Living is something that should be real. We should take it as best we can, as deep and wide and full as we can. We shouldn’t ever be small or ever be afraid.”
–Ernest Haycox (The Border Legion)
“And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.”
–1 John 4:17 (NLT)
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“No one should fear to undertake any task in the name of our Savior, if it is just and the intention is purely for His holy service.”
–Christopher Columbus
HAPPY COLUMBUS DAY!
That’s right, Happy Columbus Day, not happy indigenous peoples day no matter who might say that or what state or government says it, the truth of the matter is the celebration is for when Columbus discovered the Americas.
Columbus was a great sailor and explorer. Leadership studies usually deal with ten leadership traits and all of these can easily be seen in the character of Columbus. True, he was ambitious, and he wanted wealth and fame, but he also believed that the Gospel of Jesus Christ should be spread throughout the world. He required that a certain percentage of gold and silver brought from the New World be used to send missionaries to the Indians (excuse me, indigenous people) and to build schools for education.
There is much ado about the Columbian Exchange, however, most of it focuses on the negative impact of it. With the Europeans came new diseases against which the Indians (excuse me, indigenous people) had no immunity. There is very little mentioned of the disease that went back to Europe–syphilis. The Indians (excuse me again, indigenous peoples) were still living in the stone age. Even though metals were found in the Americas there was little effort to make them into tools or weapons, and even when the Europeans came they preferred to trade for such items. A person might reach the grand old age of thirty. I might also make mention here that the Indians (excuse me, indigenous people) came from Asia.
The world, including the New World, would never be the same after the discovery of Columbus. The Europeans brought grains, language, education, horses, cattle and other livestock, architecture, tools, and religion. Take for example the Plains Indians. We think of them riding across the plains following the buffalo. In reality, this was only for about 250 years of their existence. Before the horse they lived along the fringe of the plains in survival mode. The horse completely changed their culture.
This is the one the liberals hate. With Columbus and explorers to followed came Christianity. They began to fulfill the command of Jesus Christ to take the Gospel throughout the world. The Indians (excuse me, indigenous people) were pagans. Many practiced human sacrifice and the mutilation of the human body. These were people lost without Christ. Subsequently, with the settlement of America came the largest missionary movement the world has ever seen. This is one reason, I believe, the Vikings did not make permanent settlements in America. At that time in their history the Vikings were pagan themselves. It wasn’t Divine Providence for a pagan people to settle an area in which another pagan people lived.
In the Columbian Exchange many things went back to Europe, mostly in the form of food items. Interesting, none of the Indian (excuse me, indigenous people) religions made an impact upon Europeans. None of their languages became spoken in Europe. Yet most people in the Western Hemisphere speak a European language.
So, Hail, Columbia, the land of Columbus.
Ira Paine
P.S. Read “The Light and the Glory” by Peter Marshall and David Manuel for a enlightened study of Columbus.