History is Bunk

History is bunk. History that is bunk is the history told by men. However, speaking biblically, history is the wonderful story that God is telling. The world is a stage and we are the actors. That story is beautiful, true, and there is no bunk in it. Since God is the storyteller, it’s only natural that His book is the ultimate history book. The Bible is the word of God and it’s the only reliable and infallible source of history. The Bible tells us that men are fallible and so that puts everything that they write and say up for grabs. We should be skeptical of it all.

            The Lord is writing a story but He’s writing it in a logical universe that He is actively sustaining. A leads to B and we can discover them. That means that there is a proper technique to conducting the pursuit of history. Oddly enough, it essentially consists of getting as close to the event as possible and trying to mitigate the damage of human bias.

            Ideally, you should desire to find original source documents. Things like the Declaration of Independence are original sources. Other sources are things like letters, tax returns, proclamations, and journal articles. History is not found in accounts, but in account books. These are sterile documents that give us a glimpse in to the time. Sometimes these things cannot be found. Archaeologists have to deal with studying cultures who’s records are largely nonexistent and who’s languages are lost to the ages. But the key is always to get close either by going to the location or by speaking with those who know more than you.

            It’s easy to trust History. ‘He has a Doctorate in History, he must be right’ or perhaps, ‘forty million history books can’t possibly be wrong, can they?’ But ultimately the study of history is less exact than we’d like to admit. Any teenager will learn this quickly in high school. The web of gossip that grows in high school is pervasive and deceptive. Human beings are prone mistakes. Add a thousand years between you and the event and you are going to get a muddled mess! History is the daughter of Time. Times obscures and defines events.

            Humans also have a compulsive need to twist facts. Everyone has their own bias or worldview. That’s what they use to interpret the world around them. But, when something doesn’t fit into their system, it has to either be changed or jammed in. Any account of history will necessarily be shaped by the presuppositions of its author and of his sources.

            In Josephine Tey’s The Daughter of Time, the protagonist coins the term “tonypandy” for fictitious or twisted accounts of history. There are many such instances of tonypandy that are cemented in humanity’s history books. The book, The Daughter of Time, specifically addresses the claim that Richard II murdered his two nephews. One piece of tonypandy that irks me is the idolization of Christopher Columbus. In this case, it’s an amnesia of facts and the construction of a neat narrative that makes Americans feel good. Another one that Americans use to pat themselves on the back is the Boston Massacre, which was no massacre at all. Atheists love to pretend that John Calvin was an oppressive theocrat and they love to pretend that Nicholas Copernicus was this great man standing up to religion in the name of science. Neither of these men were who our atheist friends would like them to be.

            History has many variables and it has many lenses through which we can view these variables. But, since God’s writing the story, I say that we look at things through His lens. The Bible is God’s thoughts on history and it should be our lens. The Bible is also unique out of any other textbook. The Bible prophesies the future. It tells of the glorious and final end that the Lord is driving all things towards. Let’s remember that some tonypandy isn’t worth being the hill that we die upon. However, the hill of Christ, His work, and His resurrection is a hill most certainly worth dying upon.

Matthew Stanley

Calvin Study: Week 1

            In the first five chapters of Calvin’s Institutes, the doctrine commonly called “general revelation” or “natural theology” is explored. Throughout, Calvin continually argues for the goodness of God and pounds home man’s desperate attempts to ignore Him. In the end, we only see man destroying himself at every turn, whereas God is constantly merciful.

            Calvin asserts that all the knowledge we have is merely knowledge of God and knowledge of ourselves. Yet, these two things are inextricably related. Men have the incredible gift of being made in God’s image, and thus can see God’s attributes in themselves. Even if they are fallen, the attributes of knowledge, righteousness, and holiness are evident to them. The image of God in man is one chief way that men can know God. Therefore, man must acquire knowledge of himself in order to have an inkling of who God is. Here, the complication arises. Man must also have knowledge of God to understand himself. This is because without seeing God’s perfection, men cannot see their own shortcomings. Without being aware of God’s spotless moral character, men think of themselves as upright. Therefore, for man to approach understanding his heart, he must understand himself in light of who God is.

            Calvin places a large emphasis on seeing God’s greatness and responding in love. He says that in order for men to love God, they must see Him as worth seeking. Of course, Calvin expands this to say that He is worth seeking. Continually, Calvin calls us to see God’s majesty and bow down. He points to God’s providential ordering of the universe, His salvation of the righteous, and His judgment on the wicked. These are all things we can see that should produce in us a response of gratefulness and adoration. True knowledge of God is a cycle of recognizing who God is and then responding in obedience. Because the heart that knows who God is submits to His authority and renders the allegiance it knows it owes. Therefore, obedience, or as Calvin says, piety, is bound up with knowledge of God. This is clear from Scripture when Solomon says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.”

            Calvin then goes on to build a case against men. He is much like an Old Testament prophet in that he proceeds to pile up evidence against men that they have not rendered the fealty to God as they ought, despite all God’s goodness and evidence. Every man is implanted with an awareness of the divine. We can see this by the religious nature of man since the very beginning. Down the ages, men have groped in the dark for meaning, and usually this meaning was counterfeited in the form of some false god. Religion was not a clever invention of men; rather, its psychological power comes from man’s innate awareness and need of God. In all these attempts to flee from God, we see even further evidence of man’s knowledge of God. Only insane men flee from something that they do not actually believe exists.

