"Historic Jamestowne" Essay Contest
(March/April 2007 issue of Homeschooling Today magazine)

Win a $100 Vision Forum Passport!

Pick one of the Scripture Discussion points below (or choose another of interest to your family) and write a persuasive essay expanding on the topic. Explain whether the settlers were operating under the truth of the Bible, or under a worldly deception. Though it is not required for the contest, we suggest you submit it to your local (or a national) newspaper.

Send your essay: Homeschooling Today magazine, P.O. Box 244, Abingdon, VA, 24212, or email it as a Word document to . We will choose one essay from all entries received by July 31, 2007 [deadline extended to August 31, 2007], to publish in an upcoming issue of Homeschooling Today magazine. The published entry will also receive a $100 gift certificate to the Vision Forum catalog. Please include with each submission the following information: author's name, address, phone number and email address (optional). Also tell us where you submitted it for publication, if applicable. If it is published prior to submission, please include a clipping or copy of the essay as it appeared in print.

For the complete unit study, "Historic Jamestowne", see page 51 in the March/April issue of Homeschooling Today magazine (or download the PDF)

Scripture discussion: The Founding Fathers of our nation were well-versed in the Bible—more so than we are today. Their views on all issues of life were therefore colored by Scripture. How do the following Scriptures help us better understand the settlers' perspectives on the following? Upon which other Scriptures might they have based their actions? Also, which ideas and passages from the Bible can be found in the suggested readings and primary resources?

1. Land ownership (Ex. 20:12, Joshua 13-19, Acts 17:26, Deut. 32:7-8, Ex. 20:15 and Deut. 19:14)
2. "Interracial" marriage (2 Cor. 6:14, Gal. 3:28, Acts 17:26)
3. Building a population through native births, rather than sending over more colonists from England (Gen. 1:28, 8:16)
4. Evangelizing the natives (Matt. 28:18-20)
5. Pocahontas dressing like the settlers as an "Englishwoman" after her conversion rather than remaining in her native clothing (Gen 3:21)

Scripture discussion: Many, even in their native Virginia, are shying away from calling the Jamestown Quadricentennial a celebration, but instead refer to it as a commemoration. Discuss as a family the Scriptural basis for each of the following:

1. Remembrance of Jamestown, what the settlers did there, and teaching these things to our children (Deut. 32:7-8, Ps. 78; Ex. 20:12)
2. Erecting a memorial to God's providential deliverance of a people (Prov. 22:28, Josh. 4:19-20, Gen. 28:16-22, 1 Sam. 7:10-12)
3. Understanding the original words of the settlers from primary source documents, with the meaning that would have been understood at the time (Lev. 19:16; Prov. 15:14, 20:5, 23:23, 28:2b)

Be sure to include in the discussion, why it is right to honor our fathers and ancestors, rather than look down our noses at them. Should we wonder how they could have sinned in this way or that way? We would be wise to recognize that they were sinners just like us, and to consider ways in which we fail to honor them by sinning as they did—or in finding new and uniquely foolish ways to sin.

Submissions: Anyone 18 and under may enter. When submitting your article electronically, use either Microsoft Word, or save it as a Text file. (If submitting as text, please double-space between paragraphs.) Entries must be between 1200-2000 words and must be received electronically by midnight (EST) August 31, 2007, or, if sent by postal mail, postmarked by that date. Include author's full name, age, parents' names, address, phone number, and email address.

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