Who Could Have Imagined......

"What the world is to-day, good and bad, it owes to Gutenberg. Everything can be traced to this source, but we are bound to bring him homage, for what he said in dreams to the angered angel has been literally fulfilled, for the bad that his colossal invention has brought about is overshadowed a thousand times by the good with which mankind has been favored. Yours very truly, Mark Twain"

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Gutenberg bible page

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Have you ever noticed that sometimes things happen so slowly that you don't even notice them happening. I woke up one morning and wondered where the extra 30 lbs of weight came from, why my hair was gray, and when did my daughters grow up. The worlds history has a way of unfolding this same way but on a much grander scale.

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250 years ago (1759 A.D.) The United States did not exist.

500 years ago (1509 A.D.) Printed Gutenburg bibles were only about 50 years old

750 years ago (1259 A.D.).. St Thomas Acquinas had yet to start writing the "Summa Theologica" or Summary of Theology.

1,000 years ago (1009 A.D.)..Gunpowder was invented in China.

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Around 1009 A.D.

-Christians were an estimated 18% of the worlds population.

-Illiteracy rates are estimated to have been in the 98-99 percentile.

-The bible as we know it was reproduced by hand.

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While the Gospel of Christ has not changed over the past 2,000 years the worlds culture, technology, and geo-political balance has certainly changed.

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Do you think that Gutenburg envisioned that his printing press technology would eventually allow the bible to be made so readily available?

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Do you think that Thomas Aquinas thought his writings would be studied 750 years after his death?

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Do you ever wonder what the local Christian church will look like after another 100, 250, or 500 years of changing technology, culture and political power?

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Looking back over mans history tends to make me optimistic about our future. At least over over the long run.

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Grace & Peace