IT'S COLUMBUS DAY!

 I have always loved Columbus Day!

Christopher Columbus

The very thought of honoring someone who had a whole lot to do with paving the way for the United States of America seemed like a really good idea to me.  Unfortunately  the school district I was in while growing up chose not to make that yearly commemoration a school holiday, even though the banks and federal government had a day off on October 12th.  When practically all the holidays moved to a Monday observance--and created a three day weekend--the celebratory day wasn't always the 12th.  Like this year, it was yesterday October 11th.  No matter.  I have spent some time today thinking  about the pictures of Christopher Columbus we colored or drew in elementary school and my History classes in the higher grades which revealed more about him and his voyages to the new world.  I thought--I think we all did--what a fearless explorer he was.

Since that time I have read excerpts from Christopher Columbus'  journals and some biographies by his peers and other historians, who came later, which have plainly laid out Columbus' more noble motive for his quest to find a passage to India.  

Tad R. Callister wrote:

"For many years Columbus sought financing for his desired voyage.  Finally,  Queen Isabella of Spain gave her approval. Even though the voyage would have profound financial benefits for Spain, Columbus was under no misapprehension about its purpose; he knew it was much more than a secular quest. He knew it was an integral part of God’s divine master plan. He was not alone in this understanding. Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo, Spain’s royal historian, referred to the king and queen’s “faithful service to Jesus Christ and their fervent desire for the spread of His holy faith.” He then added, “It was for this purpose that the Lord brought Christopher Columbus to their notice.”

Though fame and fortune may have contributed to his great endeavor to discover a route to the riches of the East, Columbus truly believed he was an instrument in God's hands.

He did seek for gold, but it was a spiritual quest to finance a crusade that would conquer jerusalem and rebuild the temple. Columbus did have his weaknesses, but he felt God worked through him by using his strengths to accomplish His purposes. 

Sadly there are many revisionist historians who have completely remade Columbus into someone he was not.  They quote from sources that are not primary and therefore cannot be wholly accurate.  And they oftern take out of context the real intent of some of Columbus' actions.

Yes, Columbus did send some slaves to Spain.  He wanted to civilize them and save them from their canabalistic  way of life.  He thought if they could be educated they could go back to their native home to teach other tribesmen about, and convert them to, Christianity.  Incidentally, Columbus never personally owned a slave in his entire life.  He wanted to make friends, not enemies, of the natives.  He truly brought them a better way of life.

The negative views brought forward by critics and natives at the end of the 1900's have the wrong perspective.  For them,  Columbus became the symbol of everything that went wrong, when in fact it was the people he left in charge when he went back to Spain who plundered, robbed, and raped the people.  The native people revered Columbus and brought him gifts.  Columbus told those left behind to respect the natives.  They did not.

Truthfully Columbus brought the natives a much better way of life--Christianity.  Instead of  Columbus destoying what "revisionists" call the Garden of Eden perfection the natives lived in, the truth is that they were often at war with one another.  Some were canibals, they had slaves, women were used as sex slaves, major diseases were prevalent, they practiced human sacrifice, practiced witchcraft, and were largely uneducated.   Christianity eradicated all that which improved every single instance of their existence noted above.

In spite that the current image and history of Columbus has been colored by "presentism", the evidence remains that documents support the fact he was the kind of person he claimed to be--a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Columbus' contributions to society, the United States of America,  and ultimately, the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ demand that he be honored and recognized for the person he truly was .  

That was the person we used to celebrate.  We need to stand up and still honor and recogonize that same person with celebration!  

I invite you to find primary historical sources that will reveal Columbus as that man he saw himself as--an instrument in the hand of God.  You will not be disappointed.

"In fourteen hundred and ninty-two Columbus sailed the ocean blue..."  and I rejoice that he did and for his fearless determination to serve God.