Listen, my sons,
to a father’s instruction; pay attention and gain understanding. I give you
sound learning, so do not forsake my teaching. When I was a boy in my father’s
house, still tender, and an only child of my mother, he taught me and said, “Lay
hold of my words with all your heart; keep my commands and you will live. Get wisdom,
get understanding; do not forget my words or swerve from them. Do not forsake
wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you. Wisdom
is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get
understanding. Esteem her, and she will exalt you; embrace her, and she will
honor you. She will set a garland of grace on your head and present you with a
crown of splendor.” (Proverbs 4:1-9)
When
I was in high school, I hated history. Who wanted to memorize names and dates? Yes,
I drew a timeline covering from the earliest history to the modern day, but I
don’t think I really learned anything from it. It’s not like I read books and
figured it out for myself. It was plagiarized from either the Encyclopedia
Britannica or the Encyclopedia Britannica Junior edition. But I hated history.
It was after college when I started working on my family history, and after I read How the Irish Saved Civilization that I learned to find history interesting because I learned to connect a few of the dots. In some cases, I learned to see God’s hand in it. One of the first lessons history teaches is a famous one: history repeats itself. We don’t learn the first time, the tenth time, or the one thousand tenth time.
When religion moves toward the world in its behavior, we end up with Saul, the Crusades, the Inquisition, the witch trials, the Conquistadors, and Prohibition. When the world moves toward the Church in its behavior, I believe you end up with things like David, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, the Magna Charta, and the Constitution. When the world moves away from the Church, we end up with Marxism in its various manifestations (Fascism, Socialism and Communism.) When the world moves away from the Church, we end up with oppression, hatred and violence. History shows this repeatedly.
Looking at history, we can see what doesn’t work, and what does. Sociological studies are showing that a society that embraces religion is a healthy, strong society. A society that either rejects or imposes religion becomes a monster. That’s why history can’t be taught any more, because our society is rejecting the Church and the worst possible thing that could happen is for people to realize they are walking into a trap.
It was after college when I started working on my family history, and after I read How the Irish Saved Civilization that I learned to find history interesting because I learned to connect a few of the dots. In some cases, I learned to see God’s hand in it. One of the first lessons history teaches is a famous one: history repeats itself. We don’t learn the first time, the tenth time, or the one thousand tenth time.
When religion moves toward the world in its behavior, we end up with Saul, the Crusades, the Inquisition, the witch trials, the Conquistadors, and Prohibition. When the world moves toward the Church in its behavior, I believe you end up with things like David, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, the Magna Charta, and the Constitution. When the world moves away from the Church, we end up with Marxism in its various manifestations (Fascism, Socialism and Communism.) When the world moves away from the Church, we end up with oppression, hatred and violence. History shows this repeatedly.
Looking at history, we can see what doesn’t work, and what does. Sociological studies are showing that a society that embraces religion is a healthy, strong society. A society that either rejects or imposes religion becomes a monster. That’s why history can’t be taught any more, because our society is rejecting the Church and the worst possible thing that could happen is for people to realize they are walking into a trap.
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