"Many Christians today suffer from historical amnesia. The time between the apostles and their own day is one giant blank. That is hardly what God had in mind." - Bruce Shelley-
What are some consequences of one's ignorance concerning Christian history?
I believe that historical amnesia in relation to Christian history is very costly for it dooms us to repeat the sins and ignorance of the past. If we are unaware of what had happened before we would be living in a very ironic world of staying in reality yet going in a fantasy of the knowledge that whatever occurs today is new, nothing like this ever happened before and then we think of ways to resolve it, exhausting ourselves with formulations, techniques and theories when in reality, it is finished, case solved. But when we are aware of the history, it will be easier for us how to handle things that will occur in our lifetime. Ignorance is no excuse.
ReplyDeleteVery much true. Indeed when we, Christians today, are not aware of what had happened in the past we would be living as if everything just happen with no reasons or causes. Ignorance of our history may lead us to do some things that are considered to be wrong before. In contrast, by having knowledge of Christian history we'll know how early Christians live out their faith and how Christ had been sustaining them despite persecutions or difficulties that they had encountered.
DeleteI agree. As I read this, it made me think that Christian history is an important part of how the church was first developed and how it has been furnished up to this very moment. Without Christian history or neglecting it, implies no foundation or direction because we, Christians, can not move forward without learning the very root of our belief. One way how we can move forward and defend what we believe is to look at the past, in which we can learn about the disciples' sacrifice and love for Christ. In this way we can grow more in our love for Christ who accepted all kinds of persecutions, who even obeyed the death on the cross. Christ fought for us, the disciples continued to share that victory, and we live on this generation to stand for it, fight for it, and even die for Christ. Tracing the past strengthens our grip on our belief in Christ and gives us the motivation to thrive even if we die.
DeleteVerily, there are many consequences of one's ignorance concerning Christian history that is why christian today needs to remember what the people of God experienced from the past because there is a connection from what we are today. What happened in the past led us and give us understanding of what we are now. Our heart should be engage with historical facts regarding christian history because there is an emotional impact that changed our perspective of being a christian. We will not be ignorant if we will just remember what happened before.
DeleteIndeed, not knowing our past can really lead us to repeat again and again the mistakes that they had committed before. I really believe that to learn from others experiences is a very wise decision for it leads us to choose the right path.
DeleteWe should make use of the rich history that we have and make the most out of it as an act of honor and gratitude to God and to the people who have sacrificed so much in it.
I agree with you Luna that everyone must have awareness especially Christians about our history because it is very essential to us. These are the reasons why we must study and know about our history:
DeleteFirst is to be obedient. We study the history especially of God's people as our simple act of obedience to the Word of God. As what the Scriptures repeatedly instructs the faithful to study and search out the historical accounts of those who have gone before us. As what I've read in Job 8:8-10, it offers this advice for the ones seeking wisdom and understanding in their own day: “Ask the former generations and find out what their fathers learned, for we were born only yesterday and know nothing, and our days on earth are but a shadow. Will they not instruct you and tell you? Will they not bring forth words from their understanding? “
Another reason is to develop humility. As what we can observe in our current generation suffers from pride-filled perspectives and attitudes when we declare that we are the greatest generation of believers in the history of the world. I remember in our class about Ignatius of Antioch about what he did. May the words of Ignatius to the church in Rome, about his own willingness to die as a martyr, should humble us in the light of the “easy-living” approach of many of today’s Christians: “I am writing to all the Churches and I enjoin all, that I am dying willingly for God's sake, if only you do not prevent it. I beg you; do not do me an untimely kindness. Allow me to be eaten by the beasts, which are my way of reaching to God. I am God's wheat, and I am to be ground by the teeth of wild beasts, so that I may become the pure bread of Christ.” May his contributions throughout history help us to humble down ourselves.
To understand our own time is another reason why we must be aware of our history. Church History helps us to understand our own time better. I agree with ate Faith as well about what the author wrote in Ecclesiastes 1:9 that says “there is nothing new under the sun.” History, in very real and concrete ways, moves in circles and cycles. A fuller understanding of our past helps us to understand how we have arrived at this point in history. It helps us to see today from God’s perspective. Another is to boldly step into the future. We are only able to move with confidence into the future if we understand our past. According to Paul in his letter in 1 Corinthians 10:11, offers further clarification on the study of history prepares us for tomorrow: “These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.”
And lastly is to give glory to God. The ultimate and most important reason to study Church History is that it facilitates true and extravagant worship of our God. Our hearts are filled with awe and wonder when we explore the mighty acts of God in the past. The apostle John in Revelation 4:8, recorded that in heaven four living creatures, surrounding a throne, do not stop day or night declaring the glory and holiness of God, “who was, and is, and is to come.”
We are a people of history, a history of God’s passionate and loving involvement in our world. May we once again commit to study and learn from the great work of God in and through His people in ages past.
Learning history is of value and one's ignorance of it bears unwanted consequences. I believe that one of the consequences is poor knowledge of the richness of Church History. Ignorance of church history costs one's understanding that the Christian faith is historical and not just something new. Because of that there will be limitation in grasping how Christianity has thrived from then and now. If a person has not studied Christian history thoroughly, he will not be able to understand the roots of his faith. That limitation would eventually result to false assumption of what had happened in the past as well as ignorance in the works of the early Christians. He/she will miss the opportunity to be amazed on what God has done to His church and how He has sustained His people from the past up to the present. For me, that is just an awful lot of loses. The second consequence that comes to my mind is related to my first answer, ignorance of history will keep a person from the vast opportunity to learn from the lives of the Christians before, their contributions, their failures that should warn us, their victories that could inspire us to keep the faith and their aspirations that we present-day Christians should advocate. Sadly, many Christians forfeit this privilege of education.We should all dig down deep of the historical Christianity we hold on to in order to save ourselves and our hearers from historical amnesia.
