Nathan Ching

A redeemed child of God, happy husband, homeschooling dad of nine, and lifelong lover of good books.

038 | Why Bother with History?

Hey Fellow Dads!

Why should we bother with history? Isn’t it just facts about dates and dead people? Or is there some actual, as well as practical, value to learning the stories of the past?

In this episode, I share five reasons we as dads should know history ourselves, and then pass it on to our children!

—Nathan

Why bother reading history?

Because History is HIS story, reading history gives us a glimpse into how God is bringing His will to fruition amongst mankind.
Because knowing history gives us a clearer understanding into our own times.
Because history is full of negative examples—people doing things they should not have.
Because history is full of positive examples—people doing great and good things for their own generation.
Because reading history reminds us that our own lives are very brief; but with God’s help, we can accomplish much to bless our own generation and succeeding generations and lay up treasures in heaven!

Scriptures

Psalm 78:1-8

1 Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth. 2 I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: 3 Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. 4 We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done. 5 For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: 6 That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: 7 That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments: 8 And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.

Isaiah 46:9-10

9 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:

Revelation 11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become [the kingdoms] of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

Ecclesiastes 1:9 The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

1 Corinthians 10:6, 11

6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. 11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

Acts 13:36 For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption:

James 4:14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

Quotes

“The fate of unborn millions now depends, under God, on the courage and conduct of this Army.”

—Gen. George Washington

“America was founded by people who believe that God was their rock of safety. I recognize we must be cautious in claiming that God is on our side, but I think it’s all right to keep asking if we’re on His side.”

—President Ronald Reagan, in his Second Inaugural Address, January 25, 1984, quoted in America’s God and Country: Encyclopedia of Quotations, by William J. Federer

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

—martyred missionary Jim Eliot

Books

More Than Dates and Dead People, by Stephen Mansfield

Breaking Into Print: Before and After the Invention of the Printing Press, written by Stephen Krensky, illustrated by Bonnie Christensen

Under Drake’s Flag: A Tale of the Spanish Main, by G.A. Henty

Martin Luther: The Man Who Rediscovered God and Changed the World, by Eric Metaxes

Tyndale: The Man Who Gave God an English Voice, by David Teems

1820: Grapes of Canaan, by Albertine Loomis (story of the first Christian missionaries to the Hawaiian Islands, told by a granddaughter of one of those first missionaries)

Stephen: A Soldier of the Cross, by Florence Morse Kingsley

The Martyr of the Catacombs, author unknown

Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, by John Foxe

My Brother’s Keeper: Christians Who Risked All To Protect Jewish Targets of the Nazi Holocaust, by Rod Gragg

Then Darkness Fled: The Liberating Wisdom of Booker T. Washington, by Stephen Mansfield

The Titanic’s Last Hero, by Moody Adams

These Are My People, by Mildred T. Howard (biography of Missionary Gladys Aylward)

Through Gates of Splendor, by Elisabeth Eliot

America’s God and Country: Encyclopedia of Quotations, by William J. Federer

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