoke since technically it was a creation of Lee Greenwood; but Trump is the one who popularized it and everyone knows it as the Trump Bible. If you say the Lee Greenwood God Bless the USA Bible only a handful of people will know what you're talking about. If you say the Bible Trump is pitching, the one with the founding documents in it, everyone says, ahh, okay.

I heard Ryan Walters last night and the Bible is not a "classroom prop" and it is shameful for a Christian living in Oklahoma to assume that it is without first hearing from him. He explained numerous examples from history, from the founding fathers, Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. where the Bible played a pivotal role in key historical events that anyone studying American history should know.

He also explained that they had over 140 schools systems in Oklahoma scoring in the bottom 5% of the nation when he took over. That is relevant that it was time for a change and whatever they were doing was not working.

He also mentioned numerous teachers in OK that had been threatened with being fired because they referenced the Bible in discussing US history.

His point is that it is a valid historical document and not telling students that is misleading and threatening teachers with being fired for telling them that is absurd.

• 
  "So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." Genesis 1:27

Imagine how confusing it is for students taught that man was not created to read in the constitution that we were all created equal. Yet the constitution and the Declaration of independence take the creation of man as a truth held by all.

• “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in His own image." Genesis 9:6

Schools typically debate the death penalty. Certainly this is relevant to that debate.

• “You shall not steal." Exodus 20:15

Recently stealing was characterized as "reparations" and so this is certainly relevant to that debate.

• “Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death." Exodus 21:16

Human trafficking and slavery is a major issue right now. Clearly the Bible is a relevant text on this if you want to get a historical perspective.

• "You shall have the same rule for the sojourner and for the native, for I am the Lord your God." Leviticus 24:22

Immigration and undocumented aliens is also a major issue in this country today. I could list many more verses on this and the previous topics as well as tearing down monuments and some of the other things that have taken place recently.

• "And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan." Leviticus 25:10

This is inscribed on the Liberty bell, how can this not be relevant?

• "For God shows no partiality." Romans 2:11

This is a major characteristic of the US as a melting pot that does not exist in any other country. In fact it is written into the Koran that non Muslims are second class citizens. That is the standard attitude of most if not all other countries. So certainly it is important to know where this came from.

Lincoln Quoted the following verses in his second Inaugural address:

Genesis 3:19 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.”

and also this verse

Matthew 18:7 Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come!

and also Luke 17:1

Clearly, if you are going to talk about Lincoln you may need to reference the Bible.

George Washington quoted Genesis

Andrew Johnson quoted Proverbs

Grant quoted Isaiah

Rutherford B. Hayes quoted Psalms

as did Chester Arthur, Grover Cleveland, and Benjamin Harrison.

McKinley quoted 2 Chronicles and Proverbs

Teddy Roosevelt quoted James

Taft quoted 1 Kings

Woodrow Wilson quoted Psalms

and Warren Harding quoted Micah

Calvin Coolidge quoted 1 John

Herbert Hoover quoted Proverbs

FDR quoted 1 Corinthians

Harry Truman quoted Matthew and Exodus

Eisenhower quoted Psalms

George Washington said "it is impossible to rightly govern the world without the Bible"

1. John Adams: “The Bible contains the most profound philosophy, the most perfect morality, and the most refined policy that ever was conceived upon earth.”
2. John Quincy Adams: “[The Bible] is of all books in the world that which contributes most to make men good, wise, and happy.”
3. Elias Boudinot: “Were you to ask me to recommend the most valuable book in the world, I should fix on the Bible as the most instructive, both to the wise and ignorant.”
4. John Jay: “Let us therefore persevere steadfastly in distributing the Scriptures far and near, and without note or comment. We are assured that they ‘are profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16).’”
5. Thomas Jefferson: “The doctrines of Jesus are simple, and tend all to the happiness of man. … Had the doctrines of Jesus been preached always as pure as they came from his lips, the whole civilized world would now have been Christian.”
6. Benjamin Rush: “The Bible contains more truths than any other book in the world.”

Ezra Stiles called George Washington the American Joshua. That requires that one know who Joshua was in the Bible to understand.

U.S. Grant said he relied on the Bible as his guide.

How do you teach kids this but then tell them the Bible is not allowed to be in schools? Or that teachers who quote the Bible will be fired?

Bibles were amongst the original textbooks in early American schools. And one of the reasons public education was begun was so young people could read the Bible.
Also, there is no separation of church and state in the US Constitution. The state is forbidden from involving itself in religion or imposing religious beliefs on citizens, but citizens are free to exercise their religion anywhere, anytime so long as they aren't imposing on the rights of others. It's not freedom of religion, but the free exercise of religion. There is a difference.

Do you believe it to be an impossibility that this was proposed because it is genuinely believed to be a good idea? In the same way any other candidate might propose and pass government funded evolutionary works and successfully banning the theoretical works of creationists.

My main problem was that it was incredibly restricted to only a very few Bibles (mainly that just about the only eligible Bible was the Trump endorsed Bible, which he makes money off of and I don't agree with using the Bible for political gain), but we've moved on from that as I have said for the 3rd time now...Oklahoma amended that request. Now, the Bibles don't have to be so restricted to only those very few that were previously requested.

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This issue can keep going around and around. One side is going to stick with their side and the other theirs. I've said what I said already about what I think about this issue.