Why the Constitution is not a living document

It is amazing to me how many shudder at the thought of a preacher making comments regarding subjects that may involve politics as though being a preacher excludes him from the First Amendment, yet they invoke that very amendment each time they use God’s name in their profanity. It is as though somehow the preacher is ignorant because of his Christianity and their eloquence is due to its rejection. Yet in my day, it was a requirement for high school graduation that every senior have one semester of government, and this was a public school. And before I took this class, at the private school I attended in eighth grade, I was required to take a class called “Constitution,” but I tell you, never once was I offered an exemption due to my Christianity or calling: They were required for all.

Now, while I do not intend on being political, per se, I will say that the idea being floated today of our Constitution being a living document not only is erroneous, but is also flawed biblically. You need to understand that even though article five of the Constitution provides an amendment process for making changes from time to time, this is not what is meant by those proposing the “living document” theory. While change can be had, it is a cumbersome process designed to ensure that such change is not done capriciously. What they really want is to reinterpret what is already there to suit their ends. In effect, what they are advocating is that we “bend” the law.

The truth of the matter is, however, that laws cannot be bent, but can only be broken. Nowhere is this better seen than in Exodus 32. Moses had been up on Mount Sinai for 40 days where he received from God, among other things, two tables of stone, written by the very fingers of God. The words on these tables are identified for us in Exodus 34 as the “Ten Commandments.” At some point during Moses’ time on the mountain, the children of Israel made a molten calf, an idol, and by the end of the 40 days had begun worshiping it. When Moses returned to the camp and saw the calf, the Bible says, “Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.” That which is written in stone can only be broken.

The truth is that all laws are written in stone because the nature of what is right and what is wrong does not change. While society may be fickle, right and wrong is not determined by mankind, but by God himself. And what’s more, if you break one law, you break them all.

Remember the tables Moses broke when he saw the calf? Tell me, which commandment did they break? Only number two specifically: Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them….

But when those tables broke, how many were literally broken? All of them.

Thus, going around the amendment process of article five to bring about change through reinterpretation not only violates the fifth article, but the other six as well.

Secondly, the signers of our Declaration of Independence assert indirectly that the very foundation of our government is our Constitution. Though the Constitution was written after the Declaration’s signing, it was absolutely what the signers were referring to in paragraph two, even using the word “foundation” itself. And as any contractor or builder knows, the foundation is key for every structure. What’s more, the bigger the structure, the greater the importance.

In Matthew chapter seven, Jesus talked about foundations. While it is true that he spoke about individual foundations, the principle he laid down holds true for national foundations: It had better be a rock. To advocate a “living document” Constitution is to advocate a foundation of sand which is not only open to capricious change, but undermining and subsequent destruction of the entire nation.

What’s more, Jesus said that only fools build on sand. Our forefathers were no fools.

In Psalm 11 the question is asked: If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? The truth is that it is right to require our government to limit itself to the Constitution because our forefathers well understood that laws are set in stone.

Ron Hamman is pastor of Independent Baptist Church of Wasilla; contact him at 357-4229 or rghamman@mtaonline.net.