Approaching a Christian Worldview of History

When an individual hears the term "a Christian worldview of history," there are probably several interpretations that may present themselves in one's mind. Perhaps the idea created will focus on biblical history from thousands of years ago. Or perhaps the said individual may determine that this idea focuses specifically on the history of the Christian religion. While these ideas are understandable, the term itself goes much further than the history of Christianity. This term focuses less on the past event and focuses primarily on the historian conducting the research. If this historian is looking at history using a "Christian worldview," their way of approaching and working with the subject will create a unique result that will remain beneficial to the historian even after the research has concluded. 

A step that should be considered when studying history with a Christian worldview and perspective is how Christians can use the guidelines found in the Bible to approach the subject. While many secular historians can quote sections of the Bible, the advantage Christian historians have is that the Bible to them is the living word of God that holds truths that are alive today. When a Christian approaches any kind of history, they should do it in a discretionary way, wanting to follow the teachings of the Bible. This can be seen in many different ways, but working unto the Lord rather than men, and concepts involving integrity, honesty, and morality should be vital to a Christian historian. 

By making these virtuous traits a top priority in our work, our Christian approach will be clearly seen by our peers and the rest of the world, regardless of whether one is studying the life of Jesus Christ, Henry VIII, or Abraham Lincoln. If a Christian historian put the practice of a Christian in their work it will be noticed and seen by the world. While there are many other examples that can be used when determining what a Christian worldview of history is, I believe it ultimately starts with the heart, and wanting to follow the Word of God by doing their work to the best of their abilities, "Unto the Lord, not men."

Written as assigned for Liberty University's HIST-491 Senior Capstone Seminar Assignment

Chapter 2: Kaleb

Another day, another chapter.

I apologize for any grammatical errors. I don't have time to edit today.


"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"We'll be fine, I promise."

The weather was too perfect for anyone to be inside. The sun was high in the sky, shining its rays on the thousands of people walking down the streets of Kaspar. Vendors with fresh bread, flowers, and brightly dyed fabrics were doing very well selling their items. The booths themselves were dressed with brightly colored signs, persuading the people passing by to stop and purchase the items on display.

Amidst the busy streets, two young boys blended in. Their cloaks were similar to those being worn by many others, and their tunics like those being sold by vendors they passed. The only difference between these boys and those around them was the fact that the hoods of their cloaks covered their heads. On a day as beautiful as this, it was a wonder why anyone would want to hide from the sunshine.

Kaleb, the taller of the two, walked briskly through the busy streets. The look of joy on his face was almost too bright to hid behind the hood draped over his dark hair. It had been months since he had had the opportunity to explore the streets he had always known as his own. The noise he heard could not be described. One might try, though their description could not give it justice. The sounds of people talking and laughing was most audible, but the music being played in the kingdom's square could certainly be heard for miles. The songs were lively, causing anyone within earshot to want to dance. It was not uncommon to see a couple dancing hand in hand in the streets. Even children too young to speak were clapping their hands to the music.

"Glücklich sind die Menschen im Reich lächelnd. Singen ein Lied so froh , Gott, unserem König segnen."

"I don't know Kaleb, I think we should go back."

Dominik had to run several feet to catch up with his cousin. Although the two were related, their features shared no resemblance. While Kaleb's features were dark, Dominik had hair that could almost be seen as white in certain light. He stood nearly eight inches shorter than his cousin who was actually several months younger than Dominik. It would be hard to pick Dominik from a crown of Kaspar residents, unlike Kaleb who took after his mother's Greek features, which were uncommon in the area.

By the time Dominik caught up with Kaleb, the song being played had concluded, and claps were heard around the two. Dominik took hold of Kaleb's arm to keep him from taking another step. Although Kaleb stopped, he certainly could have kept walking even with Dominik trying to hold him back. "Come on, Kaleb," the blond haired boy said. We visited the town like you wanted to. You got to hear the music up close. We did what you wanted to do. Now can we go back?"

