Were the Good Old Days Really That Good

Mankind is obsessed with the good old days. The Beatles sung the song "Yesterday" about how they longed for yesterday. Bob Seiger sang these famous lyrics, "Still like that old time rock'n'roll, that kind of music just soothes the soul, reminiscing about the days of old, still like that old time rock'n'roll." This has even come into the church. The people's Gospel Hour theme song says, "Oh how well I remember in the old fashioned days when some old fashioned people had some old fashioned ways, in those old fashioned meetings how we tarried there, in the old fashioned manner how God answered their prayer." There is an attitude of "If we could only go back." We long for the days in the state of Maine when there was no shopping on Sunday. We commiserate how Psalm 23 is not longer read in schools. We hate that they've banned prayer in schools. We act as if it was so much better in the past. Was the good old days really that good?

Many say that they were. There was no shopping, but did people attend church instead of shopping. Lets say more did attend church. What kind of churches did they attend? Were they bible based or liberal churches? If the gospel was taught, was it believed? Did they attend out of love for Christ, or was it a town duty? When Psalm 23 was read in the school, was it read by a believer? Was it read liturgically or passionately. Were the hearers paying attention. Did it affect them? What were the classes like? Did the classes they attended go against the Bible reading. What was the prayer in school like? Was the person praying saved? Ever since the scopes monkey trial, evolution has been taught. From the 1920s on, what would have been prayed and read in the Bible reading would have been contradicted in the classes. Even if things were good in the past, things don't happen in a vacuum. Much of the reaction of the hippies was the result of insincere behaviours of the previous generation. Many long for the 1800s were it was seen as a more Christian culture. The fact is that the 1800s was marked by an external Christianity. They wanted people to not swear, drink, and smoke pipes. It was not a heart change. They wanted people to be primed and proper. It was interconnected with politics.

If you've read my blog postings before, you will notice that I am skeptical of America's "Christian heritage." I believe we are a church going nation, not a Christian nation. From the very beginning, faith and politics was intermingled. The founding fathers use Christianeze to get support from the common people who are church goers. We have come to see history as we want to see it. We have bought the propaganda that Americans was Christian. We believe God used to be honored. They believe now we have rejected God. We rejected him a long time ago. We pretend that we were right with God. I know there were precious saints in America's past, but they were not as pious as we thought.

We need to stop wanting what never was. Even if life was better in those good old days, it is not good to look back. We need to press on. Philippians 3:13b-14 says "Forgetting what lies behind, I press on towards the goal to the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." We need to stop wishing for the past and work toward being closer to the Lord now.