What Meaneth These Stones?

On many occasions, individuals will do something so that they remember a significant life event. The Israelites gathered stones as they crossed the Jordan River. With the stones, they built a monument so that when future generations asked what the stones meant, they would hear of how God led them through and provided for them. We also put up monuments, not to worship, but to remember individuals or events that have impacted our nation in a significant way. Unfortunately, it's these statues and monuments that are under attack. Why is this happening? To address this issue, Crosstalk welcomed Dr. Tim Schmig. Dr. Schmig is executive director of the Michigan Association of Christian Schools, director of Stories in Stone and author of Stories in Stones: Our Heritage of Evidence. So why is there such a concerted effort to remove statues and monuments today? Dr. Schmig believes part of it is because people today are looking back through the lens of their own personal experiences, therefore they view our nation's founders based upon what's known as "presentism." In other words, they weigh the actions and productivity of the founders (and others who've gone on before us) based on what they believe is right today. As he noted, none of us are perfect, including America's founders. The present day protesters that tear down monuments aren't perfect either. So if you look at our nation through the lens of idealism, we'll be weighed in the balances and found wanting. Yet if you look at America's history based upon the times that they lived in, you'll see that those individuals did some amazing things.