Another History Lesson           by Carl McMurray

 

In THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, Edward Gibbons listed five factors that contributed to the ultimate downfall of the Roman Empire. I’m sure you’ve seen them listed before, but they are worth repeating in this day and age.

 

The rapid increase in divorce, undermining the sanctity of the home which is the basis of society.

Higher and higher taxes, and the spending of public money for bread and celebration.

The mad craze for pleasure, sports becoming every year more exciting and brutal.

The building of gigantic armaments, when the real enemy was within, the decadence of the people.

Decaying religion, faith fading into mere form, losing touch with life and becoming impotent to guide people in the right way.

 

It is said that those who won’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it, and that is sad news for our country. Proverbs 14:34 says, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” But this is not an article about patriotism. The same author in the same book above also noted several factors that contributed to the success of Christianity. Gibbons, although an agnostic himself, listed these traits for success.

 

The intense zeal of the early Christians in proclaiming their faith.

The belief in a future life with God, beyond this life on earth.

The claim for miracles by Jesus, His apostles, and some of the early disciples to establish and confirm the validity of the truth being taught.

The pureness of morality lived and taught by early disciples.

The unity and discipline of the early disciples.

 

A modern historian, in commenting on the growth of the early church, said of the members, “They out-lived, out-thought, and out-died their pagan contemporaries.” Rather than be depressed at troubled times, it is noteworthy that the early church grew and flourished in that atmosphere. When the night is the darkest is exactly the time that a light is needed the most, looked for the hardest, and found shining the brightest. “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 5:15.

 

Ideas above blatantly stolen from Thomas Thornhill, via THE BUCKHORN TEACHER