ReplyDeleteWhen you talked about the second consequence about historical amnesia, my mind said "amen" because this is related to what i posted a few minutes ago. Their failures should truly warn us not to do it again because we are already aware of what could possibly happen if we do this or that. But isn't amazing and somehow illogical to even think of people whom we know, who are aware what could possibly happen if they do such a thing and yet go on their ways? I'm amazed on how they process their minds, they've already been warned, yet they keep on going to the path which leads to failure, suffering, pain or possible death that will not glorify God. I am of no excuse to this, somehow, it's innate in us, human beings to keep doing what we know is wrong, but the challenge to myself and to everyone else is to provoke the human nature, to go against the common flow of humanity and to rise above our emotions, our human tendency and allow God to work within us. Now that's what we call wisdom, the opposite of ignorance. :)
DeleteWhat you had commented proved that we cannot force or control a person on what he must do. They are given freedom to take whatever decision they planned to make, only as Christian (Light Bearers) we need to influence and show them the right decision in accordance to what the Bible proclaimed (authoritative).
DeleteOne of the important purposes why history exists is for the people to know their origin, learn from it, and do actions that can help preserve it. Same as Christian history, it exists for us to know the origin of the church. It helps us be reminded who is the cornerstone and that is Christ. We can also learn from about how passionate and bold the disciples were in sharing the gospel in order to preserve it. By learning Christian history we will know why we defend our faith and how we can defend it. Base on what I have observed, some consequences of being ignorant of the Christian history are the opposites of the benefits of knowing it. These are: lack of knowledge on whom Christians are defending, lack of reasons or motivations to find out what is the purpose of being involved in the church, and lack of strong foundation why a Christian believes and lack of knowledge how he or she can defend/share his or her faith.
ReplyDeleteBy knowing Christian history, we can know more about the church, its importance, and be inspired by the Christians in the past who fought for Christ, who is the victor, the one who greatly fought for us, and the one who is the reason why we exist.
It is super duper true Amanda, so we believers specially those who knows about what is lacking should help our co brothers and sisters in Christ, and share to them what we have learn about the history of our church. And I believe that you and I are just one of the member of Christ who ought to share to other members who doesn't have any knowledge about this.
DeleteYes, it is true that by knowing our Christian history, we can know more about the church, its importance, their contributions, life, success, failures and also be inspired to what God has done in the past. I believe that knowing and learning history is a way to learn God's way of preserving his creations from the very beginning until the end.
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ReplyDeleteIt is true that many Christians today suffer from historical amnesia. That is being ignorant of the history of Christianity. I admit I am one of them before. And really being ignorant of our past, I mean our history, has some consequences. One is vulnerability, it would serve as our weakness which allows other people or other “religious” group to attack us. Specially when they would ask us, when and how Christianity started. People may think that why should they become a Christian when those who claim to be a "Christian" doesn't know when and how they come up with that name. Our history matters too, when we share the good news to other people. Though this does not happen all the time, but sometimes we encounter people who are curious about us, believers of Jesus Christ.
Another, we would have no clear understanding of where we're going for we don't even know where we came form. By knowing our history, we would be aware of how God had been directing and guiding them. How God's redemptive plan has been worked out from the time of early Christians up until now. We would be inspired by their lives and at the same time learn form them.
I agree with you on how ignorance of church history makes us vulnerable. People now a days are curious and they ask a lot of question. Not knowing the roots of our faith will cause people to assume that we are adherents of blind faith. At the same time it will be our advantage if we know how to answer them. In some cases, even unbelievers know about Christian History because they wanted to be educated, how much more us believers. We need to be equipped with adequate knowledge about Christianity through the centuries so that we will be able to give answers to the outsiders and even to those following us. We cannot give what we don't know. I believe that we should educate our people too so that they will benefit and promote it. We should not be passive about this.
DeleteI agree with you Gie Ann in your first sentence in the last paragraph that we would not clearly understand who we are when we do not know where we came from. I remember a line from Jack Frost, it is a movie, he asked, " How would I know who I AM when I don't know who I WAS?" . The same thing we would ask ourselves. We would not have any idea of who we are until we know who we were in the past. So, it is important to know our past.
DeleteYou got my point considering all other religious groups who would surely attack us with that ignorance of Christian history. Knowing history serve as "a dialogue between the past and the present". Its not only applicable for Christian history, but all history including all ancient civilizations and era. When you said that "sometimes we encounter people who are curious about us", they are always curious about us knowing that we are bringing different lifestyle and principles. However, we cannot force a person to study history knowing that they are up to the present. What we need to do is to prepare and equip each of us for the coming battle of faith and beliefs.
DeleteGod's story in the lives of Christians before is very important to us to know.Knowing the stories in the past is an opportunity to us christian today because we are able to know how they deal with the problems or difficulties they've encountered. Christian history enable us to learn from it but there are many consequences if we will be ignorant regarding this. Stories in the past is always important but if we doesn't care about it we might not be able to understand clearly what Christianity is all about. Probably, we are also unable to appreciate what God has done into their lives before or how God works powerfully to them. There is also a possibility of not becoming zealous for the Gospel if we failed to return concerning Christian history. Maybe we will become frightened of the suffering we will encounter to the extent that we are doubtful of God's providence. We should know about Christian history.
ReplyDeleteHow did Christianity come to life is a very important matter that every Christian should know. Knowing the root of its foundation provides us, Christians, the idea of how we come up with this belief about God, about how we behave, about our whole person. We believe that everything that we are doing is influenced of what we believed. Knowing the history of Christianity gives us a glimpse of what happened in the past and can give us better understanding why is Christianity is like this today. Not knowing the history of Christianity gives us a breach of what we believe because we do not know how it started. We would be defenseless and would just give a shrug because we do not know anything. Not knowing history is a loss for it bears a lot from the past, victory, problems, circumstances, and solutions from Christians on those days. They would be a big help in our days today because we might face the same problems like them, perhaps we are facing the same problems, they might be able to give us sound judgment, and give warning. Knowing the history of our Christianity will give us the courage to give our defense on what we are fighting for, our God, our faith, and what we believe. Past teaches a lot all we have to do is visit them sometimes or perhaps take time to look and know it.
ReplyDelete“A person who had been moved by God through His presence and of His will mainly focused on the present”-- human tendency for the new believers, despite those present changes, he failed to look back the past where many people died and suffer in proclaiming and fighting to what he is now believing. It is very important to have a better understanding, the events taken between the time of Jesus until our own conversion.
