Latest / Voices Of Life / Did You Know? - October 28–29: Liberty, Black Tuesday, the Internet & Faith

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Did You Know? - October 28–29: Liberty, Black Tuesday, the Internet & Faith · Voices Of Life

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There are stories we remember, and there are
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stories we forget. There are moments that change
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the nation, change the church, change the generation.
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And sometimes, the most fascinating stories are
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the ones we welcome to Voices of Life. Did you
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know series? A journey through history. We're
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remarkable people. Extraordinary events. Faith.
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Freedom. The pages of American history. From
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famous names to people whose names have needed.
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Every episode asks a simple question. Hello everyone,
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I'm Pastor David. And welcome once again to Voices
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of Life Did You Know series. Today our journey
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takes us into the history on October 28th and
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29th. And these two days give us an extraordinary
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collection of stories. We will stand in New York
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Harbor as America dedicates one of the most recognizable
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monuments in the world. We will enter the halls
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of Congress. as lawmakers confront a presidential
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veto and move America toward national prohibition.
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Then on October 29th, we will experience one
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of the darkest moments in America's economic
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history. We will travel to the University Laboratory
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in California, where two little letters travel
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across a computer network and become part of
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the story leading toward the interconnected world.
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And finally, We will travel to 19th century East
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Africa, where the death of a missionary bishop
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reminds us that Christian history must be understood
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with both faith and historical honesty. So settle
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in, take a moment, and let us discover together
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on what happened October 28th and 29th. Because
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you may know the history, but the question we
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always ask on Voices of Life, did you know? Let
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us begin in New York Harbor. The date's October
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28, 1886. The skyline looks very different. From
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the New York we know today. But, rising above
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the harbor is something new. Something enormous.
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Something that will eventually become recognized
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throughout the world. The monument's official
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name is Liberty Enlightening the World. We know
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her simply as the Statue of Liberty. President
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Grover Cleveland presided over the dedication
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and formally accepted the monument, a gift from
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France to the United States. The dedication included
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military and naval participation, speeches, a
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maritime procession through New York Harbor,
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and a major parade through Manhattan. The weather,
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however, did not fully cooperate. The planned
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fireworks and illumination were postponed until
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November 1st due to weather conditions. But the
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story of this monument began years earlier. French
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political thinker and abolitionist Edouard -Denis
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de Laboulaye proposed the idea in the period
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following the American Civil War. The Union had
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prevailed, slavery had been abolished, and the
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idea arose of creating a monument celebrating
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American liberty and representative government.
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French sculptor Frédéric -Augustin Barthode developed
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the design. Its enormous internal structure was
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engineered with the assistance from the engineering
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firm associated with Gustave Eiffel. Here is
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something fascinating. France raised money for
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this statue all by itself. Americans were responsible
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for financing the pedestal. But American fundraising
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struggled. Newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer
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eventually organized a campaign encouraging ordinary
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citizens to contribute. The statue arrived in
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New York in June of 1885, disassembled in hundreds
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of crates, before being reassembled on what was
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then Bledsoe's Island, today is called Liberty
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Island. Did you know? many people immediately
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associated the Statue of Liberty with immigration.
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And that association is certainly important,
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but did you know that immigration was not the
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monument's original central meaning? Its original
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symbolism focused principally on liberty, Republican
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government, and friendship between France and
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the United States. Its historical context also
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reflected 19th century debates surrounding freedom,
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democracy, and the legacy of slavery. The immigration
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symbolism developed much more strongly later.
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Emma Lazarus wrote her poem, The New Colossus,
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in 1883, but it was not inscribed on the pedestal
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until 1903. Seventeen years later, after the
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original dedication. And here's the important
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fact. Nearby Ellis Island did not open as an
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immigration processing station until 1892. That
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distinction matters. History teaches us that
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symbols can acquire additional meaning. One generation
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creates something. Another generation experiences
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it differently. And eventually those experiences
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become woven together into a larger national
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story. So as we reflect, we know that liberty
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is powerful. But liberty is also something human
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beings must learn to exercise responsibly. As
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Christians, we recognize an even deeper freedom.
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Scripture speaks not merely of political liberty,
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important though that it is, but of spiritual
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freedom. Jesus tells us that in John 8, verse
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36, So if the sun sets you free, you will be
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free indeed. A monument can point toward an ideal,
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but an ideal must ultimately be lived. And perhaps
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that is one lesson Lady Liberty still places
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before every generation. What will we do with
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the freedom entrusted to us? Now we move forward
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33 years. America is confronting a very different
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question about freedom. This time, it concerns
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the power of government, the complicated relationship
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between law and morality, and an attempt to address
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serious social problems through national prohibition.
