{"id":3447,"date":"2013-03-20T20:37:02","date_gmt":"2013-03-21T00:37:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/?p=3447"},"modified":"2013-03-20T20:37:02","modified_gmt":"2013-03-21T00:37:02","slug":"a-history-lesson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2013\/03\/a-history-lesson.html","title":{"rendered":"A history lesson"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Over the past months, I’ve discovered the classics from Sir Walter Scott, James Fenimore Cooper, St. Augustine to Andrew Murray. \u00a0Of course, most of these volumes were written in the early 1800’s. \u00a0Unlocking the labyrinth of historical fact wrapped around the old English prose of that earlier century presents a challenge. \u00a0Yet years of reading the King James Version of the Bible and Jane Austin relieves the struggle.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>All of these books are in the public domain. \u00a0Therefore, they can be found as free downloads through my iPad and iPhone. \u00a0I listen to them through Audio-Books and when I find a volume confusing, I open it on the Free eBooks app and I read along with the audio. \u00a0In addition, when I’m not driving or working, I listen and read to get a fuller sense of what the author is saying.<\/p>\n

Yes, I must reread (or re-listen) to most of the volumes several times to truly follow the convoluted \u00a0plots and fantastic adventures; but it’s an activity well worth the effort. \u00a0Years ago, I discovered George MacDonald, the Scottish author, whom C. S. Lewis called his mentor. \u00a0Even though, MacDonald died before Lewis because a Christian through MacDonald’s writings, Lewis credited MacDonald with understanding of the Kingdom of God; and he was inspired by MacDonald’s books and writings.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Sometime in the 1980’s a few of MacDonald’s books were rewritten in an attempt to make them easier to follow. \u00a0It was these volumes that first introduced me to him. \u00a0At time I learned \u00a0that J. R. R. Tolkien as well as C. S. Lewis had patterned their fantasies after MacDonald’s wistful tramps through the lands that lived in his imagination.<\/p>\n

The thing which has struck me is how much the Gospel is interwoven into the “secular” writing and novels. \u00a0Of course, there are the Christian distractors, such as Nathaniel Hawthorne. \u00a0However, the volumes I’ve chosen to read such as an obscure book called\u00a0Work<\/em> by Louisa Mae Alcott are dripping with the virtues of living for Christ and dying with the joy and peace that only comes from knowing and embracing the Living Christ.<\/p>\n

In addition, there is a fresh sense of what life was like in a time when men and women were either dirt-floor poor or overwhelmed with wealth. \u00a0It appears that no matter where people fell within the socio-economic struggles, their lives were much like ours. \u00a0Love of the Lord was a thing to be cherished; and love of our fellow human beings could only be fully obtained through loving and obeying Christ.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the past months, I’ve discovered the classics from Sir Walter Scott, James Fenimore Cooper, St. Augustine to Andrew Murray. \u00a0Of course, most of these volumes were written in the early 1800’s. \u00a0Unlocking the labyrinth of historical fact wrapped around the old English prose of that earlier century presents a challenge. \u00a0Yet years of reading…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":387,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,20,40,186,49,16,4,41,1],"tags":[690,662,21,688,696,699,664,663,715,701,694,665,689,6,687,700],"class_list":["post-3447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-church","category-faith","category-hope","category-inspiration","category-intellectual-disability","category-simple-truths","category-spirituality","category-uncategorized","tag-autism-spectrum","tag-c-s-lewis","tag-christian","tag-christianity","tag-church","tag-faith","tag-fantasies","tag-george-macdonald","tag-hope","tag-inspiration","tag-intellectual-disability","tag-james-fenimore-cooper","tag-mentally-challenged-community","tag-simple-scriptural-truths","tag-simple-truths","tag-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"\nA history lesson - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A history lesson - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Over the past months, I’ve discovered the classics from Sir Walter Scott, James Fenimore Cooper, St. Augustine to Andrew Murray. \u00a0Of course, most of these volumes were written in the early 1800’s. \u00a0Unlocking the labyrinth of historical fact wrapped around the old English prose of that earlier century presents a challenge. \u00a0Yet years of reading…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2013\/03\/a-history-lesson.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-03-21T00:37:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2013\/03\/James-Fenimore-Cooper.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda G. Howard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A history lesson - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"nofollow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A history lesson - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","og_description":"Over the past months, I’ve discovered the classics from Sir Walter Scott, James Fenimore Cooper, St. Augustine to Andrew Murray. \u00a0Of course, most of these volumes were written in the early 1800’s. \u00a0Unlocking the labyrinth of historical fact wrapped around the old English prose of that earlier century presents a challenge. \u00a0Yet years of reading…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2013\/03\/a-history-lesson.html","og_site_name":"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","article_published_time":"2013-03-21T00:37:02+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2013\/03\/James-Fenimore-Cooper.jpg"}],"author":"Linda G. 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