Narrative, time and history

The gospel is often condensed into a story that affirms the basics of our faith: God loves us and has a wonderful plan for us. But we have sinned and are therefore separated from Him. Jesus Christ on the Cross is the answer to our predicament, and if we will accept him as our personal savior, we will have eternal life.

Though accurate in what it highlights, such a simplified presentation can wrongly convey the idea that the gospel is primarily about individual fulfillment and satisfaction. "God loves YOU and has a wonderful plan for YOU." "Live your best life now!" Such a shortened story seems to place Christians in the center of the message and not Jesus.

On the contrary, the heart of both the Old and New Testaments is the fulfillment of God's plan. The story of our redemption is God's complete and multifaceted movement among history and people and nations. It cannot be reduced to mere highlights without compromising the story. What about the resurrection of Christ? What about his return and the promise of our own resurrection? What about the new heaven and new earth? There are many books that make up the Bible, all of which tell a part of a great and magnificent story.

The Christian faith is rooted in thousands of years of the history of humanity, and it is this rootedness that makes Christianity so relevant to each of us, both individually and corporately. The person of Christ and the salvation he offers are meaningful to us today because Jesus is historical, because he is the same today, yesterday, and forever.

In contrast, many other systems of belief hold history as something that is cyclical. After someone dies, he or she is thought to be reincarnated or rebirthed. As a result, history is of little significance or meaning. Events are merely occurrences.

For Christians the reverse is true. Our faith is defined by significant events in history. The past and the future are momentous because they greatly inform the present. While the past offers both perspective and purpose for our current situation, the future gives us hope and meaning. No matter what we are going through today, this, too, shall one day pass. Promised is the future that is hinted at in history. There comes a day when all tears will be wiped away, a time of complete fellowship with God.

Yet today, regardless of worldview, we seem to be unfortunately suffering from historical amnesia, where we have lost our interest and understanding of history. As evidenced in the popularity of fictitious histories, the fascination with purportedly long-lost gospels, or the contentedness with a lack of historical perspective entirely, history has little existential meaning for us. This ahistorical climate is affecting the way we perceive truth in relation to reality.

The message of Christianity stands counter to this climate, proclaiming the acts of God in human time and space. As believers in a savior who lived and died and rose, history is imperative; it is a significant part of our identity. God has been working out his plan for thousands of years, first through the nation of Israel and now through the body of Christ. When we profess Christ crucified, we are remembering the historical character of our faith, which in turn echoes the all-encompassing sovereignty of God. When we live as Christ's followers, we proclaim a narrative that encompasses past, present, and future; we proclaim in finite stories the one who was and is and is to come.

I took this passage from Today's Slice, RZIM. I find that the article makes a lot of sense. In this postmodernistic age where Foucault and Derrida seems to destroy the credibility of a written text and nobody trust any historical work anymore, this is an age when people are no longer bothered about history, but on more 'practical' things.

I am always amused when I tell people that I will be employed as a Health Policy Analyst in the MOH. They were like 'huh', what does that has to do with history? As if I study history, then must do history like that. But unfortunately, history has more practicality than just going to MOE and teach, or go to a museum as a curator. Despite what most existentialist Christians claim, we need to realise that Christianity is grounded on history, and despite what Professor Cheah Boon Keng claimed, there is no such thing as multiple historical truths. Neither is there a differentiation between Truth and truth. If there is Truth, then there ought to be truth. And this is what we as Christians need to realise. My favourite line about this is from Paul, that if Christ had not resurrected, our faith would be futile.

So for Christians who dislike history, I would say that it's time to wake up and start liking history. The gospels that you are reading is history. You dun like history, you are telling me that you are bored of the gospels and the historical texts in the bible. I may be a bit extreme here but our attitude towards things are inter-connected. There is no such thing as I dun like history, but I like the gospels or so. I see both as linked.

Wake up wake up!!! You need to learn to appreciate history!!! After all, when we are doing bible studies, we are essentially studying the historical texts in the bible.