Those Were the Days
Those Were the Days
Boy, things were better back in the good old days. At least that's what I've been told. I've never seen them. But if the world as we know it changes for the worse in the year 2000, in some twisted way, these will be the good old days. We can reminisce about 1999 when we could get an Egg Mcmuffin at 7:30 in the morning, trade stocks on the internet by day, and watch obscure sports on late night TV. We will have forgotten that in 1999:
All of this on top of our everyday world of murder, rape, theft, AIDS, cancer, civil wars, child abuse, divorce, political upheaval, train wrecks, plane crashes and babies being aborted. Our search for the good old days must take us farther back. Let's take a look at the past century and see what we find.
Back in the 80's the Stock Market crashed and the Challenger exploded while Jeffery Dahmer was eating lunch. In the 70's Kent State and Watergate happened while Ted Bundy was preparing for law school. In the 60's you had the 60's; Woodstock, Charlie Manson, Viet Nam, the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, all of which were due, of course, to taking prayer out of the public schools in 1963. The strange marriage of Comniunism, Catholicism and the mob were somehow responsible for the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The 50's were somewhat mild compared to the 60's - unless, of course, you were a black man in the south or a white missionary in Ecuador. The 40's started with the sounds of bombs blasting from World War II and exploded into those pretty mushroom pictures that fascinated us in grade school.
The 30's saw the rise to power of a little man who happened to be responsible for the annihilation of over 6 million people in Europe. Our fascination with this evil man has caused some to call the History Channel the Hitler Channel. The roaring 20's ended down right depressing.
1914 may have been the beginning of first major deathblow to the previous century's optimism that embraced the philosophies of the enlightenment, secular humanism and religious determinism. Man was being set free from the constraints of God and was on his way to building a utopia. Everyone had world peace and brotherly love in mind when mothers in Germany, Russia, Italy, and Spain where admiring the newborn babies named Adolf, Joseph, Benito, and Francisco.
That pretty much takes care of this century. So when were these good old days? Granted, I left out some of the good parts. But I also left out many more bad parts. Let us not confuse growing up with our doors unlocked with all being right in the cosmos. In our self-centered America today and around the world for many yesterdays, human beings have faced many horrible trials and tribulations. If you would like to pass the good old days myth on to your children or grandchildren here is a good recipe for December 31,1999:
(1) The day's local newspaper \
(2) A bottle of wine
(3) A select memory
(4) Your choice of video:
- The Andy Griffith Show
- The Walton's
- Happy Days
After you've finished the paper, the videos and a couple of glasses of wine, listen to Don Henley's song "The End of the Innocence,"
Who knows how long this will lost,
Now we've come so far, so fast
But, somewhere back there in the dust,
That same small town in each of us.
I need to remember this,
So baby give me just one kiss.
And let me take one last look,
Before we say goodbye.
What will you be saying goodbye to? I don't know. Here is a second option for your New Year celebration. Three books: The Bible and Latourette's "A History of Christianity" Volumes I & 11. Start with Hebrews. In chapter 10:32 where we read: "But remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings, partly, by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated. For you showed sympathy to the prisoners, and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and an abiding one." When's the last time you heard that preached on Christian TV? How did they joyfully accept the plunder of their possessions? Because they were strangers and pilgrims here and because they possessed the pearl of great price. They looked ahead to the future glory.
Things heat up in Hebrews, chapter II. Here is the account of those who were stoned, sawn in two, and slain with swords. This was definitely not the good old days. This fallen world is not a safe place. It ' wasn't safe for Christ, for Stephen, for Paul, and for minions of others who have been martyred for their faith in Christ. Why should it be safe for you? If the names of Ridley, Latimer, Wyclif, and Hus don't ring a bell I suggest you skip dessert and your favorite distraction tonight and begin Latourette's books before New Year's Eve.
This is not an easy road to go down. But we can take comfort in knowing that it is a joy to partake in the sufferings of Christ. Christians need to prepare for not only the stock market crashing in the future but for America to crumble someday. As Alistar Begg said, "Jesus Christ did not die on the cross so that you could eat apple pie." We are here to build the kingdom of God. This is to happen in whatever culture we find ourselves.