History and Truth

Christians in several western nations, and particularly the United States are getting really agitated about attempts to reassess the history of their nation. Teaching history to high school students is becoming a really divisive issue.

I have been reading through 1 and 2 Kings. One thing that stands out is that God has a different standard for history to many of his people. The biblical account of the history of Israel tells the story of the chosen nation warts and all. Almost all of the kings failed to meet God’s standards. Some did terrible things. Most of the history of the nation that Yahweh had rescued from slavery and established in a new land was blemished by the people forgetting him and chasing after idols that could do nothing for them.

David is Israel’s greatest king, but he committed murder and adultery and regularly disobeyed God. Yet he is portrayed as a type of Jesus. Abraham is another example. He was the father of his nation, yet he regularly failed to trust God. He corrupted his inheritance by having a dalliance with a slave girl and then casting her aside. He frequently lied to important people. Yet God covenanted with him to be the father of his nation. God promised that he would bless the entire world through this man who was a serial liar.

I can only conclude that God prefers the truth when recording the history of a nation.

Christians do not need to be afraid of the truth when assessing the history of their nation. We don’t need to pretend that bad things did not happen. Any blessing that we received was due to the grace of God, not our goodness. So bad things in our history don’t matter.

If the people of a nation want God's blessing, they will need to be honest about their past. Pretending it was better than it was fool's no one, least of all God. The only valid response to an ugly past is repentance, ie a dramatic change of thinking about it.

The United States has been a force for good at times, but its political leaders and have passed some terrible laws and its military forces have done some ugly stuff at times. Pretending this is not true is arrogance. Hiding the truth from your children is teaching them to believe a lie. That is no basis for life.