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What is your history?
Not what have you done, but who are you…really?
I just watched a documentary about the King Arthur legend. It attempted to determine if there was anything to the Arthur legend by examining archeological evidence. What they found was amazing. The implications about you, personally, are even more amazing. Just what is your history? Who are you…really?
If you aren’t a fan of British history or fantasy myths, I get it. Please hold on through the background because this has everything to do with who you really are.
The documentary focused on a written account by a monk in the 600s AD. The monk described an epic account of King Arthur, who supposedly lived 200 years earlier. The biggest features of the monk’s account were the large battles fought between King Arthur’s army of Britons against the invading Anglo-Saxons. It described huge battles with great slaughter.
After extensive research, digging up thousands of remains in the areas where the battles were supposed to have taken place, the archeologists found no evidence of great battles. Less than two percent of the remains showed any evidence of violent deaths. Instead, what they found was a relatively peaceful existence of farming communities.
This led them to examine the DNA of the remains they unearthed. This, too, resulted in the unexpected. They found that only about ten percent of the DNA of the remains belonged to Anglo-Saxons, and only in the southeastern part of Great Britain. The bottom line is that all the evidence and scientific research proved that there was a migration of Anglo-Saxons from Scandinavia, but it was peaceful and resulted in the melding of cultures rather than a great invasion.
The archeologists determined that the legend of Arthur’s heroic struggle against invaders was indeed a myth. But why did the myth exist in the first place? Why was history purposely falsified, and why does the false history still prevail today?
Their conclusion was that the false account was recorded at the direction of those in power to instill a narrative to support their claim to power at the expense of the “invaders.” In other words, those in power made-up history to suit their purpose. To this day the English are known for their Anglo-Saxon genealogy when that is largely false.
So how does all this pertain to you?
How much of who you think you are is made up of what other people tell you? What is your real history?
Saint Paul tells us to not be conformed to the world (Romans 12:2). By that, he is saying that you should not allow what other people say, or what society currently dictates as being normal, to influence the real you. He says that we are supposed to renew our minds, the result being we will know God’s purpose for our lives.
Renew is an interesting word, one that has to do with your real history. He is saying that you are supposed to go back to the way your mind was originally, before it became influenced and polluted by what others say. The real you is the original you that God made; with the personality and GIFT He gave you. He gave you a very specific way of thinking, one different from everyone else.
So, if you want to know your real history, you need to not be conformed to what the powers that be tell you, but renew your mind to your real history. Who are you really?
If someone or something is trying to make you believe you are something you are not, then the real you must be something pretty awesome. Saint Paul goes on to tell you just how you are supposed to do that, but that will be talked about in another post.
