day no. 15,955: history and pedigree

“The West is about to repudiate its historical heritage. It is becoming hostile to Christ This is the unique situation of our time, and it is actual decay. The Christian churches stand in the middle of the dissolution of all that exists, as protectors of the heritage of the Middle Ages and the Reformation, but above all as witnesses to the miracle of God in Jesus Christ ‘yesterday, today, and forever’ (Heb. 13:8). Next to the churches, however, stands ‘the restraining power’ [das Aufhaltende] [2 Thess. 2:7], the remnant of ordering power, that still effectively resists decay. The church has a unique task. The corpus christianum has broken apart. The corpus Christi stands over against a hostile world. The church must bear witness to Jesus Christ as living lord, and it must do so in a world that has turned away from Christ after knowing him. As bearer of a historical heritage, the church, while waiting for Judgment Day, has an obligation to the historical future.” -- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Ethics

Christians are not allowed to repudiate their history or heritage. Christianity, uniquely among other religions, stakes its case on tangible historical events and makes its case for tangible hereditary eventuality. The meek shall inherit the earth and Christians are required to believe this. Christians must believe it was said at a particular time about a particular place by a particular Man. Christianity is based on that Man being who He said He was.... God incarnate come to die for the sins of those made in His image by Him. 

"Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past." -- George Orwell

Christians are not trying to rewrite history in order to control the future. They are called to safeguard the past in order to inform our conduct in the present and our hopes in His future. Changing the facts in order to change the future is not a Christian's business. Our hope is not in managing the facts, but in preserving them and letting them speak for themselves.

“History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes." -- Mark Twain

We should not expect to find the exact same thing taking place tomorrow that took place once before per se, but if we know the past, we should be able to predict, the kind of thing that is coming, like the next line of a nursery rhyme, the first verse wants you to see what is coming. At the very least, we can limit our number of guesses when we have an ear for poetry.