WHERE AMERICA IS

History is the neglected teacher, a veritable Cassandra as spurned as the proverbial red-headed stepchild. History has much to teach and we have much to learn. Our Founding Fathers knew her teachings; they walked into her classroom and learned from ancient Greece and Rome.

Take the Roman Republic and its eventual tragic fall for example. What were the factors in her sad collapse? There were many; let's think about one. It has to do with what we might call their unwritten code. (The Romans called it the mos maiorum, "the ancestral custom" or "the way of the ancestors") It was the unwritten code from which the ancient Romans derived their social norms.

What we need to understand about this unwritten code is that it didn't consist of laws engraved in stone or written down somewhere. They just "were" . . . the code consisted of those unquestioned customs by which all Romans lived.  No one questioned them, everybody knew them. The code was one of those things shared by all, holding the Republic steadfast in one united fabric.

But then, in the last 100 years of the Republic, little by little, step by step, that which was never questioned was questioned, coming under fire and up for debate, and the Republic began to become destabilized, just a bit, here and there until after a while, the code, the unity, and the stability it brought were no more.

This is all starting to sound familiar to the American ear. America once had its mos maiorum: everyone knew what marriage was; everyone knew that in sports males competed against males and females against females; every one knew there were two genders; ever one knew there was to be one person who could be valedictorian and another person could be salutatorian because they had achieved and worked hard for the high honor; everyone knew that disobedience in school got you in big trouble at school and later more grief at home. Everyone knew a student passed or failed, he was not promoted to the next grade level just because he could fog a mirror. Everyone knew that there were various authorities built into society for its protection and nurture.

The Bible talks about this in the book of Romans. Paul doesn't call it the mos maiorum; he calls it the works of the law written in their hearts: "For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them."

Over and over again in the Old Book, God keeps reminding Israel of the history of His grace to them as He was the One who brought them out of Egypt; He was the one who fed them everyday and carried them on the wings of eagles; He was the One who gave them and brought them to their land . 

He had them build visible memorials as teaching tools and He told them to observe various ceremonies during their calendar year so they would never forget. 

History, history, history, our neglected teacher.