ReplyDeleteIt is significant to have a better understanding on what we are believing, knowing all individuals with different experiences--yet, all of it serves as a living testimony to others. Tracing backwards could give us the complete background, giving us the complete data about Christianity.
Historical amnesia is a big deal for every believer. There are things that would possibly taken by a person (believer) if he himself failed to grasp the bigger picture of Christianity. These are the following possibilities: (1) Faulty assumptions and prideful assertions of some truths; (2) Limited knowledge and information about history of what he is believing; (3) It also shortens one’s outlook that only a part of Christian history was grasp; (4) A good source of ineffectiveness, in fact the person who tried to convince others about his beliefs still doesn’t know its own history well; (5) Biblical doctrines could be understood in a way of the present, thus, it is already in studied and an issue in the past.
E. H. Carn defined history as an "unending dialogue between the present and the past." Therefore, we need to study and to have a better understanding of the past, for the lessons of the past help us to avoid the trap of the present. Specially about Christian history as Christ is the foundation of Christianity were many courageous and faithful individuals stand and fight for it.
The 5th possibility you mentioned reminded me of a passage in the Bible. Ecclesiastes 1:9-10 says, “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there a thing of which it is said, 'See, this is new'? It has been already in the ages before us” There are also other passages in the Bible that tells us to learn from the things done in the past so that we will be wiser when we meet similar situations. So I strongly agree that we cannot separate the present from the past. There will always be repetitions and connections. The best thing about this truth is that as Christians, even our stories right now are connected to the Greatest Story Ever Told, the story of Jesus Christ.
DeleteI agree with you Ariel. Knowing or studying history really helps us to have a better understanding of the past and also gives us awareness to avoid the traps in the present. A person who lacks knowledge about history is a person who lives only for today. He doesn't care about where he came from or doesn't have any understanding about why do people do things like this and that. He wouldn't have that much understanding on the faith that he has and he surely missed a lot things that would surely encourage him if he only knew the history of his belief.
DeleteI agree with what Chris Hedges said that those who have had historical amnesia are living in an illusion. One consequence of one's ignorance concerning Christian history is living life in a blur. And if one is living life in a blur, obviously one does not have the focus and direction he needs to live life. I also agree with him that those who have nothing to learn from the past, remain children. Another consequence if we are ignorant of our Christian history is that we won't grow in many aspects of our lives, especially in our Christian life. We won't grow to be who we were meant to be if we don't know who we really are. It's like having a missing piece of a jigsaw puzzle, without it, it's incomplete. We may still have a lot of missing pieces in our lives but not knowing our past is that one little missing piece in our lives that if we have it, it could give more meaning to the picture of our lives of who we really are. Learning from our past gives us great knowledge on how to live mature lives. Especially in learning Christian history, we would grow by knowing the foundations of our beliefs, where we came from, who we really are and apply the learning that we have learned from their achievements and even from their mistakes. So we, Christians of today must live authentic lives, not just knowing ourselves through the present, but also through the past to have a clear focus and direction in our lives and grow more to be the people that God meant us to be.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, it is true that we really lack something in our Christian life if we ignore the Christian history. There will be many questions in our mind and the answers to that questions possibly found only from its history. It is true that we grow by knowing the foundation of our beliefs and where we came form. It is because we can learn a lot from the Christian history especially from their failures because we will be aware of those and may control ourselves not to fail with the same failure. We Christians must look back from our origin. It is to grow more to be a person that God wants us to be. Its history is His design for us to know and learn form it. It is significant in the life of a Christian.
DeleteI believe that historical amnesia is true especially today. Christian history had a memorable events in the past and we learned a lessons. Without history we are doomed to the things that surrounded us, but when we go back to the history of the past we can see the ignorance of the Christians. Happening in the past is still connected to the present, all we gonna do is to have a deeper understanding; were not going to judge but let us set our hearts that whatever happens now we can relate it to the past. We should be inspired and go beyond knowing the history of our Christianity.
DeleteBut there's a contradiction that lies ahead that we, Christians or Believers we don't need to go back but we must go forward to experience a new life in Christ which does not depend on the old ways. God is developing the Christianity.
I believe that there are many Christians who ignored the history of Christian. It is because we Christians do not want to remember the bad things, situations or events that had happened before. The consequence is that they cannot be true to themselves about the church. It is because the history of the church has a big influence to what is the church now. It is that in spite of the mistakes done in the history, it is still important to the churches today to see how they overcame all the challenges they had faced. Another consequence is that we cannot understand why we are having a church and also we cannot appreciate how God preserves His people or the church through helping them overcoming the challenges, trials, and circumstances that they had before. We will miss something that is valuable in our growth as a church. We may not have some ideas on how to deal with some problems that might happen or deal with the people in history because we just ignore it. We should give importance to the Christian history for it helps us understand of who we are.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Amy that one of the reason why we ignore our history because we do not want to remember or look back the things happened in the past especially those bad things that had happened. But this reason may not be our basis of not giving importance to our history. Even though many bad things happened already, those things helped us a lot of who and what we are right now. Just like if we ignore what happened to our Lord Jesus Christ knowing that He was mocked and persecuted by people, then what we believe in right now is nothing and useless. Appreciating our history leads us to do what's right and to believe what we ought to believe in.
DeleteHistory matters. If we are ignorant of the past, may it be because we lack information or because of indifference, we lose a lot of important things. First on this list is connection. No Christian today can arrogantly say that he came down with the last rain shower. No Christian can foolishly act like he happened to have this or that conviction because some strong wind blew it his way. If we have no knowledge with what happened between the time of the last apostle and today then we are so disconnected. Church History ties us back to the early church where we can find the roots of our convictions and Church History connects us with people and experiences that contributed greatly to the things we rely upon today. Everything that is existent today is the result of what happened in the past. If we are unaware of these things, we are like drifting objects, untied to any concrete foundation, unable to trace the beginnings of our identities and convictions.
ReplyDeleteOther things we lose are the significance and wisdom that this particular chunk of time/period gives. We all know that not every detail of what happened in the past is recorded. Historians sort through events and present things that are more significant and are supported by facts. We may not have all the details but what we are left with clearly shows that God continued working with His people even after Apostle John's death. Being ignorant and indifferent towards what He has been doing in the years after that is missing important lessons embedded in the events He allowed for the church to experience. The significance and wisdom of these lessons may not be as foundational as the teachings of the Bible, but they are relevant for us even today for in these centuries were doctrines and practices tested and confirmed.
