Resources
Visit Homeschool History to explore resources about the people and ideas Ray discusses in this podcast.
Transcript and Photos
Ray Notgrass: On today’s Exploring History podcast, I’ll offer six important things you can learn from history that can change your life!
Titus Anderson: [music in background] Welcome to Exploring History with Ray Notgrass, a production of Notgrass History.
Ray Notgrass: I’m Ray Notgrass. Thanks for listening. The school year has started, and across America students are picking up their history books for at least part of each day and studying about people and events from years gone by. The question that occurs in many of these young minds is, “Why?” Why do I have to study this stuff? Why do I have to memorize names and dates just to spit them back on a test?
Whatever that process might be, that’s not history. I can assure you that nobody majors in history in college or goes into history as a profession so they can say names and dates and then torture students by having them memorize all that information. Serious students of history have an interest, even a fascination, with what history reveals, and I assure you that it reveals much.
In this podcast I plan to give you a vision for the value of studying history, an idea of what you can learn from history, and a sense of some things that I have learned from studying history–realizations and insights that have blessed my life.
So let’s start. What can you learn from history? Number One, you learn that human beings are a mess. The Bible calls it sin, and the Bible also speaks of a world groaning for redemption. Many people want to classify people and nations as either good or bad, and of course we and our friends are the good guys, and our enemies are the bad guys. There have definitely been people and nations that have done some very bad things, but all of us are a mixed bag of good and bad. In fact, everyone who has ever lived has been this kind of mixture, with the exception of Jesus. Seeing history as the story of what mixed bag people have done will make your study more realistic and helpful.
Sin is real. If you ever doubted that, the terrorist attacks that took place on September 11, 2001, should prove that without question. But you know what? Goodness is real, too. Individuals and nations have done some wonderful things. We see that in history also. History is a mixture of good and bad because people are a mixture of good and bad, and people make history.
Continuing this thought, history teaches us that people won't mind their own business and leave other people alone. One nation wants another nation’s land or seaports or minerals or oil, or one nation wants to enslave the citizens of another nation. The reasons vary but it’s always the same issue: I have an excuse to dominate you, so I act on it. We see this today in the war between Russia and the Ukraine, where one country invaded another. And conflict in the Middle East continues because some people think other people must suffer in order for the first group to flourish or because both groups think they have an historic right to a piece of land. But at the same time, one nation might defend another nation’s right to live in peace. This is why America got involved in Europe in World War II.
And as we move through history, we see progress and setbacks, inventions that help millions of people live better lives and inventions that take more lives. The point of all of this is that we need to study history carefully and with discernment. We need to see what is good and what is bad, wherever those good and bad things happen, and to understand why they happen. The Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn expressed the ultimate why when he wrote: “The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either -- but right through every human heart -- and through all human hearts.” We can be grateful that God has provided the answer in Jesus, and we can help others come to know Him as the answer.
What can you learn from history? Number Two, Great leaders and everyday people make the history we read about and that affects our lives. The Scottish historian Thomas Carlyle said that "history is but the biographies of great men." I think he was partially correct. There is no doubt that people such as Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and other prominent leaders have had a profound effect on the course of American and world history. But as Roosevelt and Churchill were making speeches and developing policies that led to victory in World War II, everyday British people were risking their lives to throw fire bombs off the dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, and everyday American men and women were working on assembly lines to turn out ships and fighter planes. While Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were changing the world with their discoveries and innovations regarding computers, millions of people around the world were working to support their families and voting in elections that maintained freedom. We know the impact of the great leaders whose names generations of people remember, but we should also realize the impact of pioneers who braved the wilderness to expand our country, and of enlisted personnel who fought the battles. The point of this is, don’t ever question your ability to impact your world if not the world as a whole. You can make a difference.
What can you learn from history? Number Three, People have overcome much to accomplish much. For instance, the countless immigrants who have come to this country with almost nothing and by hard work achieved success; people who have come from unhappy homes and decided to break that cycle and have a positive life; people who endure hardship in war and emerge stronger for it. Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver, who came out of slavery to make great contributions to American education and science. Wilma Rudolph, who overcame childhood polio to become an Olympic champion. Jackie Robinson, who overcame prejudice to become a star baseball player, the first black player in the modern major leagues. Such stories of heroes inspire me. They tell me that I don’t have any excuses, that I can do more than I often think I can. I love stories of people who overcome obstacles, hardships, and setbacks. That’s one important thing I learn from history.
What can you learn from history? Number Four, you can learn why things are the way they are today. For instance, the Muslims and the Israelis have been fighting each other all my life. Why? The reasons go back literally for centuries and involve claims and periods of possession of the land. There’s a lot of history to be accounted for since God promised the land of Canaan to Abraham and his descendants, there’s much more to the story. Getting a grasp of this helps us understand the dynamics of what is going on there today. The same is true with Russia and the Ukraine; the story goes back for centuries and what you hear depends on who is talking to you. It’s not easy to untangle, so resolving these issues is not easy. But at least you can have a better understanding of what is going on.
What can you learn from history? Number Five, Jesus and His followers really have changed the world. We don’t see the media acknowledging this today, but it is really true. When you consider the world that existed before Jesus came and the world today, the impact of Christianity has been tremendous, and that impact isn’t limited to merely the number of Christians in the world today. How people should treat each other, the assumptions about the worth of human beings, the treatment of women and children, the value placed on health care–so many of the cultural norms that we take for granted came from the new view of people that Jesus brought and that His followers spread. We shouldn’t be blind to the struggles that the church has faced and is facing; but over the long term, the impact of Christianity has really changed the world for good.
Finally, what can you learn from history? Number Six, history teaches us to hope. It’s easy to look at our world and despair. It’s easy to read history and be discouraged by how people don’t learn from the past and keep doing the same harmful things. And I don’t think these trends are going to go away. But the civil rights movement did have an impact, and relations among people now are better than they were. Women did get the right to vote and are treated more fairly in the workplace than they once were. Communist governments did fall in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. The nations of Europe are no longer constant rivals and enemies; they have learned that getting along is better. Health care today is on an entirely different level than it was 75 or 100 years ago. People use their God-given abilities to find answers. Yes, many problems hold us back and many aspects of our lives could and should be better. But people can and have grown and changed, and that should give us hope.
So as you study history, and especially as your students study history in their education, remember that it is for a good purpose, that it helps us to be better people and more contributing citizens of our country and our world. Seek to grow as you study the past and enrich your life and the lives of those around you.
I’m Ray Notgrass. Happy studying, and thanks for listening.
Visit Homeschool History to explore resources about the people and ideas Ray discusses in this podcast.