My recent through the Bible reading covers the lives of David and Solomon. Both of these men were spoken of reverently and honored by God and Israel (most of the time). In retrospect, I don’t think either one is a perfect role model. David’s most glaring failure was the incident with Bathsheba which ultimately produced Solomon. Solomon became all the terrible things God warned Israel about when they clamored for a king. Jews today still look back at those two kings as representing the glory years of Israel. And yet….
Last November I wrote a piece called “Losing
the Boundary Stones.” In it I warned that forgetting history or rewriting
it as many wish to do today would cause the loss of important elements of who
we are. Knowing where we have come from personally and politically should help
us understand who we are and protect us from making the same mistakes we find
in our past. Instead of using past mistakes as lessons, many people today want
to erase them from our collective memory. The wisdom of the frequently quoted
line applies: those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.
In a
recent post I cited an article published in Imprimis, a Hillsdale
College publication. The article said that sinister forces are attempting to
radically reshape Western culture. A reader emailed me after reading the piece
to say that he was praying for protection from the likes of me. He included
Hillsdale and the “white evangelical American church” and its “demonic minions”
as like-minded institutions. This caused me to speculate about what could be so
dastardly about wanting to return to the principles that motivated our founding
fathers. I know the woke culture today wants to erase most of our past, but I
cannot fathom how a supposedly Christian person could see a revival of our
founding principles as demonic.
That led me to question my own opinion of America’s founding
ideals. Beginning with the first European colonists, our history is replete
with honorable efforts and horrific failures. I am reminded of David and
Solomon. Both they and we have checkered records. The Jews rightly honor David
and Solomon as we do Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin et al. I don’t want to
follow Jefferson in his disbelief of Bible miracles. I certainly don’t condone
Franklin’s peccadilloes. However, they each have their moments of greatness. It
is especially noteworthy that Washington’s farewell address revealed his solid
Christian worldview.
I understand that being Christian doesn’t necessarily mean
all their positions can be supported biblically. The early colonists mistreated
the Native Americans. Washington held slaves. Rather than expunge the record of
these misdeeds, we should look more deeply into their reasoning to seek
understanding. The triumphalism of the Protestant colonists caused them to gloss
over the clear Bible teaching that all humans are created in God’s image and
due appropriate honor. The founders’ desire to keep the southern colonies in
the new union led them to accept slavery, although many saw it as a temporary
situation needing correction later. An accurate record of history does not necessarily
condone everything it records.
There is another popular saying about throwing the baby out
with the bathwater. David is “a man after God’s own heart” not because he is an
adulterous murderer; his willingness to confess his sins and repent earned him
that title. Thomas Jefferson is not remembered honorably for his dalliance with
one of his slaves, but for his wise application of Lockian principles of
government. If we can learn anything from the utter humanness of people in our
past, it should be that perfection is unattainable. Even more, we should
recognize that God does not expect perfection in His people. “He
knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.” That does not give license
to wallow in the dust, however. It should assuage our guilt over our own
misdeeds as well as those of our forebears.
Israel never became the light to the nations it was created
to be. America has never been a flawless Christian nation. The shortcomings of
both nations should be not just remembered but highlighted. Paul told
the Corinthians that they should take note of the failure of Israel to
remain faithful so that they would not fall into the same unbelief. The
principle applies equally to American history. Instead of tearing down statues
of people who committed offenses to our modern sensibility, we should teach our
children what the offenders did and explain why it was wrong.
Christianity is a historical faith. That means it is based
on what God has done using real people, flawed people to accomplish His will on
earth. The story of Israel without reference to David or Solomon would be significantly
diminished. We can’t take the Jeffersonian
approach and snip out passages of Scripture that we don’t like. “Question
with boldness even the existence of God,” [Jefferson] urged his nephew in 1787,
“because if there be one, he must more approve the homage of reason than that
of blindfolded fear.” I am a proponent of reason as anyone who reads me
regularly knows. However, I do not believe that leaving the Bible whole, warts
and all, is an offense to reason. Rather, it is a testament to faith. Because I
don’t “question the existence of God,” I accept His Word as the inspired
revelation it is. We should do the same with American history minus the inspiration.
Read and learn.
Related posts: What’s Wrong With Politics; Pandemic of Disrespect; Christians Are Responsible to be Politically Engaged
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