Albrecht - "Living in the 'good ol' days'?"

Another very insightful look at the myth of the "good ol' days" of America's "Christian" past, this time from Plain Truth's Greg Albrecht. (I'm quoting Greg's article in its entirety - it's from the latest PTM newsletter, and I can't find it posted on the Plain Truth web site. I'll be glad to replace it with a link if one becomes available.)

Do you know anyone who can't seem to get over the past and move on? Maybe things seemed simpler, less threatening, less confusing and less hectic back then. Some Christians favor a 19th century retro style. The novels they read are set in the antebellum South, replete with hoop-skirted ladies and aristocratic gentlemen. The paintings on their walls show small-town scenes with cozy cottages whose windows glow with candlelight and gas lamps. The furniture and appointments in their homes are early American, with frilly draperies and knick-knacks. There’s nothing wrong with that charming décor, yet those who immerse themselves in such surroundings may be expressing a wish to live in an earlier era. Indeed, some are calling for America to turn back the clock to yesteryear -- to a time, some say, when people had sound moral values and were more Christian.

Yet the grim historical truth does not support that romantic vision. The19th century was a time of unspeakable violence, of ignorance and prejudice, of exploitation and slavery. Modern medicine and science was in its infancy. Our responsibility to the environment was a radical notion shared by only a few. And this was just in America -- the rest of the world suffered in the throes of abject poverty, dominated by warring empires, monarchies, duchies and other non-democratic institutions that would seem tyrannical by today’s standards.

It is unclear what people mean when they advocate a return to America’s “Christian heritage.” A close examination of the lives of the American founding fathers shows that, although some of them may have been nominally Christian, most could not be described as devout. The Constitution is a wonderful document that gives us freedoms unprecidented in history. But although it contains some themes consistent with historical Christian thought, it is not a particularly Christian document. At the time our government was formed, there is no clear evidence that the general public was any more devoutly Christian. Rather, historical documents show that church attendance has neither increased or decreased much from that time until now.

Yet many continue to believe the myth that if we turn back the cultural clock, the United States will experience a great “revival” and return to being the great Christian nation it once was. But how far should the clock be turned back? How far back do we have to go to find a truly Christian culture? The Reformation? The Middle Ages? The Ancient world? Would we want to go back to New Testament days? Some Christians would love that opportunity -- but they would suddenly find themselves living as an oppressed minority in the midst of a brutal, pagan culture.

The truth is that every age of human civilization has its overwhelming problems. Every age has its tyrants, rebels, hedonists, opportunists, charlatans, apathetics, religious fanatics, political zealots, evildoers -- and its followers of God. There is no “best time” to live except the time in which God has placed us. The question is not when but who? Instead of turning to an earlier time and living in the good ol’ days, we ought to be turning to the Lord of all time. We ought to be fully experiencing life now, in the present world -- but living in Jesus.