On this day of remembrance, I explain why I have
an intense interest in the faith of Abraham Lincoln, a subject debated by many folks over the years. When I was a young boy, my family moved to
Northern Virginia because my dad gained a job with the Federal government in
Washington, D.C. As a boy, one summer
day Mom took my sister and I to see the Lincoln Memorial. I was extremely impressed and moved
emotionally as I read his profound words etched in the stone. Afterwards we walked around the side of the
building to an area where there was a window where you could see the open space
under the Lincoln Memorial, which I thought was cool. Nearby was a woman sitting at a portable stand
selling Abraham Lincoln books. Before
leaving we looked at her books, and I found one on my reading level. My mom, who was always supportive of me
reading, offered to buy it for me.
The book was Abraham Lincoln by Anne
Colver, first published in 1960. I read
the book, and the result was that as a young boy, I came to admire Abraham
Lincoln. As I grew older, I gained an increasing
interest in American history, and my admiration for Lincoln only increased. As a Boy Scout with Troop 150 in Annandale,
Virginia, we toured many Civil War battle sites, so many I got tired of the
many war details. Though an active
teenager who was more interested in having fun with my fellow Scouts than the
war stuff, I still gave plenty of attention to the Civil War education, and I
learned the Civil War was an epic tragedy.
I remember standing once in a museum at one of the many battlefields we
toured, reading the statement that more Americans were killed in the Civil War
than any other war. I was saddened.
Less than one year after graduating from the
great Virginia Tech, I gave my heart to Jesus.
Thus I have been following Jesus since that April day in 1990. Years later, I was reading a book which has
short biographies of many Christians, entitled More Than Conquerors.[1] That book has a piece about the faith of
Abraham Lincoln. The piece was fascinating, but the author did not give a single citation. Thus when he gave the testimony of Lincoln, I
had no way of knowing if it was genuine.
The result is I wanted to learn whether the
testimony given was legit. Over three
years later, I was studying at the special Colorado Christian University, and I
had the opportunity to hear Dr. Ronald Rietveld, professor emeritus at
California State University, Fullerton, speak.
His topic: the faith of Abraham Lincoln.
And the pinnacle of the talk was the same testimony told in More Than
Conquerors. Afterwards he told me he
had personally seen the quote written by Lincoln himself in a letter which had
been archived by someone at, or from, New York Avenue Presbyterian Church. After talking with Dr. Rietveld, I began
doing my own research into the testimony, and this blog expresses the results
of that research.
Hunter Irvine
Hunter Irvine
