What Happened on May 2?

WHAT HAPPENED ON MAY 2?

On May 2, 373, early Christian church leader Athanasius died. Athanasius is known as "The Father of Orthodoxy" and is most well known for his work in defending Biblical truth against the heresy of Arianism. While Athanasius also was influential in his help in clarifying which books should make up the New Testament Canon, it is his work in refuting the heresy of Arianism that is most prominent. Arianism is the heresy that denies the deity of Jesus Christ - making Christ out to be a lesser created being. The Jehovah's Witness movement propagates this same heresy today.

For more about Asthanasius, consider this book

For more about Arianism and the Deity of Jesus Christ consider this systematic theology or this book on the deity of Christ.




Births
1729 Catharine II (aka Catharine the Great) - Empress of Russia
1903 Bing Cosby - Singer of "White Christmas" fame
1975 David Beckham - English Soccer player

Deaths
1519 Leonardo DaVinci - Painter, inventor, Renascence man
1972 J. Edgar Hoover - Former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigators (FBI)

Events
1863 Stonewall Jackson is wounded by friendly fire and dies 8-days later
1885 Good Housekeeping magazine goes on sale for the first time
1997 Tony Blair becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Sports
1920 The first game of the Negro National League baseball is played
Indianapolis, Indiana served as the home for the first game
1939 Lou Gehrig's streak of 2130 consecutive games comes to an end

What Happened on May 1?

WHAT HAPPENED ON MAY 1?

On May 1, 1873, Scottish missionary David Livingstone went to meet the Lord whom he had faithfully served. After a bout with malaria, the body of Dr. Livinstone was found kneeling at by his bedside at about four o’clock in the morning with his head buried in his hands on the pillow in his frequent position of prayer.

Dr. Livingstone is credited with being the first man to cross Africa with the Gospel of Christ. Dr. Livingstone’s explorations of Africa became a matter of excitement both in England and in the United States. In 1871, Henry Stanley discovered Dr. Livingstone in Africa and allegedly made the now famous quote, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume." Henry Stanley had been sent on this expedition by Mr. J. G. Bennet of the New York Herald with the purpose to attain accurate information about Dr. Livingstone or to bring home his bones.

In addition to proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a needy land, Dr. Livingstone was also a physician, explorer, astronomer, linguist, geographer, zoologist, and emancipator among other things. He worked for the abolishment of the slave trade, including writing a letter to the New York Herald exactly one year before his death in which he concluded "All I can add in my loneliness, is, may Heaven’s rich blessing come down on every one, American, English or Turk, who will help to heal the open sore of the world." A statement that stands next to his grave in Westminster Abbey today. As an explorer, he famously tried to locate the source of the Nile River, but found the source of the Congo River instead.

For more information about Dr. Livingstone, consider these books.







Other events from May 1

Births
1852 - Calamity Jane (Martha Burke) - famous female gunslinger

1907 - Kate Smith - singer (her rendition of "God Bless America" thrilled Philadelphia Flyers
fan for years)

1925 - Chuck Bednarik - former NFL player known as "Concrete Charlie" (He played both offense and defense for the Philadelphia Eagles and was known for crushing tackles.)

Deaths

1451 - Thomas a Kempis - author of Imitation of Christ

1997 - Bebe the dolphin - played the role of TV’s "Flipper."


Holidays

May Day, Labor Day - in many places around the world

Law Day, U.S.A, and Loyalty Day

United States holidays put in place during the Presidential Administration of
General Dwight D. Eisenhower as an answer to the communist and socialist
emphasis associated with May Day.

Historical Events

1704 A Boston Newsletter publishes the first newspaper advertisement (Just think - Google adsense, pop-ups and infomercials started here )

1707 The United Kingdom formed by England, Scottland and Wales

1786 Mozart's Opera "Marriage of Figaro" debuts in Vienna

1844 Samuel Morse sends first telegraph message (The message - "What hath God wraught?" )

1863 The Battle of Chancellorsville begins during the American Civil War

1931 Empire State Building opens in New York City ("An Affair to Remember" would be forgettable without it! )

1933 Emporer Haile Selassie leaves Ethopia as Italian soldiers invade

1939 Batman begins - the comic books

1952 Mr. Potato Head is introduced

1956 The Polio Vaccine, developed by Dr. Jonas Salk, is made available to the public.

1961 Fidel Castro announces that there will be no more elections in Cuba


Sports Events

1883 Philadelphia Phillies play first game (The Fightin' Phillies are the oldest continuos one name, one city franchise in all of professional sports. )

1901 Herb McFarland hits first grand slam in American League history

1920 Babe Ruth hits his first home run as a New York Yankee

1920 Brooklyn Dodgers and Boston Braves play a 26-inning game (The game ended in a 1-1 tie)

1951 Mickey Mantle hits his first home run

1992 Ricky Henderson steals 1,000th base

Feel free to add other appropriate items in the "comments" section.

Introducing "What Happened on this Date?"

Welcome to "What Happened on this Date?"

This blog is intended to be a place where you can come to find out information about what has happened on particular dates in history.

A few years ago, I included a section like this on a weekly Bible Study and Announcements Hand-out that I produced each week for the teens in my youth group while I was a Youth Pastor at Hardingville Bible Church in Monroeville, New Jersey under the leadership of Pastor Mark Franklin. I produced a Sr. High Version on Wednesday nights and a Jr. High version on Friday nights.

While the focus of the page was the Bible Study portion on the back of the page, for the front side, I generally included youth group announcements, scoring information, some humor items and some items I had picked up over the years regarding the particular day - a "This Day in History" type of thing. I also started to include this day in church history, this day in sports, etc.

The teens seemed to have like the concept of finding out what happened on this date as well as short humor items.

This site seeks to take that concept and move it to the web. I seek to provide a place where you can come to find out interesting tid-bits about a particular day as well as a short - and CLEAN - humor item.

I hope that you enjoy "What Happened On This Date?"