“Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” Psalm 51:7 KJV
When you write something, like a letter, a note, or even a report for school or work, there in front of you sits a blank page. It could be a sheet of paper or a computer program that generates a blank looking sheet, but still, in reality, it’s a blank sheet.
To make that blank page be any different than any other blank page out there, you need to put some letters on it. They also have to be more than just letters. These letters must form words. Next, those words must form sentences. Those sentences then begin to form paragraphs and if you are lucky enough, those paragraphs will turn into pages.
Each writing creation needs to make sense in order to inspire someone to read it. If you are writing something like I am, a blog, your writing also has to pass the test of your editor. Misspelled words, too many commas, not enough commas, sentences that don’t make much sense, and a host of other issues very rarely sneak past these trained eyes that are a lot better at English than I am.
Writers are greeted with a host of villains, too. “Writer’s block” is one of them. This term is usually a synonym for a distraction that keeps a writer from coming up with new ideas to write about. A good writer is pretty good at coming up with excuses as to why this writer’s block is not his or her fault.
In the Bible there was this perfect place. How do I know it was perfect? Because the Bible says that God said, “It was good.” It was so good, in fact, that on the seventh day, after six days of creating it, God rested. Yes, God took a blank page and made it perfect. On the seventh day He took a deep breath and got a smile on His face.
Guess what happened next. Part of that great creation, which He created, messed up this creation. Because of their selfishness, and desire to be just like God, they didn’t believe Him when He told them exactly what they needed to do, and not do, to keep this perfection going.
Just like a good writer can come up with great excuses for writer’s block, these two beings, Adam and Eve, that He created, came up with some pretty good excuses, at least in their own minds. Adam blamed Eve. Eve blamed the serpent. Truth is that if they would have been happy with what they had, and/or they would have listened to God, they would have never been kicked out of the perfection He created.
Punishment was the only choice God had for Adam’s and Eve’s disobedience. Their eyes had been opened to place their thoughts, desires, and trust, not in God, but in their own wisdom and selfishness. God couldn’t close their eyes to this, so He knew they were not prepared for the perfection He created.
So, God took Adam and Eve out of this perfect world He created and sent them into a world where they could work and work to try to gain the perfection they thought they were capable of getting on their own. The more they worked that 9 to 5 routine, the more frustrated they got that it wasn’t coming close to the perfection they thought just trying harder, or being smarter, would produce.
Nothing they did ever came close to what their wisdom and selfishness tried to convince them was the answer to perfection. “We’re good people. Why is bad stuff happening to us?” were their cries. They were still failing to realize that perfection was never about them or their efforts.
God saw their frustration and over and over again He tried to give them methods to approach Him so He could bless them and grant them the perfection they sought. The problem was, and is, that they, and we, wanted to look at their reflections for answers. That’s not perfection; that’s selfishness.
Often, we hear arguments as to “what the Constitution says” about certain legal matters in our country. In many cases there are no straightforward answers. Since none of the Founding Fathers are still alive, some try to do their thinking for them by letting us know what they really meant. Truth is, in many cases, they were just as divided as we are today in our opinions.
In 1803, John Isaac Hawkins received a US patent for his device he called a polygraph. With this device, one was able to write something with one hand while another “arm” duplicated what that person was writing. Since copy machines had not been invented yet, my guess is that its purpose was to duplicate something you needed an additional copy of. I’m not sure Mr. Hawkins knew then what controversy his new invention might stir up over 200 years later.
Celebrities and politicians’ signatures are in high demand. I’m sure someone, like the president, could probably spend many hours signing documents he needs to sign for them to go into effect. Then, of course, there are many requests for autographs for persons others think of as high importance.
So, Mr. Hawkins’ invention has been given a little caffeine and that polygraph has now turned into what is called the autopen. Now everyone can have an autograph and no important document can go “unsigned.” This machine does the signing for you.
One of the biggest problems, with collectors of autographs, is that some of these machines are so precise it makes it nearly impossible to tell the difference between a “real” signature and one produced by a machine.
Lately, President Trump has issued challenges to the pardons former President Biden issued in the final hours of his presidency. Apparently, many were issued with an autopen and not Biden’s real signature.
The basic legality, or illegitimate, argument for the autopen, as far as the Constitution is concerned is in Article 1, Section 7 of that document:
Article 1, Section 7
All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.
Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States; If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively. If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law, in like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law.
Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which the Concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of Adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the United States; and before the Same shall take Effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the Rules and Limitations prescribed in the Case of a Bill.