            Men who say they are seeking God are not actually seeking God. They are simply seeking to fill the hole that God is meant to fill in their souls. They are empty and they know it. There are many who claim they genuinely want to know the truth, but they don’t. Their blindness is a mixture of ignorance and vanity, but the end result is that they will never accept God. They want their cake (spiritual wholeness) and to eat it too (not obey God’s laws). They do not seek God as He has revealed Himself. He has been clear about Himself and how He wants to be worshipped, but they ignore these precepts and devise their own rites.

            So, man is without excuse. God’s name is written in the heavens. God showers good gifts on men. Man himself is one of the loftiest proofs of Jehovah’s wisdom, and, yet, He will never accept God’s lordship over him. God’s greatness is displayed in His sovereign reign over His creation. Again, this ought to draw us to the Lord. But it only leads men to shut their eyes tighter. Calvin pronounces a final verdict: general revelation cannot lead a fallen man to God. It simply can’t.

            God is so clear to men, but we will not listen. We will not heed His voice. We have crowned ourselves lord of all and we will hear no opposition. Praise Jehovah that He sent His Son and His Spirit to work salvation on our behalf and give us new life. Now we see His handiwork in all its glory. Our praise is weak and imperfect, but that praise springs from hearts that have beheld the majesty of God and have fallen deeply in love. 

By: Matthew Stanley

Writing some poetry

Teach Me Each Motion

By Matthew Stanley

I am an underground creature

Born and bred for the dark

All my ancestors slithered

Through the soil and bark

They ate of the dust

And were gorged on blood

I was content in my squalor

I loved drowning in mud

Until spotless hands drew me

Pulled me out of the mire

Set my feet on a Rock

Set my soul on fire

My blind eyes are adjusting

Light has begun to penetrate

There is now pulsing life

Where there was once a slate.

I’m learning to stand

On a wholly other ground

All the while crying out

Why am I the one You found?

There is no health in me

My breath is like a disease

Why did You choose my hands?

What made You choose these?

Still I stumble and fall

While You hold me in your hand

When I come low in sin

Even while I eat the dry sand

Your fountain never stops

And Your spring will never run dry

I know it is there that I find grace

Where else can I fly?

Your mercy is free and boundless

Covering me like an ocean

All I want is to serve You

So teach me each motion

So, in humbleness I bow

It’s all I can do

I’m a slave in Your house

But it’s not slavery,

If it’s for You.

It's been too long...

Wow! It has been ages! School and life have stolen me away from writing and sharing on my blog. There was a time in my life when I would sit down and write a blog post every day. Haha That got old fast! I feel that I started this blog at a time in my life when my ideas were beginning to take form by their interaction from others. As I go back and read what I've written, much of it is written in reaction to other ideas, as though I am groping for the truth in the face of opposition. I honestly needed an outlet and place to speak out loud. I'm thankful that this blog has given me that opportunity. 

However, I've come to realize that I don't need this blog as a platform for me to spew my ideas and go on diatribes. haha Not to say, I won't be posting, because I'd actually like to get back into posting regularly, but now I think my form is going to change. I do a LOT of writing for school, so I think I will be posting the things I am learning at school. I will of course be writing opinion pieces when the fancy strikes. I have matured a lot of these past few years, but I certainly haven't stopped having opinions. I've simply become more charitable about my opinions.

It's my senior year. I honestly am not sure how to comprehend it because it's what I've been waiting so eagerly for since junior high. Now that it's here, it's rather underwhelming. It's not as cool as I thought it would be and it's certainly more stressful. Senior year means work and hard classes, and Pre Calculus was just that. I'm not exactly ashamed of this, but I dropped the class. Considering all the factors, I think it was wise. What I'm truly excited about though is my Calvin's Institutes Study class. Instead of taking Pre Calculus, I wrote my own self directed study course and now I'm working through Calvin's Institutes. I outline as I go and then turn in a two page paper at the end of the week. Calvin is so cool! haha Calvin is even cooler coming straight from Calvin's mouth. So, I will be posting those essays weekly. 

I'm looking at colleges right now. In all honesty, I've been looking at colleges since Freshman year, but it wasn't the same. The pressure is on now. It's imminent. There are a lot of options, but I believe that I've narrowed it down. The Lord has called me to academia to teach and disciple young people in the Word. The Lord has impressed that on me. Sometimes I lose sight of that but He shakes me out of my stupor. I need to pick the college that will equip me to go out and serve Him. I've narrowed it down to (in no particular order) Covenant College, Trinity Western University, Wheaton College, and Ripon College. The Lord will lead me to the right school, I trust Him. 

Anyways, this post was kinda personal. haha Hope it wasn't boring. I will be posting more in the coming days, and I will definitely be sharing more about how the Lord has worked in my life. It feels good to be back. I hate to let my blog sit here like this and collect dust. Blogging is good for the soul.

God bless,
Stanley