"Ah, the good old days," People say fondly of times past. For some people, the "good old days" refers to their youth, when life seemed full of endless possibilities. For others, it is a time in history they remember, such a time of financial prosperity and lower costs than the present. One thing all "good old days" have in common is that they are in the past, not the current time. But what if it was God's plan that we could have our "good old days" right now?
When I think of "good old days" from my life, I imagine the late 80's, when I was in grade school. My friends and I used to play board games, and the loser had to buy the winner an ice cream cone from Thirfty's (a drug store with an ice cream counter. The Thrifty chain eventually merged with Payless Drugs, and was later bought out by Rite Aid, though some Rite Aids still have Thrifty Ice Cream counters). In 1988, a scoop of Thrifty ice cream cost 32 cents. If you beat your friend at the game, they had to give you that amount--and if you raised the stakes a little, they might owe you 64 cents for a double scoop! Those were fun, carefree days of board games and inexpensive ice cream with good friends (last time I was in California, I paid $1.99 for a scoop of Thrifty's ice cream!). But those aren't the only good old days. I think of that same era, when our church group used to go Christmas caroling every year. I think of junior high, when my brother and I were on a bowling league. I think of taking long-distance bike-rides with my dad as a high schooler. I think of my first years as a teen summer missionary. I think of my college graduation. I think of the time I went camping with a good friend I was discipling. I think of the time when my husband and I were engaged and embarking on new adventures. I think of our wedding day. I think of some of the fun trips my husband and I have taken. I think of teaching 5th grade at a Christian school in Albuquerque. These are all good old days--some obviously older than others. What are your good old days?
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| Some of my good old days--this was from our family's 1991 Christmas card--I'm the pre-teen at left. |
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| A more recent "good old day" for us--Christmas 2021 |
As I implied above, I grew up in the latter 20th century. We went to a church that strongly revered the 19th century (most of the newest songs we sang were written then--the older ones were from the 1700s and earlier). It was a wonderful church, and to this day, I often prefer more traditional services because of that, but their fixation on the 1800's sort of set me up for failure, as you'll see. One teacher told our youth group that everyone was a Christian in the 1800's (Even the devil, one of the youth group kids joked, and was given a sharp look from said teacher). Nothing good had ever come of the twentieth century, it was implied. We lived in degenerate times with no future. God owed Sodom and Gomorrah an apology if He didn't strike us all soon (I literally hate that analogy--God owes no one an apology, and there are more than ten righteous on earth right now!). I struggled with guilt over being born when I was, and I longed for the previous century. Instead of being excited about God's plans for my life, I feared the evil future. I imagined past years to be wholesome and good, something out of Little House on the Prairie. As a committed Christian teenager, I felt I would have fit in so much better then. But is that the truth? Does the past deserve the esteem many pay it?
I will use history, logic, and the Bible to determine how we should view the past, our own best memories, and the present time.
As Americans, we often view only American history, and claim, "Look how far we've fallen. It used to be good, but now it's bad." However, to be truly honest, we must look at world history. We need to go back much further than 1776. For the moment in this narrative, Bible and history go hand-in-hand. Adam and Eve ate the fruit, and brought sin into the world (Genesis 3). The next generation had fratricide (Genesis 4:8). Doesn't sound like the good old days, does it? From there, people just continued to sin. By Genesis 6, we see that people's hearts continually thought up wickedness, so much so, that God regretted creating them (Genesis 6:6)! So, God wiped out most of the human race, and kept just one godly family alive (by the way, off the point, but I will add that it wasn't "mean" of God to do this--it is God's prerogative to do whatever He wants. It is of His mercies that we are not consumed--Lamentations 3:22). But human nature was still sinful. There was always a godly remnant, but there was also a lot of evil. In Israel's biblical history, most of the kings were evil (after the kingdom divided, the northern kingdom had no good kings, and in the southern kingdom of Judah, twelve of their twenty kings were wicked. Many of these kings required families to sacrifice their children. Great wickedness happened during these long-ago years. This doesn't even count the atrocities of all the other empires on earth at that time, such as the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Egyptians, etc.
The Greek Empire was the greatest world power from around 776 BC to 323 BC. This was a humanistic society intent on world domination, but was ended at the death of Alexander the Great. The Romans followed as the world power, and this is the world into which Jesus was born. The Romans were a cruel empire, demanding allegiance to their emperors. Their form of execution--crucifixion--was the most inhumane death sentence in history. Some of their emperors, such as Caligula and Nero, were insanely wicked, and did unfathomable evil (Nero set a fire that burned 70% of Rome, and watched, allegedly playing his fiddle--and then blamed the Christians for the fire). These leaders loved wealth and power. Not the good old days most people imagine.
