Thanksgiving and the Purpose of History

History as Truth

If it is possible in a courtroom to judge a defendant guilty or innocent, or in a laboratory to discover the relationship between physical properties and phenomena, it must be possible to know the truth about history.

The word “history,” according to Webster, is related to the Greek historia, “a learning by inquiry.” The word “skeptic” also comes from the Greek skeptesthai, meaning to examine or consider. A true skeptic is a “considerer” who will not pass judgment before the evidence has been thoughtfully examined.

In a world of sunshine and rain and natural beauty beyond measure, who is so cynical as to refuse to examine available evidence of the work of a Creator God in the history of man? For the open minded scholar the possibility of God’s presence in history is not unthinkable.

Page Smith points out in his book, History and Historians, that the Jews discovered history. For them chronology was transcended by the relation of a people with their God. The meaning, purpose and direction of history was found in God’s will and their Messianic expectation.

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Prince Hall's Petition to the Massachusetts General Assembly - January 13, 1777

Prince Hall (1735–1807) was held as a slave by William Hall, in Boston until the age of 35, when he was freed. Hall used his freedom to become an advocate for African Americans. Hall made many petitions on behalf of free blacks and successfully petitioned for the release of three Boston African Americans who had been kidnapped into slavery.

While most Americans are familiar with the 18th century abolitionist movement, Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation, few know about the reasons for the abolition of slavery in the northern states in the 1770s. Prince Hall’s Petition to the Massachusetts General Assembly (the state Supreme Court at the time) used the argument of the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal with the right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness to argue for the abolition of slavery.

Prince Hall’s Petition became the precedent for the abolition of slavery in Massachusetts and then all the northern states through state courts and state constitutional law.

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Suggested products

DVD

Freedom

The Model of Christian Liberty. This DVD includes “Dawn’s Early Light: A Brief History of America’s Christian Foundations” and bonus features.

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