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I've been thinking recently about how it was that the Scots did so many amazing things in the world.
I have noted that religion was a huge influence in their lives and they certainly took that all over the world with them and as a result built thousands of churches.
I've often seen references to the fact that often the Bible was the only book they possessed and recently that has made me wonder if that was perhaps the key to why they did so well.
The Bible being the one book they possessed was obviously also used to teach children to read and write. And with all the books in the Bible there is much that can be learned from it as a way of living your life.
Now I'm not getting all religious here but I can't think of even one book today we would all read like the Bible was read in Scots homes a century and more ago.
I've commented in the past on how children could recite whole passages of the Bible. The visiting ministers would examine the children as to their knowledge of the Bible.
I remember at the church in Ahmadi, Kuwait we were given the task of learning all the names of the books in the old and new testaments and then when examined and we got them all correct the next Sunday we were presented with a copy of the Bible. I still have that Bible today and indeed used it for my swearing in ceremony as a Canadian citizen.
So in many ways the Bible was used as a school book and memorizing sections of it must have developed a retentive memory. This must have developed a mind set that helped the children when they attended schools. And the Ministers were quite often the school teachers.
The Bible is certainly not read as often today as it was a century ago. Church attendance is well down as well. So what has taken its place?
As far as I can see nothing has taken its place.
Most of the major publishers in the world were Scots. A lot of the major universities in the world were founded by Scots. But even if you discount Scots most of the Universities in the world were founded by Christians.
I keep looking at the inventions of Scots that totally changed the world. Transport - bridges, roads, canals, railways, steam boats, etc. In fact having just published the book Scots in England I was amazed at what they achieved in medicine and health care.
Then I compare that to what Scots are doing today and we seem to be a pale shadow of what we were. In many respects this seems to equate to the loss of the Bible in our lives.
And so I looked at what has replaced the Bible. You could say that the Internet has replaced the Bible. While it is a recent shift it seems that Facebook and Twitter and other social networking sites have replaced the Bible. I'm not sure what effect this is having on the minds of children. Is it helping them with developing a retentive memory? I somehow don't think so. In fact I've often said that my memory isn't that great and so the search engine on my site makes up for that.
Then if you watch any commentary on TV about education you can't help but be concerned how kids today are not doing as well at school. In the old days in Scotland school was free although you did need to pay something to go to higher schools and University although much of that was really just living expenses.
Today we seem to be caught up in a multi-cultural attitude where it is no longer "correct" to say Happy Christmas. You no longer get to sing a hymn at school. Yet we get to the point that the Muslim faith are building mosques in former Christian countries but a lot of Muslim countries won't tolerate Christians in their countries and won't let you build a church.
I'd go further in that the Muslim countries are gradually and steadily getting rid of Christians. See the recent bombings of churches in Iraq and Egypt. Turkey has almost eradicated Christians whereas it was formerly a very Christian country. Iran, Lebanon, etc. see dwindling number of Christians.
So with the Bible going out of fashion it seems that Christianity is dwindling as well. We don't seem to care that much about it any more and so the Muslim faith keep expanding as they obviously care a lot more about their religion than Christians do.
What I can't yet see is any evidence that the Muslim faith is producing the thinkers and innovators of tomorrow.
And so my question in all this is has the loss of that one book (The Bible) made a significant change to the world and to the Scots?
Alastair
I have noted that religion was a huge influence in their lives and they certainly took that all over the world with them and as a result built thousands of churches.
I've often seen references to the fact that often the Bible was the only book they possessed and recently that has made me wonder if that was perhaps the key to why they did so well.
The Bible being the one book they possessed was obviously also used to teach children to read and write. And with all the books in the Bible there is much that can be learned from it as a way of living your life.
Now I'm not getting all religious here but I can't think of even one book today we would all read like the Bible was read in Scots homes a century and more ago.
I've commented in the past on how children could recite whole passages of the Bible. The visiting ministers would examine the children as to their knowledge of the Bible.
I remember at the church in Ahmadi, Kuwait we were given the task of learning all the names of the books in the old and new testaments and then when examined and we got them all correct the next Sunday we were presented with a copy of the Bible. I still have that Bible today and indeed used it for my swearing in ceremony as a Canadian citizen.
So in many ways the Bible was used as a school book and memorizing sections of it must have developed a retentive memory. This must have developed a mind set that helped the children when they attended schools. And the Ministers were quite often the school teachers.
The Bible is certainly not read as often today as it was a century ago. Church attendance is well down as well. So what has taken its place?
As far as I can see nothing has taken its place.
Most of the major publishers in the world were Scots. A lot of the major universities in the world were founded by Scots. But even if you discount Scots most of the Universities in the world were founded by Christians.
I keep looking at the inventions of Scots that totally changed the world. Transport - bridges, roads, canals, railways, steam boats, etc. In fact having just published the book Scots in England I was amazed at what they achieved in medicine and health care.
Then I compare that to what Scots are doing today and we seem to be a pale shadow of what we were. In many respects this seems to equate to the loss of the Bible in our lives.
And so I looked at what has replaced the Bible. You could say that the Internet has replaced the Bible. While it is a recent shift it seems that Facebook and Twitter and other social networking sites have replaced the Bible. I'm not sure what effect this is having on the minds of children. Is it helping them with developing a retentive memory? I somehow don't think so. In fact I've often said that my memory isn't that great and so the search engine on my site makes up for that.
Then if you watch any commentary on TV about education you can't help but be concerned how kids today are not doing as well at school. In the old days in Scotland school was free although you did need to pay something to go to higher schools and University although much of that was really just living expenses.
Today we seem to be caught up in a multi-cultural attitude where it is no longer "correct" to say Happy Christmas. You no longer get to sing a hymn at school. Yet we get to the point that the Muslim faith are building mosques in former Christian countries but a lot of Muslim countries won't tolerate Christians in their countries and won't let you build a church.
I'd go further in that the Muslim countries are gradually and steadily getting rid of Christians. See the recent bombings of churches in Iraq and Egypt. Turkey has almost eradicated Christians whereas it was formerly a very Christian country. Iran, Lebanon, etc. see dwindling number of Christians.
So with the Bible going out of fashion it seems that Christianity is dwindling as well. We don't seem to care that much about it any more and so the Muslim faith keep expanding as they obviously care a lot more about their religion than Christians do.
What I can't yet see is any evidence that the Muslim faith is producing the thinkers and innovators of tomorrow.
And so my question in all this is has the loss of that one book (The Bible) made a significant change to the world and to the Scots?
Alastair
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