History marches on. There have always been evil rulers, godless cultures, and immoral laws. In 1620, a band of Pilgrims crossed the Atlantic Ocean, in order to find a land where they could worship God as they saw fit. They landed at Plymouth Rock, which would eventually become part of a new nation. One-hundred-fifty-six years later, the United States of America declared Independence from Great Britain. The US was founded on the ideal of religious freedom, and many of our forefathers were God-fearing men. Many Americans today are God-fearing. America has been the home of many Christian revivals of the last few centuries. Men like Jonathan Edwards, Dwight Moody, and Billy Graham have shaped different generations of Christian movements. But it was never perfect. Wicked things happened all over the world. Until 1808, the transatlantic slave trade flourished. Slavery in the United States lasted in the South until 1865. Those definitely were not the "good old days" for some people!
The occult became very popular in the 1800's, with many people following these alternative religious movements. Transcendentalism, a philosophy that teaches man is divine, was very commonplace, promoted and followed by people like Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and (my favorite author of that era) Louisa May Alcott. While Dwight Moody was leading people to Jesus, others were trying to replace these truths with their own man-made teachings. In 1859, Charles Darwin published his book On the Origin of the Species. Following its publication, Darwinism flourished, replacing belief in the biblical account of creation for many. First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln was heavily involved in spiritism, seeking comfort in seances rather than God. Were these really the good old days?
The 20th century opened with a lot of optimism, but it closed with battle scars of wars and rumors of wars. A 2002 article in The Guardian stated that the twentieth century was the bloodiest in history thus far. The US was involved in two World Wars, Korea, Viet Nam, and Operation Desert Storm--not to mention many smaller wars. The Holocaust occurred during World War II. The rise (and partial fall) of communism happened in the 20th century. The twentieth century also saw God and prayer being removed from public schools in the US and Canada. Two US Presidents were assassinated during that century (McKinley in 1901 and Kennedy in 1963). School shootings happened in the 1990's. And yet the twentieth century contains the "good old days" for many--myself included.
The 21st century started with a bang. Just nine months into the new century (assuming the century started in 2001), the US was attacked on its own soil for the first time since the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor nearly 60 years earlier. On September 11, 2001, which would forever after be known as 9/11, terrorists hijacked four planes. Two of them were flown into the World Trade Towers. One was flown into the Pentagon. The other was taken back over by the passengers, and crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The ensuing war on terror changed the entire focus on the infant century. I was a young adult in the workforce at the time, working as a Christian preschool teacher. I will never forget the emotions of 9/11, although we personally were not in danger on the West Coast. A recession in the late 2000's and early 2010's created much civil unrest. The 20's have so far been a decade of deception and division. As Christians serving the Lord, we are often left to feel as if we're walking on thin ice, and choosing our battles and strategies very carefully. I am strongly struck with how history repeats itself, and human nature doesn't change.
Now that we've examined history (just scratching the surface, really, but it gave an idea), let's look at this logically. As sentimental as it feels to watch Little House on the Prairie, or read old-fashioned books, we know that the past wasn't any better than today. People who lived in those times were just like us. They got up every day to face a world that didn't know God, and never had since Genesis 3. People worked, laughed, cried, loved, hated, got sick, got well, had good days, had hard days, and overall lived their lives the way we do today. The past seems romantic by both its distance and its proximity to today. It was long ago, and is no threat to us. And yet there are things that we relate to in old stories, things which transcend time, and could be related to today. I believe more people romanticize relatively recent past (such as 19th century America) than further distant past (the Assyrian Empire, BC). How many more movies, TV shows, books and other art forms depict the 19th century than the era of the Assyrian Empire? An American in 2022 can much more easily relate to an American in 1890 than he can to citizens of Assur (the capital of Assyria until 879 BC). But really, all of it was the present when it was happening. It wasn't romantic or long ago to them. It was exactly the same to them that 2022 is for us right now. Just normal life. They didn't have that point of comparison to romanticize it. One day, people might look back at 2022 and think of it as quaint, interesting, romantic and different. Maybe historical fiction will be written about these times. It seems weird now, but it would seem weird to people long ago that we would enjoy books and movies about their time now.
I grew up in the 1980's and 90's. I remember so many people (especially older people) declaring how evil and corrupt everything was. Now, in 2022, I hear people talk about how wholesome and good everything in the world used to be before the turn of the century. They say this because of a point of comparison. I remember going to secular college right after I graduated from high school (still the twentieth century, but barely), and I thought it was very secular and humanistic. Compared to today, it wasn't nearly as overt, but it was still godless, and had false premises about human nature that have led to the seemingly worse errors being promoted today. It wasn't the wholesome "good old days" people today would like to make it.
