I’m reading a book that is the biography of James Madison, fourth President of the United States. I don’t think many people knew that he was going to seminary to become an Anglican priest prior to the Revolution. The Anglican Church was the official Church of England. The Church of England was the state church of Virginia, where Madison was from.
When the discussion of freedom of Religion arose in the founding of the new United States, Madison was skeptical because he thought the Anglican Church and its government-mandated “tythes” would be weakened if Baptists and other independent groups gained prominence. Because religious views are intense in people, this was a major obstacle to unity in the forming of our government.
It was obvious that Madison was a religious bigot, favoring only his own group, but he had to learn to be tolerant of other views to eventually gain the trust of enough voters to become the President of the United States. Perhaps we could learn a lesson on tolerance from James Madison.
Tags: history, Madison, tolerance
Sunday afternoon I had my final Christmas gathering of the year as my siblings and nieces and nephews met at my brother’s cottage on Hamilton Lake. I think it was a blessing for my Mom to see her family together again, although most of her grandkids had already gone back to college or jobs.
My brother had a pleasant surprise for me. He took me upstairs to show me a workbench he had purchased. This particular workbench was made in 1880 and had a very early electric motor which powered a very small lathe. Holes were still visible where a treadle was once used to turn the lathe. He purchased it from a retired jeweler who used it as a hobbie for repairing watches. He bought it at an auction in Butler in 1963. Sure enough, it was the very workbench that my grandfather, James G. Diehl used in Diehl’s Jewelry for his entire career. The workbench was made the same year the old brick jewelry store was built by my grandfather’s uncle Leander J. Diehl, who started the business. This is a family heirloom that I was so glad to get to see.
While moving on into the future, we still can cherish the past. What family heirloom do you possess and cherish, and why?
Tags: history, past
Anita and I went to Ft. Wayne last night to a dinner celebrating Pastor Larry Goodwin’s 40th ministry anniversary. He began his ministry as the bus director for Calvary Temple’s huge bus ministry, then went on to plant churches in Bluffton, Decatur, and Defiance, Ohio. Then he became the missions director for CMI, and is now the pastor of Carroll Road Christian Church in Ft. Wayne.
But some of you may not know that he once pastored our church. From 1976-1980 I was the associate pastor of the Waterloo Church of Christ. I sensed authority trouble brewing inwardly and thought I was the problem, so I resigned and Anita and I began attending a sister church in Hamilton. Immediately after I left, the church went through an ugly split, and the group that maintained possession of the building asked me to come back and be their pastor. I declined and referred them to see Dr. Paul E. Paino for a pastor from CMI.
CMI sent Pastor Larry Goodwin in as an interim and the church joined CMI and became incorporated under the name Calvary Chapel of Waterloo. Pastor Goodwin stayed as interim for six weeks and brought stability to a troubled time in this church’s history. Thank you, Pastor Larry Goodwin.
Tags: Goodwin, history
I’m reading an older (copyright 1966) college textbook entitled History of American Democracy. It is an American History book with an emphasis upon the culture, religion, thought, and early governmental styles in the colonies, and then States. The section I just completed was on the difference between early colonial city culture and that of European city culture.
I noted that one early European writer observed that in America people were more relaxed in their dress, language, and business than their European counterparts. And the next chapter noted that those who had moved into the frontier (away from the coastal cities) were even more relaxed in that culture. I think perhaps that’s why we Americans are the way we are today: anything goes as it relates to language, morals, and work ethic. We have evolved.
The book also noted another major difference: cleanliness. In European cities, people dumped their waste and garbage out the windows into the streets, where disease spread rapidly. In American cities, regular removal of such waste became a norm. As I have traveled into third world countries, I see that same pattern. We are a people of cleanliness and order.
I think that’s a God thing. What do you think about it?
Tags: clean, culture, history
It may just be the greatest botched opportunity in all church history. In the 1260s, the Polos, an Italian merchant family, journeyed to China and were well received at the court of the great Kublai Khan. Before they returned to Italy in 1269, Kublai Khan requested them to ask the Pope to send 100 teachers of science and religion to instruct the Chinese in the learning and faith of Europe.
The Pope only managed to send two Dominican friars with the Polos in November, 1271; but a war frightened the two friars, and even they turned back. The Polos, including young Marco, continued their journey to the Chinese emperor without the requested religious teachers. How might the history of Christianity in Asia been different had this incomparable opportunity been seized!
That opportunity may be gone, but today there is an excitement in the air as people all around us in America are crying out for something real. I’ve got it and want to pass it on!
Tags: China, history, missions, mistakes, opportunity
In 1884 Grover Cleveland ran against James G. Blaine for the presidency of the U.S. Blaine supporters discovered that Cleveland, who was a bachelor at the time, had fathered a son by Mrs. Maria Crofts Halpin, an attractive widow who had been on friendly terms with several politicians.
Subsequently, Republicans tried to pin an immorality tag on Democrat Cleveland by distributing handbills showing an infant labeled “One more vote for Cleveland” and by having paraders chant, “Ma, Ma, where’s my pa? Gone to the White House, Ha Ha Ha!” The move, however, backfired badly. Rather than deny the story, Cleveland decided to tell the truth and admit the intimacy. This candor helped defuse the issue, and Cleveland was elected president.
When we come clean on an issue, it tends to make people (as well as God) trust us. Confession is good for the soul and politics.
Tags: confession, history, politics