January 31--History points to God

This week, we continued our study of The Truth Project. We began a new discussion this week as we examined the ways that history really is "His Story". Dr. Tackett illustrated how what we know influences our present beliefs. He flashed the numeral one on the screen and asked the class to identify what they saw. Obviously, it was the numeral one. However, he pointed out that our recognition of this symbol for the quantity "one" was based on something we learned at a much younger age. He also pointed out how historic events could change what we believe. Dr. Tackett pointed out that the numbers 911 were usually viewed as "nine hundred and eleven" when most of us were young children. However, in recent years, the numbers "911" have come to represent an emergency call number. Since September 11, 2001, these numbers have even taken on another meaning in our society. This illustration shows clearly how history can and does impact our current beliefs.

Such an illustration helps us to understand why history is important and why there continues to be an effort to revise history. We see it happening even today. References to God are purposefully redacted from historical documents, efforts are made to take the reference to God out of the pledge of allegiance, and out of textbooks even though our forefathers were Godly men who tried to build a nation where men and women could worship God without persecution and fear.

The next two paragraphs are quoted from The Truth Project website. The website describes this study of history better than I ever could:

Dr. Tackett's key scripture passage for this discussion is Isaiah 46:9-11: "Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done … Indeed, I have spoken it; I will also bring it to pass … " Two major thoughts arise from these verses. First, God is sovereign, or absolutely in control. History is in the most literal sense His story. Nothing happens at random or by chance. The hairs of our heads are numbered, and the details of our lives are threads in the great tapestry of His overarching providential plan. Second, we as human beings cannot understand our place in the world without cultivating a vision of ourselves as part of this larger story. This is why the Bible contains so many exhortations to "remember" what God has done in the past, whether through the device of "memorial stones," annual festivals, tassels, phylacteries, or the discipline of hiding His Word in our hearts. If we do not remember, we run the risk of becoming myopic, proud, self-sufficient, and eventually incurring our own destruction (see Deuteronomy 8) – not necessarily physical destruction, but rather a complete loss of identity, purpose, and meaning, or what Amos refers to as a "famine of hearing the Word of the Lord" (Amos 8:11).

Here too we come face to face with the implications of man's fallen nature and encounter yet another manifestation of the Cosmic Battle. Man resists the idea of a sovereign God. He wants to control his own destiny, live inside his own "little story," and free himself from all connections with or references to an all-inclusive divine plan. Thus he devises ways to propagate the "pernicious lie" of self-determination ("I am my own god," or "I believe in myself") by taking the larger story of history into his own hands and turning it into a powerful tool for the manipulation of other people and the accomplishment of his own selfish purposes. Historical revisionism, or the agenda-driven re-writing of history, operates on the basis of the premise, "If I can change your historical context, I can determine the way you view the present." This strategy is consistent with George Orwell's observation that "He who controls the past controls the future" and Karl Marx's dictum, "A people without a heritage are easily persuaded."

I hope you will join us next Sunday as we look at the second half of The Truth Project Lesson Six. We will be continuing our discussion of how history influences our belief and how history points toward the all powerful, all knowing God of the universe. I shall look forward to seeing you Sunday.