I am a history buff and have been for many years. I am currently taking an European History course at my university and I have to sit through it and hold my tounge on a lot of issues when I know I could raise some questions that would dispell some common misconceptions. I say this not to be arrogant in what little I know; instead, I say this because this indirectly has an effect on Christianity in many regards.My first example would be in my English class. It is a class on British Literature extending back from the days of Beowulf into Shakespeare's time.We started talking about the literature from the time of the Anglo-Saxon kings such as Alfred the Great and even a little before in some cases. Our teacher was giving us the usual historical crash course for context. She mentioned that we have very few copies of any literature left but that the ones we had were edited by clergy and Christian elements were inserted into them. The funny thing is, the only copies in existence have these Christian references contained within them and there is no other solid reasoning to conclude that these manuscripts were ever edited. It's specious reasoning and IMHO just one of many gross misconceptions out there about human history.There's no real reason for this other than the enemy at work. We want to pretend that the world wasn't advanced and that Christianity hasn't been around since time began. Instead, we teach that Britain was a savage place settled by a very savage people which fits perfectly into the Darwinian world that we all evolved. The funny thing is, all the evidence points to the contrary. Take stonehenge for instance, several strikingly similar circles have been found in Tibet amongst other places. In fact, both the monuments at Carnac in England and the Do-ring megaliths in Tibet have the same alignment. They are both situated from east to west and have a circle of stones at their east side. There is also a similar setup at Darab in Iran (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darab). Very old Phoenecian coins have been found at Stongehenge as well as other objects in line with similar findings in Egypt. However, besides from the occasional styrofoam model, there isn't much work being done to discover who built these things. Instead, we spend our time off digging in Egypt, South America, and Asia to name a few places.Caucasion faces show up in the most mysterious of places; the ancient far east, Egyptian monuments, and even into the American continents long before Isabella and Ferdinand ever comissioned Columbus. Historians have no explanation for the African and caucasian features found on Olmec statues. Nor can they explain a beard on one caucasian-looking statue in a decidedly beardless culture.The list goes on...I guess the other thing that got me was history today and the statement that Christians weren't really persecuted or were only persecuted in a very small degree. My teacher apparently "forgot" about this along the way:"And so, to get rid of this rumor, Nero set up [i.e., falsely accused] as the culprits and punished with the utmost refinement of cruelty a class hated for their abominations, who are commonly called Christians. Nero’s scapegoats were the perfect choice because it temporarily relieved pressure of the various rumors going around Rome. Christus, from whom their name is derived, was executed at the hands of the procurator Pontius Pilate in the reign of Tiberius. Checked for a moment, this pernicious superstition again broke out, not only in Iudaea, the source of the evil, but even in Rome... Accordingly, arrest was first made of those who confessed; then, on their evidence, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much on the charge of arson as because of [their] hatred for the human race. Besides being put to death they were made to serve as objects of amusement; they were clothed in the hides of beasts and torn to death by dogs; others were crucified, others set on fire to serve to illuminate the night when daylight failed. Nero had thrown open his grounds for the display, and was putting on a show in the circus, where he mingled with the people in the dress of charioteer or drove about in his chariot. All this gave rise to a feeling of pity, even towards men whose guilt merited the most exemplary punishment; for it was felt that they were being destroyed not for the public good but to gratify the cruelty of an individual." - Tacitus, Annales, xv.44I suppose I made quite a few digressions here, but this is an important topic to me.