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On October 28, 1919, Congress overrode President
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Woodrow Wilson's veto of the National Prohibition
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Act. You probably know it by another name, the
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Volstadt Act. For decades, temperance organizations
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and reformers had argued that alcohol contributed
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to poverty, domestic violence, workplace accidents,
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and other serious social problems. Religious
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organizations were among those participating
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in the movement. Two particularly influential
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groups were the Women's Christian Temperance
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Union and the Anti -Saloon League. After years
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of political activity, national prohibition became
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constitutional policy through the 18th Amendment.
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But there is an important distinction. Did you
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know? The Volstead Act did not create constitutional
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prohibition. The 18th Amendment provided the
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Constitution the foundation for the prohibition.
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The Volstead Act established a principal framework
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for enforcing it. The measure was associated
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with Representative Andrew Volkstead of Minnesota,
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chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. President
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Wilson vetoed it, but Congress overruled him.
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On October 28, the Senate voted 65 -20 to override
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his veto after the House had already voted to
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override it. National Prohibition took effect
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on January 17, 1920, and America entered one
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of its most unusual social experiments. Illegal
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alcohol production and distribution expanded.
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Bootlegging and organization smuggling emerged.
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Criminal organizations profited. Corruption and
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uneven enforcement weakened confidence in the
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system. Yet, we should be cautious about painting
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the entire nation with one brush. Public attitudes
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and enforcement varied considerably across the
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country. And eventually, the national experiment
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ended. In 1933, the 21st Amendment repealed the
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18th Amendment. It remains the only occasion
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in American constitutional history in which one
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constitutional amendment has been repealed by
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another. Did you know? Repealing national prohibition
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did not mean every state or community suddenly
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allowed unrestricted alcohol sales. States and
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local governments retain considerable authority
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to regulate alcohol, and some jurisdictions continue
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prohibiting it. As we reflect, this episode leaves
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us with a fascinating question. Can morality
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simply be legislated? The Christian response
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requires wisdom. Human laws can restrain behavior.
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They can protect people. They can establish standards.
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But legislation alone cannot transform the human
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heart. That is why Christianity ultimately points
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all of us toward transformation from within.
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Romans 12 verse 2 calls Christians to be transformed
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by renewing of the mind. True transformation
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is deeper than merely changing a statue. The
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law can say you shall not, but Christ works within
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us so that increasingly our desire becomes, I
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want to live differently. And that is the very
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different kind of change. That brings October
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28th to a close. But when the calendar turns
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to October 29th, our journey changes dramatically.
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Imagine walking on the morning of October 29th,
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1929. For much of the decade, America has experienced
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enormous economic and technological change. Automobiles,
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radios, electrical appliances, expanding consumer
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credit, and booming stock market. Optimism seems
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almost limitless. But underneath that prosperity
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are serious weaknesses. And suddenly, confidence
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begins to collapse. October 29th becomes known
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to history as Black Tuesday. The collapse did
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not begin on one single morning. Heavy selling
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had already shaken the market on October 24th,
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remembered as Black Thursday. After a temporary
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recovery, another severe decline occurred on
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Monday, October 28th, Black Monday. Then came
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Tuesday. More than 16 million shares changed
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hands on the New York Stock Exchange, a trading
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record at the time. The Dow Jones Industrial
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Average fell approximately 12 % that day. Did
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you know? there is a popular tendency to say
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the stock market crashed and that caused the
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Great Depression. But history is more complicated.
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The crash caused major financial losses and damaged
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confidence, but the crash by itself did not explain
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the Great Depression. Other factors included
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weakness in the economy before the crash, declining
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demand, and industrial production. Financial
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instability, bank failures, debt, declining international
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trade, and monetary policy decisions that contributed
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to economic contradiction. And behind economic
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statistics are human beings. Businesses failed,
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workers lost jobs, families struggled. The effects
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spread far beyond Wall Street. The crisis deepened
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during the years to follow 1929 and produced
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enormous hardship throughout the 1930s. Let's
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talk about spiritual reflection. History repeatedly
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warned us against placing ultimate confidence
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in prosperity. Money is useful, markets have
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value, economic growth can improve lives, but
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earthly prosperity is never guaranteed. Jesus
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warned in Matthew 6, do not store up for yourselves
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treasures on earth. And then he tells us, But
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store up for yourselves treasures in heaven.
