"I hate history!" How many times have parents and teachers heard that? Sometimes the reason for this attitude may be the way history is taught in secular schools – an emphasis on learning about personalities, dates, civilizations, and wars that seem to have little connection with anything happening today.
History can be taught differently in a Christian school like Ignite Christian Academy® because Christians have a very different view of history. Christians understand from the Bible that human history had a definite starting point when God created the first couple and told them, "Be fruitful and multiply" (Gen. 1:28). The rise of the Hebrew race, their deliverance from slavery, their segregation from the surrounding nations, and their periods of chastisement and restoration were purposefully orchestrated by God over a period of several thousand years. Scripture makes it abundantly clear that, as Daniel told the mightiest monarch of his day, "the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will" (Daniel 4:25). This view of history is perpetuated in the New Testament, as demonstrated when Peter proclaimed that the crucifixion of Christ was part of God's plan (Acts 2:23), and Paul told the intellectuals of Athens that the "God that made the world and all things therein" was in control of the times and boundaries for all nations (Acts 17:26) It is not just being cute to say that "history is His story."
For another thing, when it comes to United States history, public schools can give students only a censored version. Teachers and textbook publishers know that they cannot discuss the biblical worldview of the republic's founders, much less draw any connection between religious beliefs and our state and national constitutions. They do not mention the various Christian revivals that swept this country, correcting social ills here and sending missionaries around the world. It must be puzzling to students in public schools to learn, for example, that in 1919 the American people approved the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, banning the sale of alcoholic beverages, but never to know why – never to hear of the great evangelists whose bold and manly preaching a century ago produced so many conversions that saloons went out of business by the scores in city after city.
At Ignite Christian Academy we hope that the distance learning students will enjoy getting to hear the whole story – a presentation of history that enables them to put all the puzzle pieces into their proper places, so that they can see that there is a God Who truly cares and intervenes in the affairs of mankind. They can see that God is in control all the way, and has a definite plan and purpose in everything He allows to happen. Consequently, human life has meaning, and everything that happens fits into a grander scheme that unfolds as time goes on.
David Bauman
Principal, Ignite Christian Academy