Still, if you look long enough at blank page you will do one of three things. You may start writing. This is the best of the three options, but sometimes is easier said than done. Second, you could just walk away and come back to it at some later time. Finally, you could wad up the paper or throw your digital file into deleted files. This might make you feel a little better about the situation. After all, you showed that paper a thing or two. But that initial feeling of victory over the sheet is often fleeting.
One of the greatest feelings about writing is finishing what you started. It’s not just a “take that you blank sheet of paper,” but actually that you stuck with it and you have successfully been able to express yourself in a manner you hope can communicate your idea. In that moment, you worry not about your next piece, rather, you take a deep breath and let your face smile a little bit.
Well, God loved us so much that He had one final method to help us get back into a right relationship with Him. God wants everyone to experience this perfection, but He won’t make anyone follow that path to perfection. Each person has to make that choice for themselves.
To prove His love and to give us a pathway to that perfection, God offered the ultimate sacrifice: His Son, Jesus. Jesus came down to earth to show us God’s pathway to perfection. He also understood we would slip up because of our selfishness. With Jesus, He had an answer for that, too.
Our selfishness, or disobedience to God, is called sin. Someone has to pay for that. Just like Adam and Eve were punished, each of us has to pay the price for that sin. You know what the ultimate punishment is? It is death and never having the opportunity to live in the perfection God created. In Old Testament days, animals would be sacrificed to take the place of people’s sin and disobedience. In other words, something or someone had to die for our separating ourselves from God.
Jesus, God’s Son, not only showed us how to do it right, but even though He did it perfectly, was unfairly put on a cross to die. Through that death, the animal sacrifices were no longer needed. Jesus would be the sacrifice to help forgive us of our sins.
But there is still something we need to do. We need to come to Jesus and ask Him to forgive our sins. If we are really sincere, we will also ask Him to help us to do better with our sinful lives and to help us live more like the example He lived.
Guess what? When we ask Jesus to forgive us, He does. Not only that, but it’s like our lives are also a new blank page with all those sins erased from it. A clean sheet, no errors to correct, and a page ready for a new creation.
So, why is the Constitution so vague? I look at the above Article and I can see arguments for both sides. I’m not sure how many presidential documents use the autopen. I’m sure there are probably some from President Trump’s first term, and many more from the modern presidents who have used this process.
If it is ruled that it is not a valid signature, does that mean all those other presidential documents with auto signatures are no longer valid either? Then there would be the question of which ones were signed, and which ones were auto signed. Since you can hardly tell the difference anymore, that could make distinguishing the real from the auto very difficult.
Back to the original question, why is the Constitution so vague? There are a host of opinions on that answer, and like I said before, the Founding Fathers aren’t around to defend themselves anymore. That leaves us just talking about what we think they meant.
First, it might have been vague because if they go too specific, they would never have gotten the original Constitution passed. State rights citizens and those demanding a strong federal government were having a real hard time agreeing on just about anything. Many came to realize a vague constitution was better than no constitution.
Second, many of the Founding Fathers had a more philosophical approach to this very new form of government. Many of those wanted to have a little breathing room for this new document to grow. They realized if they crowded it with too many legal looking structures, they might be right back to a monarchy they were trying to avoid.
Third, not many, if any of the Founding Fathers had a tool where they could look into the future. Things like the autopen hadn’t been invented yet, nor did they probably think realistically about it in their wildest dreams.
Then, they just couldn’t include rules about everything. If that were the case, they would be writing until they stepped into the grave. Then someone would have to take their pen until they were ready to step into their grave. We would have become a nation of rule writers and not freedoms.
But the Founding Fathers were wise enough to know that the document they came up with was just a start. They built in measures that allow us to change the document as the future beckons. Their wisdom also made sure these changes were difficult to do so that they would not be subject of generational whims or political power grabbers.
In other words, changes to the Constitution offer a nation a clean slate on an issue. But those changes aren’t only based on what we want, they are based on what is best for the nation in the long haul. That allows for wisdom and not partisan divide to shine through.
A blank page can be great. An author can use it to express him/herself. Our nation can use it to correct situations not currently covered or ambiguously covered in our Constitution. And through Jesus, we can use it to get back on His right track.
There you have it: a blank page sitting right there in front of you. Are you going to use it to write, and live, the same old story? Then when you figure out the same way didn’t work you can just wad it up, throw it away, and start all over again. Or you could use it to write a wonderful story that will make both God and you proud. It could be a story very much like Jesus’ own.
Prayer: Dear Mighty Father, many words ago I started with a blank sheet. I look back now and see many words and pages full of my words. Thank you for the many opportunities you have given me to start over with a blank page. Amen.