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The message is not that material resources are
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evil. The message concerns priorities. A stock
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portfolio can disappear. A business can struggle.
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Economic conditions can change. But our relationship
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with God cannot be measured by the closing bell.
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Our value is not determined by a market index.
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and our ultimate hope cannot be placed in an
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account balance. Let us move exactly 40 years
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forward from financial networks of Wall Street
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to an entirely different kind of network, a computer
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network. The location is the University of California
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at Los Angeles. The date is October 29, 1969.
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Researchers are attempting something revolutionary.
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They want one computer to communicate with another
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computer located at the Stanford Research Institute,
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in Manila Park, California. The network is called
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ARPANET. That's A -R -P -A -N -E -T. The UCLA
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team included computer scientist Leonard Kleinrock
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and programmer Charlie Klein. At Stanford Research
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Institute, Bill Duvall was waiting at the receiving
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end. The intended command was simple. Foggin.
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Klein typed The first letter, L. It arrived.
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Then O. It arrived. He attempted the third letter,
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G. And the system crashed. So did you know? The
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first host -to -host message transmitted in this
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historic ARPANET experiment was therefore just
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L -O. The researchers fixed the problem and completed
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the login later that evening. Through the lens
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of history, those first letters almost appear
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poetic, low, as in low and behold. But that interpretation
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came afterward. The researchers were simply trying
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to type login. And yet, those two letters became
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part of technological revolution. Did you know,
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ARPANET was not yet the modern internet? By the
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end of 1969, it connected four institutions,
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UCLA, Stanford Research Institute, the University
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of California at Santa Barbara, and the University
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of Utah. Later, networking developments, particularly
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TCPIP, helped different networks communicate.
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ARPANET adopted TCPIP in 1983, and the World
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Wide Web came later still through the work of
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Tim Berners -Lee at CERN. That means the internet
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and the World Wide Web are related, but they
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are not the same technology. Let's reflect here.
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Think about what those early researchers could
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not possibly have foreseen. Today we communicate
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across the continents. We worship together across
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distances. We listen to podcasts. Families remain
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connected. Churches reach people that They may
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never physically meet. The gospel itself can
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travel across digital networks. But every technology
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confronts us with the question, what will we
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do with it? Technology is a tool. It can communicate
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truth. It can also spread falsehood. It can unite
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people, and it can divide people. It can encourage,
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and it could wound. So perhaps our Christian
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responsibility in the digital world begins with
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something very simple. Use the tools God has
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allowed humanity to develop in ways that honor
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truth, dignity, wisdom, and love, including the
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microphone I am speaking into right now and the
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technology carrying these words to you. And now,
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our final historical story takes us from California
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across the ocean, and back to the 19th century.
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James Hannington was an English angelic bishop
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and missionary. Born in 1847, he worked for a
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time in his family's business before entering
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religious service. He was ordained an angelic
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priest in 1876 and later joined the Church Missionary
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Society. Eventually, he became bishop of eastern
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equatorial Africa. His missionary work unfolded
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during enormous political and religious change.
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And to understand what happened to him, we have
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to understand something about the world he entered.
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The kingdom of Buganda, which is now called Uganda,
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possessed its own political institutions, its
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own religious traditions, and structures of authority.
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Its ruler was known as Kabaka. Christianity and
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Islam were spreading among portions of the population
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alongside existing religious traditions. At the
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same time, European imperial ambitions in East
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Africa were expanding. Britain and Germany were
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increasingly involved in the region. Those realities
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created profound tension. through the neighboring
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kingdom of Busoga. Kabaka Manwaga II regarded
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foreign penetration into his territory with suspicion.
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Hannington and members of his party were detained.
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After imprisonment and mistreatment, Hannington
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and surviving members of his party were killed
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on October 29, 1885. Did you know? Christian
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tradition remembers Hannington as a martyr. But
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his death took place within circumstances involving
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more than purely religious persecution. Political
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sovereignty, fear of foreign influence, changing
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religious loyalties, missionary expansion, and
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increasing European imperial ambitions all form
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part of larger historical context. This complexity
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is important. We do not honor Christian history
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by oversimplifying it. We honor the people within
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history best when we tell their stories honestly.
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And there is another important lesson. The growth
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of Christianity in Uganda cannot simply be presented
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as Europeans bringing Christianity to passive
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of African communities. African converts, teachers,
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evangelists, clergy, and Christian communities
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played essential roles in creating and sustaining
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the church. Upon reflection, Hannington's story
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brings us back to a biblical command at the heart
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of Christian mission. Jesus said in Matthew 28,
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Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.