Our faith is an ancient faith and we are called to live it out today so historical amnesia is very dangerous. Remembering is necessary in presently living out our ancient faith. We need to know who we are if we have any hope of knowing where we are going.
You are absolutely right Ate Faith to say that history really counts. That is the reason I really love it because even though I don't really love memorizing dates yet tracing the events in the past made me well-informed and greatly blessed especially in the lives of our fathers of faith at the dawn of history. Yes, it's true that historical amnesia is dangerous because you may then not able to know where is your destination and how to get there. This made me remember a Tagalog proverb that goes this way, "Ang hindi marunong lumingon sa pinanggalingan ay hindi makakarating sa paroroonan."
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DeleteYes, I agree with your point, Faith. It is truly a disconnection when we are indifferent with our Christian history. It is very evident that by knowing history, we are able to relate with what happened in the past. We are also able to see how God's mighty hand worked in the growth of Christianity in the whole world.
DeleteI agree with Mr.Chris Redges that Christians who are unaware with Church history miss the opportunity to grow deeply in their faith by knowing and learning from the situations and the lives of the people in it. Yes, studying our history won't send us to heaven but it will surely give us more understanding of Christ's rule here on earth through His church, the chosen instruments in order for His message to spread out all over the world.
ReplyDeleteIt would be very beneficial for all of us, Christians, to know the sacrifices that has been made for us to enjoy the Church and Bibles that we have today. Failing to know these would cause us to be undetermined and complacent to stand up for our faith because by knowing these our faith will be more affirmed that, indeed! our Lord lives and He is actively working and changing the hearts of men before and now.
You are correct Carmelle! Indeed God worked on the lives of the people in the past and is still doing it up to this day. God is molding us and is preparing us for the ministry that He'll entrust to us in the future. I believe that you became ignorant when you do not have the chance to learn what happened in the past. Yes it is true that failing to know such things causes us to be undetermined and complacent to stand up for our faith but there are people also that even though they knew the history yet they are still complacent with their walk with the Lord. Some believers are lax with their lives. Anyway, knowing the history of the church motivates us and inspires us to stand up for our faith and it gives us the answer why we have such conviction. We would be inspired by the dramatic experiences that the apostles and missionaries encountered and experienced while they were still alive. In spite of the persecution, they endure and still chose to proclaim the Gospel.
DeleteI am in awe and is super amazed by how God works. By how He ordered everything. He is a detailed God and everything is perfectly planned. Amazing God!
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DeleteI was reminded of the goosebumps I have felt every time I will read from the Bible of God's power from the past. I told myself how blessed they are that they can evidently see God's power. If we have known the Christian History then we can see and appreciate great things God has done from the very beginning up to now. Indeed, it can build up our faith eagerness to actively work and do great things for the Lord also. Its a challenge for us Christian leaders to encourage others to care and be part of our Christian history by knowing it by heart.
DeleteYes, so true. It is helpful to learn about how the church came to be. The provision of God in sustaining the church. And it is also essential for the leaders to know these things.
DeleteKnowing the history of the church helps us see how God worked in the past until today. We can see His preservation and provision for without history we wouldn't have the privileged of knowing and learning the culture of the past. In addition of studying history, we would have a glimpse of how God put everything in order and in details according to His will. That dramatic events acted by the people in the past benefits us in having perspective in studying the Scripture. Church history is essential since it helps us to know where we're going and why we do what we do. We would as well understand and appreciate the beauty of the past and would learn from their experiences; the principles and truths that are still true and applicable today. However, being ignorant of the past is a loss. Before I have a very bad perspective with history but then I am mistaken. History is indeed important for we ought to know and learn a lot of things and would somehow travel to different places in different date and time. It is adventurous. Without knowing history, you lose the chance of learning and experiencing the things written above. Without history our life would be meaningless for the real meaning of history is 'His Story'. It is God's story revealed to us. Therefore, knowing and learning history is actually knowing and learning God.
ReplyDeleteTrue, learning from our history is learning how God worked and preserved His people. Some Christians are sometimes mislead by believing it is all about themselves. Resulting to less care of other things and regard it as less important matters, such as learning our Church history. Sometimes we are so busy living our lives thinking about “our own story”, not really realizing that it's all about “His story”. As Christians, who desires to follow the Lord and want to know Him more must also give importance in learning our Church history for it is one way of getting to know better of who God is for it is His story.
DeleteYes Jotham it will be great if believers will give importance in learning church history and I, myself is excited to pass on what I've been learning so far from this subject. In fact, I am planning to make this as one of my lessons in my discipleship with my ladies :).
DeleteEvery time I've heard of the word “History” , it would always popped a picture in my mind lots of dates, people, events, things, and places to memorize. This picture itself gave me a negative attitude towards the kind of subject. I got lazy studying and often times not caring about it. I reached college bringing that mindset still. I was really upset and regretful why have I not taken my history class seriously. I lose the benefits of knowing precious things from the past that are supposed to be valued. Upon reading the question, it hits me and I will be reacting on the behalf of those Christians who had historical amnesia. Before studying this subject, I have no idea of the Christian history, so the consequences I have experienced is that when people from church or some Bible school students talked about those I can't relate. When someone asked about those things then I can't surely answer. I also have this robotic kind of thinking that I only depended on what were encoded by the our modern church leader. I only focused what is on the present and have no care of whats happening from the past. I can also say that I'm somewhat close-minded of the other views or teachings of the church. If this will continue, my disciples or the people I acquaint with will also have the same mindset and will surely continue the chain to the future. We will have a lesser percentage of hope to let Jesus Christ be known to the whole world which is supposed to be our great commission. Knowing that He also marks the beginning of the Church that we supposed to share HIS Story!