"Where's your sense of adventure, Dominik," Kaleb asked. "This is something we never get to do. Don't you want to enjoy it while we can?"

"But if anyone finds out we're here, you know how much danger we will be in? There are people who want us dead!"

Kaleb rolled his eyes. "Please, they don't care about you. People only want to cut my head off."

"Genug!" Dominik cried. "That's not funny!" 

Another difference easily seen between the two cousins was the fact that in all of Kaleb's years of living, (which was quite a few, considering he was going to be thirteen in only three weeks) he never showed any fear. Even in situations that may have caused brave men to quiver on their knees, Kaleb's emotion never seemed to change. "Nothing scares me!" He would say whenever someone or something might happen that could cause one to be afraid. "Nichts macht mir Angst!" Dominik, on the other hand, was afraid of a common stink bug. Many who knew the boys often wondered how the two of them could possibly be related at all. 

"Let's go back," Dominik said again. Kaleb could see the tears forming in his blue eyes. Kaleb sighed. "Alright," he said turning around, back in the direction of his home. "Let's go back. I knew I should have asked Helene instead to join me."

"Good thing you didn't!" Dominik said, picking up his pace. "Fraulein Magdalene would go into shock if I put my sister in that kind of danger!"

"It's not dangerous out here, Kaleb said surly. Nothing is going to happen to-"

BAM!

Not looking where he was going, Kaleb walked directly into a vender's sign. Frische Blumen it read; Fresh Flowers.

"Ach neim!" The woman behind the booth exclaimed. "Are you okay?"

"Ah," Kaleb sighed, reaching up to touch his nose. He tasted blood in his mouth.

"Let me see if your nose is broken!" The large woman said as she came out from behind her  table of bright flowers. She tried to take a look at his face, but Kaleb pulled away. "No, he said nearly out of breath. "I'm okay."

"No, she said again. Your nose is already swelling. Please let me look at it so I can help. Where is your mutti?"

At that moment, the woman pulled the hood off of Kaleb's head. His dark hair and tan skin was revealed, along with his nose which was now an interesting shade of blue.

It took the woman all of five seconds to realize who was standing before her. "Oh mein," she said under her breath. "Is it really..? Is it actually...?"

Dominik looked as if he were about to pass out. "No, no no..." he was saying. "I knew this would happen, I knew it would!"

"You're Kaleb!" The woman exclaimed loud enough for anyone in the direct area to hear. "Du bist der Prinz!" she cried. "You're the prince!"

Chapter 1: Briella

Because I am bored at school...

Once upon a time, there was a young girl named Briella. She lived in a kingdom called Caspar, filled with merchants, peasants, and rich people. Briella was neither rich nor poor, though compared to the rich folk, she was quite poor, and compared to the poor folk, she was quite rich. Nonetheless, Briella had everything she needed; nothing more, and nothing less. 

To many who knew her, Briella had the ideal life. She lived in a decent sized house on the edge of the kingdom. She shared the house with her parents, who were both kindhearted, and quite lovely individuals. Even the servants and staff that lived on the property adored Briella and her parents. Everyone was treated fairly. The staff were not treated as lower class individuals by their employers. Rather, they were treated like family. For example, if one of the servants were sick or injured, they would receive the decent care and treatment they needed to recover. They would also not be expected to work until they were fully functional once again. Every staff member working for the family truly appreciated this, and worked their hardest to see that they could please their employers, and satisfy them. 

Because Briella lived several miles from the heart of the kingdom, she rarely had the opportunity to visit on her own. Although her parents were very lovely people, they were both rather protected when it came to their daughter. She was only allowed outside when she was being watched by someone. And going to the kingdom was a definite no if no other was accompanying her. And it was very rarely that anyone had the need or desire to travel to the bustling town. "It is far too dangerous," Mrs. Holloway, the head housekeeper would say whenever Briella would bring it up. "The kingdom is very big, and you are much too small. It would be ridiculous to even consider travailing to the kingdom. Think of all the trouble you could get into! Someone your age and size would certainly fall into a trouble much bigger than you could imagine."