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But spreading the gospel must never mean forgetting
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the dignity of the people to whom we minister.
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Christian mission is not about conquering people.
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It is about proclaiming Christ. It is not about
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glorifying one culture. It is about introducing
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people to the Savior who transcends every culture.
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And Christian history deserves enough honesty
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to acknowledge both tremendous acts of faith
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and difficult historical realities. Faith does
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not demand that we fear the truth. Indeed, our
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faith calls us to seek it. And now, before we
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close today's journey, let us step back. What
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do these two days actually teach us? They appear
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unrelated, a statue, a prohibition law, two apostles,
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a stock market collapse, a computer network,
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and a missionary bishop. But listen carefully,
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because beneath these stories are enduring questions.
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Lesson one, liberty requires responsibility.
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The Statue of Liberty reminds us that freedom
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is an ideal. The Volstead Act reminds us that
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societies continually wrestle with the boundaries
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between freedom and public responsibility. Christianity
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takes that conversation even deeper. We are not
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simply freed from something. We are freed for
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something. For truth, service, righteousness,
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love, and ultimately for Christ. Lesson number
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two. Human systems are never infallible. Black
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Tuesday reminds us on how quickly confidence
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can collapse. Human systems matter. Economic
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systems, political, financial, technical. All
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those systems, but none are perfect. Each ultimately
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depends on imperfect human beings. That should
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encourage humility. Never confuse temporary success
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with permanent security. Lesson three, small
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beginnings can have enormous consequences. Two
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computer letters, LO. Not exactly an impressive
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beginning. The system even crashed. Yet, that
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small experiment became part of a much larger
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development of global computer networking. Never
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despise a small beginning. Sometimes history
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changes dramatically, even with baby steps. without
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realizing at first anything significant had happened
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at all. Lesson 4. History deserves honesty. James
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Hannington's story reminds us that Christian
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history can involve sincere faith, courageous
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sacrifice, political conflict, cultural misunderstanding,
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and human complexity simultaneously. We do not
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need to fear complexity. Truth can withstand
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examination. And understanding the past requires
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us to distinguish between what this historical
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evidence establishes, what scripture tells us,
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what traditions developed later, and what interpretations
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subsequent generations have added. That is how
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history becomes more than just entertainment.
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It becomes wisdom. So here was our Do You Know
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for October 28th and 29th. Now you know. My friends,
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history is more than just a story of where humanity
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has been. History gives us an opportunity to
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think seriously about where we are going. Across
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these Tuesdays, we've encountered freedom, law,
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prosperity and collapse, innovation, mission,
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sacrifice, and faith. The people who lived through
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these moments did not know how history would
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ultimately describe them. Neither do we. We are
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living tomorrow's history right now. What decisions
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will we make? How will we use our freedom? What
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will we do when the systems around us change?
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How will we use technology placed in our hands?
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Will we remain faithful when our name is forgotten?
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And above everything else, where our lives point
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people toward Jesus Christ. Psalm 90 verse 12
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says, Teach us to number our days that we may
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gain a heart of wisdom. What an extraordinary
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prayer. Not merely, Lord, give me more days,
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but Lord, teach me what to do with the days you've
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already given me. Yesterday has become history.
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Tomorrow remains in God's hands. But today, today
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is where we are called to live faithfully. Thank
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you for joining me for this October 28, 29th
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edition of Did You Know? And thank you for spending
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a little time with us discovering the stories
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behind the dates, remembering the lessons of
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the past, and considering how those lessons can
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speak into our lives today. This has been Voices
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of Life, a ministry of the Church for Life. Until
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we meet again, keep learning, keep asking questions,
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keep seeking truth, keep walking in faith, and
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above all, Keep your eyes fixed upon Jesus Christ.
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May the Lord bless you. May He give you the wisdom
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for the journey. May He strengthen your faith.
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And may your life become a testimony of His grace
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to the generation in which He has placed you.
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I'm Pastor David. God bless you, and we'll see
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you next time. And that concludes this edition
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of Voices of Life. Did you know? History gives
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us more than dates and names. It gives us stories.
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Stories of courage and failure. Faith and freedom
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and sacrifice. And people who faced moments that
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changed the course of history. But history isn't
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just about what happened then. It's about what
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we can learn from it now. Thank you for joining
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Pastor David and Voices of Life until our next
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journey through history. Keep asking questions.
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Keep learning. You never know what you might
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discover when you simply ask. Did you know this?
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This is Voices of Life.