ReplyDelete'To stop learning the past is to stop growing today and to stop growing today is to stop looking tomorrow'. I came up with this statement as I meditated the question presented above. Knowing history then can make you progress and progress then leads you to success. And if so, why forget Christian history? As Christians, our faith may rise as we see the lives of God's faithful followers in the past. To not look back what had happened before can make our faith shrinks or regresses. Christ's story is the greatest story ever written in history. The lives of our Christian ancestors or God's witnesses many years ago can aid us to lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us and by then we can run with endurance the race that is set before us (Heb. 12:1-2). Another verse that popped up in my mind is in Heb. 13:8 that says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever." I could say then that God has never been unfair to His children because of the constancy of His character. So then, we can be confident enough that God can remarkably work in and through the lives of His people in the present just as what he did to our yesterday's forefathers of faith. That's why it's very essential then to rethink the past for us to rise in the present and to reach the future.
ReplyDeleteSome consequences of one's ignorance concerning Christian History are: First, the foundation of the Christianity is lame and floating. Because the knowledge of the Christian History is very important to Christianity. It serves us as a foundational tool for us to continue to exist and will lead us to the right direction. Without the knowledge of Christian History, we cannot go this far. The Christian movement would slowly die because of that reason.
ReplyDeleteSecond, Christians would have no idea on how to defend what they believed in. They just only followed the wavering doctrines taught by their leaders. Christian History will helps us to make our belief strong and reliable. In Christian History, God revealed Himself to mankind, and in His revelation to them affects us today. We have the basis that God really works in every human beings. The Bible that we have today is the record of Christianity.
It is true that there are many Christians today suffer from historical amnesia, because they don't want to talk about religion, beliefs, faith, suffering, Christ, and the saints. They avoid it because they have lacked of heart to teach and learn the history of the christian religion and also lacked of interest in knowing and sharing Christ to others, and maybe they had loss of memory for the past, because we have now a modern society developed and most of us today compromise on the things in this world.
ReplyDeleteBut as a Christian and a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, we need to study our church history on how the Lord provides, protects, preserves, and delivered his people from the enemies. We need to remember on how God's plan of redemption has been worked out from the time of the first century and until today. The life of Jesus is memorable for us Christians, and we must remembered the things that He has done for us on the cross, because He was the first missionary who came down here on earth to save us from our sins, and to set us example of faith, living, endurance, humility, service and love, and also it is good to remember our heroes of faith especially those Christians who demonstrates concretely their lives to Jesus teachings and ministry, and set us example of faith, character, endurance,love and joy in the midst of crises in life.
In studying our church history we could learn and understand where we're going and where we came from and how does it begun. It also provides us a glimpse about their culture, faith, styles of living, government structures and many things. But if we won't study Church history we could not learn their ways of life ,we could not gain new information, we could not tell the story of Jesus to others, we could lose the opportunity to reach out tribal people, we could lose the opportunity to learn and experience new things that were written from the Bible, books and commentary, and also we could not fellowship the great mind authors, and we could lose the opportunity to be part of their lives, and also we may lose the opportunities to know their contributions of christian history and education.
It is wise to learn from our past history and try and be wiser to tell the story of Jesus to others.
That's true ate, some Christians doesn't have a courage to share the church's history maybe because of the pains it brought to churches. But when we go back to her history, we can have a conclusion on how God really at works even at the end of the time of the apostles. Church history is worth to share for for it could open the mind of other people what lies behind their church. For if we have a background of paganism, all that we have thought or taught about the Bible will be without effect. I think its a great challenge for every Christian to teach and review the background of the church to church members that they may know why.
DeleteThat's true ate, some Christians doesn't have a courage to share the church's history maybe because of the pains it brought to churches. But when we go back to her history, we can have a conclusion on how God really at works even at the end of the time of the apostles. Church history is worth to share for for it could open the mind of other people what lies behind their church. For if we have a background of paganism, all that we have thought or taught about the Bible will be without effect. I think its a great challenge for every Christian to teach and review the background of the church to church members that they may know why.
DeleteNow a days, people tend to forget about the history of our church and most people doesn't seems to care about the past. People just accept what they have known now and they have forgotten the importance of the church history. The consequences of that is it would be pass on to the next generation and the more it will die, and the history of our church won't be given a big value. The more people will continue to believe about what they have known in the present and never thought about the history of the church. The other consequence of this is people might have the wrong belief, and as they pass on their learning about what they have believed in, it means the belief has spread out. Which is that belief is very wrong, because people easily believe of what they just have heard without learning and hearing the source or about the truth. Rumors spread out so rapidly, so it is better to know what is the deep meaning and know the source, where it came from, how does it exist, who made it first, so on and so forth.
ReplyDeleteIt is very true today that a lot of Christians have Historical Amnesia. It is very negative situation for Christians today not knowing of how they came as far as this present time of the Church that resulted from the efforts of our Lord and even of our Church. A consequence will happen that Christians today have very shallow foundation and understand how the Christians have stand in their faith before with such difficulties. Christians who have this amnesia cannot deeply appreciate of what happened before and knowing only the Lord Jesus and His sacrifice as the start of the movement that even exist still today. Another consequence will be a failure to contribute for the direction as member of the universal Church and even a member of a local Church,not having knowledge of what happened before. Sometime in our life we need to look back of what happened before in order to evaluate of the present situation. This is very true that even it was prophesied what happened already in the Church and the prophecy has become part of the history. How can also be able to deal with our present situation that is the result of what happened before. Therefore, this problem should be dealt by every Church Leaders as dealing with a Church Organization.
ReplyDeleteFor those Christians who have suffered from historical amnesia, particularly on Christian history, it is a great loss for them. Because the fact that what has happened in the past has greatly affected the Christian churches and believers. Though many of those happenings were not that pleasing, where many people died in keeping their faith, but they have caused Christianity to flourished. Concerning those events that has happened, it gives us awareness on how to handle things or to be careful enough so that no mistake that has happened in the past will be repeated again. Forgetting them would surely have some consequences. Without knowing the history, a Christian person would not be aware on the possible mistakes from the past that he would commit again. A person might become shallow in his faith because he doesn't know about the root or cause of his belief. Because Christ himself is a historical person. He wouldn't know much about why Christians do this or do that because he doesn't know the history. Another is that the history of Christianity itself will not be passed on to the next generation. Because the present Christians are suffering from historical amnesia. Nowadays, if this amnesia goes on, Christian history will not be given any value. A person who forget about the history missed a lot of things. History itself can give us lessons of life. The lives of the believers who went through hardships, persecutions, and even to the point of their death can inspire us to be even more stronger in clinging to our faith. Of all their failures, we can learn from them and become aware to not repeat it again. History is really that important.
