What we assume to be the truth, an assumption not confirmed by Scripture or by the Spirit, can form a false foundation for our faith and provide us with an unreliable interpretation of history. We need to employ the interpretive tool of what I would call Long History.

Long History develops over time and does not change in its essence. If we lay the interpretive template of biblical Long History over this developing moment in history, we will keep our heads clear and our course sure when our world is accepting as truth something Long History would call error or deception. The divinity and singularity of Jesus as humanity’s only Savior, our clearly defined sexuality and identity, and the never-ending goodness of God are examples of what creates the clarity of the lens of the Long History of humanity revealed in God’s word.

Long History has been repeating itself since creation, in both secular and biblical history. Each generation has also rejected that history in an attempt to define away the presence of absolutes. Long History is not some ignorant, hickish, intellectually backwoods understanding of spiritual life adhered to by slavish, unthinking followers. Clear and undoctored history, a history not written by biased victors, but by the hand of God is the only reliable source. History repeats itself in each generation. The wise will not be tempted to think this generation will somehow discover new “truth” that violates the created order of God. 

If we dismiss a study of Long History, we will do so to our peril. Viewing the entire expanse of human history in light of Scripture will keep us from falling victim to short-term and impulsive interpretations of reality. The predictability of human nature, our interaction with people, our propensity to sin, and the nature of culture and its institutions have remained the same since the fall of Eden. Long History is the only reliable template to lay over our current situation to interpret what is taking place and help us choose a faithful compass course upon which to travel.

The solutions for the maladies of our time are found in Scripture, not in a reinterpretation of history that fits inside a descending moral capsule that, with each passing day, moves farther away from the commonsense, stability, and hope revealed in Long History.