[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"\u002Farticles\u002Flooking-back-to-look-ahead":3,"\u002Farticles\u002Flooking-back-to-look-ahead-surround":86},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"bibleBooks":8,"body":10,"columnName":69,"date":70,"description":5,"extension":71,"image":72,"meta":73,"minRead":74,"navigation":75,"path":76,"postType":77,"publication":37,"publicationUrl":72,"seo":78,"stem":79,"topics":80,"__hash__":85},"blog\u002Farticles\u002Flooking-back-to-look-ahead.md","Looking Back to Look Ahead",{"name":7},"Dave Faust",[9],"",{"type":11,"value":12,"toc":66},"minimark",[13,16,19,22,25,28,31,48,51,54,57,60],[14,15,5],"p",{},[14,17,18],{},"Publication: The Lookout",[14,20,21],{},"Date: January 2, 2000",[14,23,24],{},"Column: From the Editor's Desk",[14,26,27],{},"Category: Heritage; Restoration Movement",[14,29,30],{},"How would you feel if you stumbled onto a letter someone wrote to you exactly 50 years ago? That's what happened to me the other day. This particular letter wasn't sealed in an envelope, however. It was printed in a magazine.",[14,32,33,34,38,39,41,42,44,45,47],{},"Throughout 2000 we plan to publish some articles first printed long ago in ",[35,36,37],"em",{},"The Lookout",", so I spent time in the Standard Publishing archives dusting off old bound volumes of our magazine. In ",[35,40,37],{}," for January 7, 1950, I was startled to see an article by then-editor Guy P. Leavitt entitled, \"To the Editor of ",[35,43,37],{},", Issue of Sunday, January 2, 2000.\" (Part of Leavitt's article appears on page 10 of today's issue.) Leavitt even included a note to the readers that said, \"The editor of ",[35,46,37],{}," on January 2, 2000, will have a permanently bound copy of this issue in his files, but he may overlook this article unless it is called to his attention.\" He suggested that some young person—then 10 or 12 years old—should accept responsibility to send a copy of his editorial to the future editor by October 1, 1999. (Just for the record, none of today's 60 or 62-year-olds did so!)",[14,49,50],{},"An untiring advocate of Sunday school, Leavitt published in the same issue predictions from prominent church leaders. What would Bible classes be like in 2000? P. H. Welshimer, from First Christian Church in Canton, Ohio, wrote that \"the best equipment ought to be provided . . . and the class period should be devoted to the lesson, leaving gossip, business and social affairs for the monthly class meeting.\"",[14,52,53],{},"Many of the writers foresaw that the number of small groups would increase in the future. One ventured to suggest that by 2000 most church buildings will be air-conditioned and will have parking lots. Another predicted that \"new inventions will give us more leisure time,\" so \"Christian literature will have to keep pace with the changes if we are to be effective in our teaching.\"",[14,55,56],{},"One leader predicted even more radical changes. \"Lessons no longer will be in leaflet or magazine form,\" he wrote, \"but will be sent by air waves to their destination where they will be recorded on a sound film which the Bible schools will use.\" (With today's computer technology, he wasn't too far off.) He also predicted that Bible classes would require less space because by 2000, \"chairs, benches, and other such equipment will not be necessary, due to the use of individual means of transportation which will incorporate suspended animation\"!",[14,58,59],{},"Leavitt ended his letter to me by saying, \"If Christ has not yet come by the year 2000, please remember that we accept him without reservation as the only begotten Son of God. . . . We accept the Bible as God's divinely revealed Word. . . . We are praying for the unity of all Christians. . . . Our prayer is that this unity may have been realized by January 2, A.D. 2000.\"",[14,61,62,63,65],{},"If my beloved predecessor were here today, I'd tell him: Brother Leavitt, I assure you, we at ",[35,64,37],{}," still share your faith in Christ, your commitment to the Word, and your desire for Christian unity. Thanks for thinking of us 50 years ago and looking ahead through the eyes of faith to encourage future generations. Our world may be more complex than it was in 1950, but basic human needs remain the same—and so does our Lord. We are determined to be faithful to our sacred trust. Even after all these years, there is still a lot of work to do.",{"title":9,"searchDepth":67,"depth":67,"links":68},2,[],"From the Editor's Desk","2000-01-02","md",null,{},4,true,"\u002Farticles\u002Flooking-back-to-look-ahead","column",{"title":5,"description":5},"articles\u002Flooking-back-to-look-ahead",[81,82,83,84],"Biblical Theology","Church Leadership","Christian Unity","Spiritual Formation","FxPY0MuurWotGXW83KVKNgqf18-u8KDptJVUCeAE1uw",[87,92],{"title":88,"path":89,"stem":90,"description":91,"children":-1},"Look at the Palms","\u002Farticles\u002Flook-at-the-palms","articles\u002Flook-at-the-palms","Palm trees bring to mind vacation spots and warm ocean breezes. Prized by the ancients for their flowers and fruit like dates and coconuts, palm trees also provided strong elastic fibers craftsmen wove into ropes.",{"title":93,"path":94,"stem":95,"description":96,"children":-1},"Looking for Rainbows?","\u002Farticles\u002Flooking-for-rainbows","articles\u002Flooking-for-rainbows","In purely scientific terms, a rainbow is formed by refraction and reflection of the sun's rays on raindrops. Yet from the time we're children we instinctively see the hand of God when bright bands of color arc across the sky."]