The Conflict Between Biblical and Humanistic History – Part 2

Just as history has a purpose, it also has a promise. The seeds sown by previous generations always bear sweet or bitter fruit for their descendants. We are responsible for tomorrow’s history. Yet, even in man’s freewill choices, God remains sovereign in guiding the affairs of men, a mystery we find fully revealed in Scripture. It is scriptural truth that gives assurance all will work for good.

Not so in the humanistic view of history. Because there is no purpose or grand scheme, it is every man for himself. Do what is right in your own eyes, for in death, all being, hope or pleasure dies. Ironically, history becomes a cruel joke, a trick, where vanity and frustration drive men mad for the futility of their work. We all are forgotten, all have someone who will best us later, all have nothing beyond the grave.

As home-educators, we have an awesome advantage when approaching the great, tattered-edged scroll of mankind’s history. How can the inquisitive six-year-old boy on our knee learn of history’s good and evil leaders so he will either emulate their virtues or shun their vices? When the thirteen-year-old girl hears of Ruth, Queen Victoria or Margaret Sanger, how can we equip her with wisdom to see their lives as God does? The answer is to start with His book – the one infallible record of mankind’s origins and story of existence. Thus enters our third pillar: biblical history is told through men and women in their relationship to God.

History Told Through Men and Women in their Relationship to God

While God takes center stage in history’s drama, a biblical understanding of history also starts with a biblical understanding of man. Genesis wastes no time in revealing the nature of this relationship.

And God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Genesis 1:26-27).

First, mankind is created in God’s image. Therefore, all of secular history is inadequate for understanding man, because it fails to understand God. Without starting with God first, our understanding of man’s history will never be complete.

Man being created in God’s image also means humans have always been human. We did not descend from lower life forms. We are not animals, nor have we ever been. Adam and Eve were created fully human with fully human brains, genetics, minds and souls.

“The knowledge of the holy is understanding.”

Clearly, humanistic history is diseased soil for growing children rooted in the knowledge of the holy. Knowledge of God and His word are foundational to making sense of mankind’s past and teaching it the way Scripture does.

Kenzi Knapp is a follower of Christ, homeschool graduate and student of history. A fourth generation Missourian she enjoys writing about daily life enrolled in Gods great course of faith and His story throughout the ages at her blog, Honey Rock Hills.