ReplyDeleteYeah! It's true Renie Boy. Christian history will help us to be flourished in our faith to God. It will help us to imitate the good things our church fathers had done for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and it would also help us to be careful to avoid the wrong things they had committed. The knowledge of our Christian History made us of who we are now. Without it, i don't think if Christianity will continue to exist.
DeleteIndeed it is true that those historical amnesia regarding the events that had happened in the past specially the events that had happened regarding our faith. It is not by we forgot about them but the reality is we really do not know who they are and what they did and what were the things or events that happened in those particular persons or martyrs. I begin to realize how important History is and specially Church History.
DeleteBeing indifferent concerning Christianity history loses us the opportunity to learn from their mistakes and rather have higher stake of repeating them making us look like fools and remain immature. We would also tend to just assume things which can contribute to an unsure and obscure pillar of foundation. We would also fail to give tribute to the people who are examples in the faith for their fervent staying in the faith no matter how hard it is to keep it in those troubled times. We would also miss the concept of God's wonderful order in preserving Christianity in which will someday give us the courage and wisdom in passing on the legacy of faith that we received.
ReplyDeleteI'm definitely captured by your statement "we would miss the concept of God's wonderful order in preserving Christianity". I'm totally with your side on that, because truly without a person's knowledge of the past they will really miss the opportunity to see how each situation was molded carefully and placed precisely on its right position. They will not be able to have the opportunity to see the beauty and the truthfulness that there really is a Being higher than all the others, and he is the one who controls and put things in order. And that it is also his work to make it possible for Christianity to spread and established a place where worship as one to the true One. You really did a nice point on that, timkang Chao. :-)
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DeleteHistory as we know gives us a glimpse of the past. It makes us know who we are and helps identify where we really came from. Especially when we talk about the history of the church. It gives us the background of our faith. By knowing the history of Christianity, we are able to have the foundation which gives us the certainty that what we believe in is the whole truth. Ignorance of the Christian history results to great consequences. One of these is ones lack of knowledge about his or her origin, specifically his faith origin. We can't say that what we believed in is the truth if we don't even know where such belief came from. One will not be able to defend his faith totally if he doesn't know what he truly believes. The reason why many other doubt about himself if he is what he believes in is the truth. It may cause him to question the message that he ones heard. Lack of knowledge about the history of Christianity cause others to fall away from their faith and changed their belief to other religion. Another consequence is it makes a person feel that he doesn't have all the authority to share his faith. Because of this, one will not be able to win others to Christ. Lack of knowledge about Christian history might also cause others not to believe in us when we share to them. This explains that we really need to have that extensive knowledge about our history so that we will be able to have that certainty and authority in our faith, especially in our understanding of why we exist as a church.
ReplyDelete"Lack of knowledge about the history of Christianity cause others to fall away from their faith and changed their belief to other religion." i agree with you Mitch, i heard a lot of story about changing their belief because they lack knowledge about it and it's even hard for them when they change because they started to be confused of what the Bible really teach about. then it will end up being an atheist, because they dont know what to believe anymore because of too much ignorant of the church history, truly it could shake faith and possible to be fall. by avoiding this we need start studying the resources that is available to us right now.
DeleteI agree partner mitch :)
DeleteThat "history makes us know who we are and helps identify where we really came from" we don't have direction in our faith if we don't know the foundation of our faith and if we know well our history our Christian journey is fully guided by what we've learned from the past. And it is really true that "lack of knowledge about history of Christianity cause others to fall away from their faith" of course! because at the first place there is lacking of knowledge about the history that's why how can other be motivated or pursue them to believe about the truth if we ourselves has no idea about it.
As Christians we dont have to be expert in the history in order for us to understand what it means, but at least not too ignorant to be an excuse. Ignorant means lack of knowledge, information or uneducated and i dont think it is because we lack resources now, since our generation today is more high tic and resources is very available everywhere you go. The theme this year for me is "committed follower of Jesus Christ" i just heard it a lot of times and I started to question myself about it. in relation to this is that how could a person be fully committed to follow Christ when he lack knowledge about the history? Church history is the main tools that we can use in following Christ because it give us a lot of ideas about what happen during there time, laws that we need to obey, and a lot of things that we need to understand. without this we are not able to appreciated the work of God in the creation, we are unable to identify who God is, and we will be ignorant of what the savior has done for our sins. A true Christian will a find a way to know about His savior and to have a personal relationship with Him. we should stop being ignorant about our history, for no one is excuse of the provision the Lord has given to us.
ReplyDeleteYes indeed, its true. I really agree with what happen of today's generation that sources could be available for information. It is only a decision for a Christian to desire to know the history or not even having passion of what happened really that causes of our status as a Church.
DeleteWhen people hear the word “ignorance” there are many ideas come in their minds. Some people may think that it is stupidity. Others may think of lack of caring and others do not give much thought to what it really means.
ReplyDeleteAs I looked at the dictionary, ignorance means a lack of knowledge, understanding, or education : the state of being ignorant. There are times, however, that ignorance is a very bad thing. Someone’s ignorance of a proper work ethic might cost him or her job. Ignorance about fire safety could cost people their lives. I remembered the movie “Finding Normal” wherein the woman tested her soon to be husband. She pushed the button of the firm alarm and since the guy was ignorant about that thing, all he did was he secured all his gadgets not knowing the woman was there and he did not take notice on her. Ignorance can be very bad sometimes. It would also be worst if one is ignorant about the history specifically Christian history.
There are many results of ignorance. There are some ignorance that are mild and not very harmful at all resulting into mild embarrassment only. Others are very serious and very harmful that somehow it lead into suicidal thing or resulting death. And the result of remaining ignorant to God's laws are on the worst end of this scale. One of the results of ignorance is that we become sinners. A sinner is someone that repeatedly sins. If you don’t know about God’s laws, then how do you know not to go against them? In Psalm 14:4 and 53:4 show that sinners often have the characteristic of being ignorant. Only by God’s merciful calling can anybody get out of this power of ignorance/sin.
