I Don't Like History...So Let's Just Erase It

Someone once said, "If we fail to learn from history, we are destined to repeat it."  What wise words!  What excellent advice...that is being thrown to the wind today.  Allow me to share a portion of an article that was posted last week at: www.theblaze.com/stories/2016/04/13/stanford-university-rejects-requiring-its-students-to-take-racist-and sexist-western-civilization-courses.  The article was written by Kathryn Blackhurst. 

"Western Civilization lost its battle once again at Stanford University when the campus referendum to reinstate the class as part of the school's humanities core was voted down by a 6-to-1 margin in election results released Monday.  Although some of the students at Stanford called for the campus to pass a referendum requiring all students to study Western Civilization, less than 15 percent of the student body supported the effort and the referendum was voted down 1,992 to 342, according to the Daily Caller.

"The Western Civilization dilemma first became an issue during the 1980s when the Rev. Jesse Jackson marched alongside students who were demanding that the course be dropped from its place as a required part of the curriculum because of its allegedly 'racist' and 'sexist' undertones, according to Campus Reform. 

"This year, the Stanford Review campaigned to reinstate the study of Western Civilization as a core course and a key component in shaping the students' studies.  After the Stanford Review passed out a petition to restore the course to its original place, it received more than 370 signatures, Campus Reform noted.  If the referendum had passed, it would have forced faculty and administrators to consider making two courses of study in Western Civilization a core requirement for each student."

I know you are saying to yourself, "What's the big deal?"  The article answers that: "When these issues were announced in February, immediate backlash occurred within several segments of the student body as students described the courses as filled with 'European-Western and male bias' as well as 'sexist and racist stereotypes.' Campus Reform reported."

The attack upon history has become common place in our day.  If you don't like what happened in the past, try to erase it.  You don't like the history of slavery...so, tear down the Confederate flag; remove statues of Robert E Lee and Stonewall Jackson; remove Jefferson Davis' name from streets and avenues.   So, at Stanford University, the students don't like what Western Civilization has stood for in the past.  But, here is the question that I would ask those students: "All right, you don't like some of the things that happened under the guise of Western Civilization, so which Civilization are you going to honor?"  There is not one civilization in the history of mankind that was the ideal civilization. 

I have really tried to understand their hatred toward Western Civilization.  I believe I am coming to the roots of their hatred.  It has to do with the foundational truths upon which Western Civilization is framed.  And those truths are centered in a strong Judeo-Christian ethic and belief system.  An understanding of God and of His Word have been the historical roots of our Western Civilization.  So, of course, if I deny God, then I certainly don't want to study a civilization that reminds me of His presence within culture.  So, let's do away with it...pretend it never happened. 

Friends, a study of history is critically important.  Yes, there are a lot of things that happened within history that are revolting: the Holocaust, the Crusades, the Inquisition, and slavery, just to name a few.  But refusing to study those stories does not make them disappear; it only causes you to become blind as to why those events happened and how they can be prevented from happening again. 

But we live in a such a self-centered world.  Everything revolves around the "great me."  It is time that we replace the "great me" with the "Great I AM."  That would certainly make for some profound changes in the way we think, the way we believe, and in the way we act.