Briella heard these same words her entire life. She always assumed the older she got, the rules would become less. But no matter how old she was, the answer was always the same. This of course made Briella very upset. She would see carts and carriages going up the road to the kingdom day after day. They were often filled with people her size and smaller. They always looked so happy and excited to visit the large town. When she would see them return, their faces would be just as bright. In their once empty cart, beautiful items were seen. Smells of sweet candy and warm almonds often trailed behind the carts. If that was just a hint of what she would find in the town, she couldn't imagine what it would be like to be their on her own. 

Briella would often look out her window at night toward the kingdom's center. Even though it was far away, she could oftentimes see the warm lights from a distance. If she listened hard enough, she could even hear the sounds of people laughing, and the bright music being played somewhere far away. If she was lucky, she could catch the bright beautiful fireworks that would dance in the sky above. How she wished she could see it all up close. 

"One day," Briella would whisper to herself on those nights looking out her window, watching people come and go as they please. "One day, that will be me."

To be continued...

Movie Night: Double Indemnity

Sorry it's been a few days since my last entry. I totally intended to write about the movie, but I kind of forgot. :p

Anyway, so I am going to try to give a little bit of info about the movie. It has been over a week since I saw it, so if it seems my summary is a little foggy, that's why.

So, the movie I saw was called Double Indemnity. It was released in the year 1944. Up to this point, I had never heard of the movie, and knew very little about its plot line.

Basically, it's about this insurance salesman named Walter Neff (played by Fred MacMurray) who meets a woman named Phyllis Dietrichson (played by Barbara Stanwyck) who is interested in buying car insurance from him. The two both seem to like each other. The only problem is that Mrs. Dietrichson is married. Her husband, she tries to explain to Neff, is very mean to her. She says that he doesn't love her and only cares for his daughter from his first marriage.

Neff feels bad for Phyllis and decides to help her get out of her "abusive" relationship. Their plan? Buy life insurance for Mr. Dietrichson and then have him end up dead. The two would then be able to share the money they made from the life insurance, and be able to live happily together.

Well, it seems to start out alright. Their plan to get rid of Mr. Dietrichson seemed to work just as they had planned. But they soon realize that it was not exactly the best thought out plan to start with.

Even though this movie is pretty old, I actually liked it quite a bit. The acting could have been a little better, but the story line itself was very good. I didn't see the ending coming at all; I didn't think it would end the way that it did.

All in all, this was a good movie. For the most part, it was pretty family friendly. I mean, I know the plot line of an affair and murder aren't necessarily wholesome, I felt it was made as clean as it possibly could. For example, you don't even see the murder take place. You just know it happened. If this movie had a rating today, I think it would be rated PG. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone under the age of 10, but 10 and older would most likely have no problem with this movie. (I don't really know why any 10 year old would be interested in watching this movie, though.)

I'm glad I went to see this. Next month they are having another movie night at the college. It is a 1950s film. I can't remember the name at the moment, but I figure if I end up going, I will review it on here.

Anyway, I guess that's it for now!

Have a great weekend everyone!

-Sam

Yes, Another School Post

Once again, I am writimg from a computer at the college. I usually wouldn't be at the college this late in the day, but in about a half an hour, there is going to be an old movie playing at the theater here on campus. Usually I wouldn't stay for things like this, but this movie sounded interesting. Plus, it is free, which I am all about. :)

I will make another post either tonight or tomorrow with a little more information about the movie and what I think about it. Like I said, I really have no idea what it's about, but this is a new film series they are starting. I guess they will be showing an old black and white movie once a month in the nice big theater. It could be intereting, but I will let you know for sure.

Also, today I gave my speech in Speech class. I think it went pretty well. I mean, I am not a huge fan of public speaking, but I worked hard on this speech. He filmed each of our speaches, so if it isn't too embarassing, I may post the video up here.