Another result is that we can be destroyed by our ignorance. This is shown in Hosea 4:6, when God mourns, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” God was lamenting because His people’s ignorance was destroying them, and they weren’t turning. Every time Israel turned from God due to their ignorance, they went onto a path of eventual destruction, just as we do when we are ignorant about His ways.
Hosea 4:6 also tells us another result of ignorance. God says through Hosea, “Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me.” If we reject the knowledge of God, then God will reject us. Our sins, occasionally done in ignorance, will also cut us off from God. Paul also said that ignorance would cut us off from God according to his letter in Ephesians 4:18.
Therefore, ignorance or historical amnesia is dangerous, memory is necessary. We need to know that there are stories that should not be forgotten. And that we should learn from the mistakes of those who come before us and show some wisdom.
Yes! It is true that many Christians today in a sense that they are just neglecting the important events in the past. I think they just chose to neglect this significant event because for them it might not be helpful or irrelevant today because it's already old. It is sad to think that many Christians today are not giving more importance to this and ignore the past. Maybe because they thought that kind of topic is not needed in this new generation because we have a lot of trends that only focusing about today's event and that thing is not quite a bit interesting, and a boring topic. Or maybe they don’t have any full idea about our past that they need someone who can tell them the remarkable events in our history. Therefore, we named "Christians" should take this historical event as part of our journey in our Christian life today. Although some people will say that this is irrelevant today but the truth this is still relevant today.
ReplyDeleteBeing an ignorance concerning Christian history has consequences. First, we have a hard time sharing the fact in our present day if we don't have any idea about the past although they said "past is past, never been discussed" but for this it should be discussed because we are confident to tell the fact of our Christianity if we are founded and well-informed about our past. Like the phrase of one of my teachers she said “We don’t need to be an expert, we have just to be informed, and at least we are not ignorant” and this is true that if we are ignorant about something we are clueless to tell others about the fact. And second, as a minister of God this is one of our tools to lead others about the truth of the history of Christianity. How can they understand the truth that we’ve share today if they don’t know the past? They don’t have any idea behind what it is if they are not well-informed about the historical event of Christianity.
Therefore, we should be able to know about our past because this is important for us so that we can impart this very significant past to others well. And be confident to brag about this past that there is someone who made this very memorable and amazing history.
Church history is almost forgotten in post-modern churches today. I have said almost forgotten because some Christians know only the other side of the church history, and not as a whole of His story. Perhaps the most obvious consequence of this amnesia is the exclusivity of church denominations, or as I call it the atomism views of Christian perspective. If One Christian looks only the single side of the history and the other look on the other side of it, then they could've created different Christian worldview base of course on what they have perceived. For example, Arius said that "there was a time that the Son was not." If one think it as it is today without considering the Athanasian Creed who fumed this heresy, then we are endangered of thinking Christ as not eternal Son.
ReplyDeleteSo church history is not only focused on the single person and single event, but all what were happening in that time and the people (great or small) who are involved in developing the church. If we missed the whole Church History specially from the time of the act of the apostles until the influence of the enlightenment, our hermeneutical approach of the scripture are messy. Not only it become messy, but we are traditionally practicing religious practices that seems for us accepted by God of the Bible but they are truly not
Amen, brother Sonny Roble! It is said that the death of martyr is the seed of the Church. Without those people with different person, different contributions and different belief history today is just an arbitrary. But all those I believe that God it was God's way of recognizing how sovereign God is.
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ReplyDeleteWhen I saw the title amnesia I remember a Bollywood movie and the title is “Ghajini”. He totally forgot his identity and all of the events in his life. Everytime he sleeps and when he woke up he always forget what happened at that specific day. The story revolves in solving this mystery and what happened to him.
ReplyDeleteTo have an amnesia is really difficult or I can say tragic incident in once life. Many of the Christians today have this sickness. And I am one of that Christians who have this amnesia sickness. Many Christians claims that “we are better church, or we were founded earlier that the others, we have a lot of members than others but sadly most of them do not know what happened why we became a church or who were the people who really endured in their faith and this is a reminder for all of the Christians it is important to know our past to know them so that by knowing it we will be encouraged to do more in the future ministry that God has entrusted to us.
Yes, I remember the movie "Ghajini", and it is true! I mean about what happened to many churches today. It is really important that our churches will also know the history of why there is a church so that all Christians will know what's our role in other people's lives, especially those who does not know Christ yet. And I would agree that by knowing how early Christians suffered yet endured in their faith, we will all be encouraged to do more and be more eager in sharing the Gospel to every tribe and nation.
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ReplyDeleteBeing ignorant about history is a very sad thing for a person. First consequence it brings was, one won't be able to learn and have a glimpse upon the amazing and incredible happenings of the past. They missed the opportunities as well as the value it could bring to persons life and the opportunity of learning and being inspired. Believing that history is not even important is just like choosing a junk food over a plate full of nutritious food. At a moment one could think it's just fine and its more of an easy thing to do but the deficiency of one’s ignorance will just be valued upon later on his life. It might take long for one’s health count to be seen and when it does sometimes it’s already too late.
ReplyDeleteSecond, decisions could even be made more easier with one’s knowledge of what had happened in the past. Because it's always really true that there's nothing new under the sun. And by having a knowledge of the happenings before we could be able to evaluate things as well as decisions with the guidance of those events that happened. And instances of repeating mistakes again and again could have been lessen.
And lastly one's ignorance of christian history will be a failure to give tribute to those lives who made a significant impact and had lived a great legacy to follow. How could someone appreciate the martyrdom and the great example that a person did if his story was accounted to as insignificant? So to really see the significance of those lives one must first value and cultivate the character of appreciation to the history who bear all their stories.
History indeed played a great role in the lives of the people because in it we would be able to know why we are living the life are living now.
I realized that learning on what happened in the past is very significant to understand what is going on in our present time and what we will become in the future. It is also true in our Christian culture today that we will be able to know and understand what happened between the time of the apostles and our time. It is important for ignorance of Christian history will affect our perspective towards the ministry.
