🤫 5 Things You Didn't Know About the 20th Century!
- worldviewequipping
- Sep 11, 2024
- 4 min read
Author: Elizmen Ghim
Worldview Equipping Instructor & Coordinator
Guess What?!
1. The Oreo Cookie was Invented in 1912. [1]
2. The Dead Sea Scrolls were Discovered in 1947. [2]
3. The First Movie With Sound was The Jazz Singer in 1927. [3]
4. The First Mobile Phone Conversation was in 1973. [4]
5. The Most Devastating Disaster IN AMERICA Occurred During This Century.
What could be the Most Devastating Disaster???! The Loss of HOPE.
It all began with a nation-wide rejection of truth being from God.
Jean-Paul Sartre states bluntly, truth as seen through the eyes of 20th Century Man, in his novel, The Age of Reason, as he speaks of one of the main characters:
"He could do what he liked, no one had the right to advise him, there would be for him no Good or Evil unless he thought them into being."[5]
Man was now the maker of truth. If he wanted to believe the sun was purple in London, but green in Paris, he sure could.
The result? More serious than we realize.
Paul Gauguin painted a huge art piece called, “Whence Come We? What are We? Whither Do We Go?” (1897-1898) This piece features primitive island life, from a baby to a middle-aged person to a dying old woman with a bird of death nearby. The painting leaves you still wondering, hopelessly, “Where do I come from?”
Gauguin, unable to answer this question himself, attempted suicide. In his book, How Should We Then Live?, Francis Schaeffer notes that Gaugin wrote in a letter to artist and friend Daniel de Montfreid, “Whither? Close to the death of an old woman, a strange stupid bird concludes: What? O sorrow, thou art my master. Fate how cruel thou art, and always vanquished. I revolt.” [6]
What a faint cry mirroring his painting’s hopelessness!
What was 20th Century Man was left with?
NOTHING but the darkness of his despair.
But there is HOPE! John 14:6, "Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me." [7]
Because Jesus is the Way, we can be forgiven as rebellious sinners against a holy God.
Because Jesus is the Truth, life has indescribable meaning!
Because Jesus is the Life, death is not final.
God gives mankind a meaning he cannot find anywhere else. Consider Matthew 6:26, "Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?" [8]
We are more valuable than sparrows!
In fact, we are... "fearfully and wonderfully made." (Psalm 139:14) [9]
Meaning found in God is a firm foundation for man's very existence. This because God is unchanging in what He says.
So, why remember the 20th Century?
Because the 21st Century is just as hopeless, if not MORE so.
According to the CDC, suicide is one of the leading causes of death in America. [10]
It is only wise we are warned of the dangers of our age. That all begins with the mind!
Richard Weaver said it well, "Those who have no concern for their ancestors will, by simple application of the same rule, have none for their descendants." [11]
That is why the 20th Century matters...it is only a root of today's despairing generation. Once we see the darkness of past and present generations' hopelessness, we can realize that God's Light is yet only greater. Christianity is more than a great idea, a social solution or a church building. Christianity is a transformation of a person's heart to love the God who willingly HUMBLED HIMSELF to become one of us, dying to cover our sins.
Of this great love, Jesus Himself said, in John 15:13, "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends." [12]
Now that is a Hope Worth Living For!
We Study the 20th and 21st Centuries in 12th Grade!
Check it Out at the Link Below!
Sources Cited in This Post:
[1] "Thoroughly Modern Facts About The 20th Century," Factinate, https://www.factinate.com/things/24-thoroughly-modern-facts-20th-century/ Accessed 9 Sep, 2024
[2] "Thoroughly Modern Facts About The 20th Century," Factinate, https://www.factinate.com/things/24-thoroughly-modern-facts-20th-century/ Accessed 9 Sep, 2024
[3] Gregory, Andy, "The 50 most amazing moments of the 20th century: 8,000 voters in eight countries choose human race's finest modern achievements," Independent, 03 June, 2019, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/world-history/top-50-moments-20-century-martin-luther-king-rosa-parks-history-a8942141.html Accessed 9 Sep, 2024
[4] Gregory, Andy, "The 50 most amazing moments of the 20th century: 8,000 voters in eight countries choose human race's finest modern achievements," Independent, 03 June, 2019, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/world-history/top-50-moments-20-century-martin-luther-king-rosa-parks-history-a8942141.html Accessed 9 Sep, 2024
[5] “Quotes,” WikiQuote, https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean-Paul_Sartre Accessed 9 Sep, 2024
[6] Schaeffer, Francis, “How Should We Then Live?” 1976, Crossway Books, pp. 159
[7] Thomas Nelson, Inc, The MacArthur Study Bible, 2006, pg. 1579
[8] Thomas Nelson, Inc, The MacArthur Study Bible, 2006, pg. 1372
[9] Thomas Nelson, Inc, The MacArthur Study Bible, 2006, pg. 854
[10] "Suicide trends interactive chart," CDC Suicide Prevention, 18 July, 2024, https://www.cdc.gov/suicide/facts/data.html Accessed 9 Sep, 2024
[11] Thompson, Ben, "Truth in the Pit of Political Correctness," Abbeville Institute, 16 Aug, 2016, https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/truth-in-the-pit-of-political-correctness/ Accessed 9 Sep, 2024
[12] Thomas Nelson, Inc, The MacArthur Study Bible, 2006, pg. 1581
Comments