I was afraid that I was going to go over the time limit (six minutes) since every time I practiced it at home I was usually about thirty seconds too long. But as far as I know I was under six minutes. There were two other students I know who went over the time limit. It's only a small percentage of points taken away if over or under the four to six minute range, so I don't think it'll be a big deal if I happened to. But of course I want to keep as many points as possible.

So all in all, my day went really well. I am ready to go and watch this movie, and then go home and possibly do some writing on my own, since I am actually sort of almost caught up on all my homework. (!!!)

I guess that's it for now. I hope you guys are still reading these. I'm sorry if they're so boring. I'm still getting back into learning how blogging works. Hopefully in the next few weeks I will have something a little more interesting to write about other than speeches and old movies.

Have a good hump day!

Tuesdays with Sam

Tuesdays are one of my favorite days of the week. I only have one class that day, which means it is a little shorter than my Monday/Wednesday schedule, where I'm on campus for eight hours. Tuesdays are also nice, because I don't have to wake up too early. My class starts at 11:00am. I have to be at the college at 10:00am, because I am working as a Writing Fellow, and 10-11 is one of my tutoring times. The rest of the week I have to be at the school at 8:00am.

So today, is of course Tuesday. I had my time in the Writing Center, which was pretty simple, since I didn't have an appointment. I got to work on a little homework, and left with just enough time to stop by the library before I had to be to the band room for music class. On my way into the music room, I was informed by a fellow student that class had been cancelled. That is the reason why I am writing this rather random blog post. I returned to the library and decided to write this.

If I didn't work at the book store at 12:30pm, I could leave right now. But instead I thought I'd relax a bit. I am writing this right now, and once I am done I will probably browse the library a little longer, and try to find something that looks interesting. I have learned with college libraries, that they rarely have fiction. It's all opinion on fiction. I tried to find something as academically accurate like the Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorn, but all I could find was a study guide to go with it. Needless to say, there are no science fiction or John Green books on any of these shelves. I'm sure I can find something, though.

Then, I might go down to the cafeteria, and treat myself to some overpriced food. I didn't pack anything to eat today which is a mistake, and I'd rather spend my money on something that will fill me up than something from the vending machines that will just make me even more hungry.

I will have to be at the book store by 12:30pm to work, and then I get off at 2:00pm. And that is probably how I am going to spend my day at school. So if any of you were wondering, this is the life of Sam the college student. Don't ask my about my Monday and Wednesday schedule, though. You will probably wish then that you will never have to go to college ever.

So, I guess that's it from me. Sorry about the random post. The first thing that came to mind when I sat down at one of the many computers here in the library was "Let's write a blog post." So I hope those of you who still follow me have enjoyed this little "Story of my life."

Have a great day!!

Classified Information

What's this, a second post in less than 24 hours? Sam, you must be sick.

No, but seriously, I forgot how much I missed blogging. I remember when I had no life, and would write everything on here. On Monday night, some of my friends decided to go back and read some of my old blog posts. That is really what got me thinking of starting back up again.

If anyone were to go back and read what I had written years ago, they would clearly see that my life revolved around American Girl dolls, and Nancy Drew. I won't dare say that these two parts of my life are still not a huge part of it, but I guess over the last few years I've had to prioritize. I can love Nancy Drew by owning every single book, playing every single game, and knowing the dialogue of every character, but what would that prove? That I'm a mega fan? I think that's already been determined.

That's not just what you are going to be seeing on this blog anymore. I still absolutely adore Nancy Drew, along with many other geeky fandoms including Star Wars, Sherlock, and Marvel. And although it may be something I write about here and there, I want this blog to be about my life. So if my life includes fangirling over the new Sherlock trailer (which, by the way, looks incredible.) Than that is what I will post about. These posts could be based on thoughts I've had, or places I've gone, or hopefully even videos I've made. (I would love to get back into making YouTube videos.)

I can't classify this blog in any other way than saying it is about Sam, the weird, semi-neurotic, geeky, fangirl from Michigan.

I hope that's a good enough explanation.