ReplyDeleteIgnorance of Christian history may develop complacency. As Christians, being satisfied with our own situation as comfortable as we are in our comfort zone, we tend to ignore or even not to realize that there is a need around us, and not just around us, somewhere out there as well. We don't stop in knowing and having Christ only; we respond to His call and that is, to continue His ministry here on earth. Indeed, it is happening in many churches nowadays, being contented sitting and listening to the message and not sharing it to those outside the building. The early disciples were being scattered, had suffered, and even died because of the Gospel. Yet, they were very much eager to share the Message no matter how much the cost. Why? It is because of the Truth that they wanted to proclaim to the whole world despite of. The intensity of the need was so great that even death could not prevail them. We may not have the same difficult experiences like them, but still, the call for a need to reach out all nations for Christ is the same.
Certainly, many Christians nowadays become untroubled in the fact that billions of people are dying everyday without knowing Christ as their Lord and Savior. There are only very few who responded to this need to go, to send, and to mobilize. Why? It is because of the historical amnesia problem. Yes, many Christians suffered historical amnesia; and that is why complacency occur.
Indeed, knowing and understanding our history make us more eager to share His story.
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ReplyDeleteWe are living in the present times and not in the past. Whatever happened in the past is past but we can learned through the past. One quote that always remind says, "The greatest success of one's character is not from our ancestors but what we leave for our descendants." Through the people of the past it leaves a mark on us so that we will not repeat it again in the future. And the consequence for those who take for granted and being ignorant of history mislead one's life. But I am not condemning those people who is ignorant of history but it encourage me to learn more. For me to share it for my kids in the future and the people I ministered too.
ReplyDeleteHistorical amnesia? When a person tend to forget something, he might lose the opportunity of what is supposed to be in his hand. Lacking information about the history might lead to consequences, being deceived by the false teachings of the false teachers. The illness of the historical amnesia can be passed on from generation to generation wherein Christian history will be neglected and God's work throughout history will be put aside by human who are not interested for it. Its not about pity for those Christians who does not know the time of the apostles but its about the responsibility of every Christian who knows the history to share it to their fellow Christian. Who would believe that God, even today, is at work when they do not have the knowledge that God from the time past until now still remains active? Who would have a strong foundation of faith when being asked can answer the works and explain the words of God in the time past? Historical amnesia might have been the result of being indifferent in history, and could be the result of the new technologies which makes our world smaller and smaller and in which our world focuses more in the future than in the past, the history.
ReplyDeleteYes indeed history plays an significant role in the people today who are ignorant Christian history and it gives us sound understanding about what happened in the past. As we look back how the development of the Christianity during the life of the Apostle and the other people who standing firm in their faith. it is difficult for the people today who don't have the idea of the Church History because they might deceived to the false teaching of the false teachers. I agree that people really lose the opportunities to what is going to be done throughout his/her life for bringing glory to God when they tend to forget what is in the past and just ignore it.
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DeleteThat is definitely right Josh. That is what we observe today. Well, that is how we are created, to look forward. Even scientists look for a new discovery for a better future by thinking the past events. On the spiritual side, as Christian our stepping stone is in history of God in Christ to understand the present and hope for the future. I remember the book written by Fracis Schaefer entitled "How should we live then?" that traces the event from the apostolic age to the enlightenment, and how this series events reached today and influence the Christians, This question makes me think how to live as believer of Christ and what it means to be Christian in the hostile world, and how to deal the Gospel in the marketplace of id
DeleteI mean Marketplace of idea.
DeleteI agree with Joshua's statement, because as Christian, and as being called to minister we are also accountable to preach or tell others the word of God and if a minister of God is ignorant of what had happened in the history of the church then he might commit to preach or teach the wrong doctrine, which is very dangerous that the people of God could commit.
DeleteHistory is important because it helps us to understand the present. If we will listen to what history has to say, we can come to a sound understanding of the past that will tell us much about the problems we now face. If we refuse to listen to history, we will find ourselves manufacturing a past that reinforces our understanding of current problems.
ReplyDeleteWell historical amnesia might cause when they lose the significant role of what really happened in the past. They are distinct to the different beliefs and practices of the people in the past that can be adopt or reject when its impact today's culture don't fit. Technically, our ancestor are ignorant about high technology compare to our world today. When we look back to what people believe in the past, they can be our heroes when we talk standing firm in the faith and how they lived by it.
there are some consequences of one's ignorance concerning Christian history. the first thing is that they might lose the tract to persevere in what they are believing for, like the journey of the apostle when they bore witness about Christ. Because people today don't have an aspiration to walk in the wilderness as our struggle in life. We Christians know that Christ is our firm foundation of our faith however people in the past who have faith in God will give us courage to be stand firm in our faith. Another thing is that people today will become unaware to how God works in the past without knowing that there are some people who are in the high authorities that are against to the belief of the Christian toward God. however, the most essential matter that every individual today needs to know is that our almighty God used also some people who are influential in the society, who has the authority, and ruler to help the development of Christian culture. Our main goal in advancing the Gospel is to present the life of Christ the Son of God. We Christian are called to really understand to what happened in the past so that it makes us fearless to face the cause of the problems. We are the one to spread the Gospel of Christ to the people who are innocent and blinded about the truth in Christianity.
ReplyDeleteKnowing the history between the prophets and the time of the apostles is where you could find a very colorful life and the real view of life as Christian. Knowing the history of an ancient times, life could be more meaningful. Life could really be appreciated the way ancient people live as Christians and how they survive in spite of the difficult challenges and how they experience God's grace.
People who are facing consequences of their ignorance concerning christian history are in great crisis. Since they don't have any background of what had happened in the past, it is so hard for them to understand of what is in this present generation. Being ignorant of something that exist as christian, is what we call a silent self trouble of a person because it seems that a person is in the wander land who don't know what's the story behind that information or a situation they are into. And possible that the joy that a Christian could have is blurred to them. Their growth also as christian might be stagnant because of the limited view of the beauty of the history. Like what Chris Hedges had said that “those who suffer from historical amnesia...remain children” because being an ignorant people of the past, the how's, the what and etc. of life seems unclear to them. So knowing the history of the church is really important so that as God's people we could be an effective Christian and to live a life full of beauty.