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| The wholesome 90's! I am the taller girl pictured, 1992 |
Another point worth making is that, while some good things in the past are gone, some good things in the present didn't exist in the past. When I was a teenager, and people at church would talk about how much better it would have been to be a Christian in the 1800's, my dad would point out, "But we have Christian radio today. We can listen to Bible teachers all over the country just by flipping a switch. People in the 1800's had to wait until the great preachers came to their town to preach a revival." That is a very true point, and today, we can take it even further. Today, with modern technology, I am part of a prayer line that Christians from all over the world call into. I monitor that line every Monday morning, and I get the chance to pray with fellow-Christians from Africa, Australia, Haiti, Belize, Canada, and all over the US as well. This would never have been possible in the twentieth century. If I could go back to the 90's and tell my high school self that I would one day pray with believers all over the earth, and form friendships outside the US, I would have never believed that! It is too wonderful to think of! My point in this is that, while the past seems glamorous, the present can be wonderful too, if we choose to see it that way.
What does the Bible say about living and embracing the present? The Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 3:13-14 ...forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. We are to always move forward in the Lord. This doesn't mean we don't remember. We are told to remember as well (Isaiah 46:9). But we are not to live in the past.
Psalm 118:24 (which is also a well-known song) states, This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. This is the key to living in the present. God made this day for you! Rejoice in that! Seize every opportunity He gives you, and make the most of it, especially in light of eternity. Second Corinthians 6:2 says, ...now is the day of salvation. Now. This day. Not 100 years ago. Not 10 years ago. Not six months ago. Not yesterday. When those times were the present, this verse applied to them, but right now, it only applies to today! This is the opportunity to receive Christ, and to tell others about Him! Don't let life pass you by because you were too busy complaining about the present and longing for the past!
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| My friend Stacey sharing the Gospel in a Good News Club in Bryant, Arkansas. |
Going back to the way I felt as a high schooler, would I have been happier as a Christian young person in the 19th century, instead of the 20th century? Again, we must realize I was concluding that based on comparison (and watching too much Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman). If I had lived in the 19th century with no idea of what the 20th century would bring, I could never have made that comparison, and would never have said, "Oh, I'm so happy I live in such wholesome and good times, unlike how evil the future will become." No one has ever said that, because no one sees the future. Also, it must be noted that all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. (Second Timothy 3:12). This verse was written by the Apostle Paul under the inspiration of God during the first century, to his protege Timothy. This verse is saying that we can't expect the world to be on our side if we're really living for the Lord. As a Christian teen in the 1990's, I faced some difficulty and hurt for the stand I took for Christ. But according to this verse, it still would have happened, no matter what century I had lived in. Living for Jesus goes against the grain. This did not start in 1900, or 1950, or 1990, or 2020. It always has, and always will, until Christ returns. The world was always what it is (since Genesis 3). There has never been a time when Christians were loved by the world. Jesus Himself warned that, if the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. (John 15:18). The Apostle John wrote, ...the reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. (First John 3:1). Paul warned believers not to be conformed to this world (Romans 12:2). In fact, Jesus even went so far as to say, Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets. This is not to say we should purposely seek to be odd and unpopular--but it might happen naturally if we just live out our Christian lives, and we are to expect that.
The hard part is, sometimes, we are even persecuted from within the church. This happens when someone is sold-out to Jesus Christ amongst other Christians who are not living that life of surrender. It sends conviction to these other believers' hearts, and rather than face it and repent, they throw out the one who reminds of them of what they should be. Jesus warned about that too. John 16:2 says, They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. In this instance, Jesus wasn't warning the disciples about the world. He was warning about people who claim to know and speak for God, but who didn't really know Him. These people often hate true Christians the most, for exposing what fakes they are. Again, Jesus warned this in the first century, and it has remained true to this day and beyond (because all of Jesus' words remain true). It is something we see played out again and again.
Finally, I would not have been better off in an earlier time in history, because Acts 17:26 says that God created us in the exact time and place He wanted us to be (having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place). The reason is found in verse 27: that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. God knew the very best time and pace in history for me to know Him was the late 20th and early 21st century (well, I might live to see the second half of this century--and if I do, then that is also part of His time for me on this earth). The best time and place for me to respond to His salvation was February 7, 1987 in Riverside, California, USA. According to this verse, no other time or place was as good for me to come to Him! Isn't that exciting? God has you where you are in time and space for reasons only He knows. Ephesians 2:10 says, For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. God has plans for you alone! Plans that He didn't give to Jonathan Edwards, Dwight Moody or Billy Graham. Plans someone in the future cannot fulfill. Only you! God loves you and has plans for you right now!
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