The message is very simple: Because Jesus was born, look at all these incredible blessings we have throughout the world.
For instance, the Christian church created the phenomenon of the hospital and has created hospitals all over the world. Christianity has inspired some of the world's greatest music and arts, and has expanded education from the elite to the masses — even creating the entity of the university.
Here are just a few examples of Christianity's influence, fleshed out a bit: Prior to the coming of Christ, human life on this planet was expendable. Even today, in parts of the world where the Gospel of Christ or Christianity has not penetrated, life is exceedingly cheap. Christianity bridged the gap between the Jews — who first received the divine revelation that man was made in God's image — and the pagans, who attributed little value to human life. Meanwhile, as we in the post-Christian West continue to abandon our Judeo-Christian heritage, life is becoming cheap once again.
In the ancient world, child sacrifice was a common practice. In ancient Rome, babies were often left to die if the father did not want them. Many Christians saved these babies and reared them in the Christian faith and helped turn the tide. Through His church, ultimately Jesus brought an end to infanticide in the Roman world.
Christianity also helped to cease the gladiatorial contests — where slaves would be forced to fight unto death for the entertainment of the crowds. And Christianity got slavery abolished in the ancient world and then again in the modern world.
Christianity managed to stop the practice in India of widow-burning. Many times a young girl would be married to an older man. When he died, she would be burned to death on his funeral pyre ... until the missionaries agitated to put a stop to this. Wherever the Gospel has truly penetrated, the value of human life has greatly increased.
Here's another example: Christianity and the Bible helped give birth to modern science, beginning in the late Middle Ages. The belief that a rational God had created a rational universe inspired so many scientists to engage in scientific exploration, looking to catalogue the laws the Creator had impressed upon His creation.
The early scientists thought of themselves as "thinking God's thoughts after Him" (in the words of astronomer Johannes Kepler).
The Royal Society in England was the first key scientific group — which is the oldest scientific association still in operation — and it was founded in a Puritan college in the 1660s. I have even filmed an interview at the Royal Society in London (on this very thesis).
Virtually all of the founders of every major branch of science were Bible-believing Christians. We document that in the book with a long list. One of those men, Sir Isaac Newton, was one of the greatest scientists who ever lived — and he was a committed believer who wrote more about the Bible and theology than he did about science.
Here's another example: America as a nation was largely settled and founded by Christians for religious freedom, which they eventually extended to people of other faiths or no faith.
George Washington, the father of our country, said that unless we imitate "the divine author of our blessed religion," meaning Jesus, we can never hope to be a happy nation.
John Adams noted: "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. ... Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
The essence of America is that our rights come from the Creator, and our government was established on that foundation. As JFK put it in his Inaugural Address, "The rights of man come not from the generous hand of the state, but from the hand of God."
In short, we are heirs to a great civilization, thanks in large part to Christianity and the Bible. Yet, like Esau of old who sold his birthright for a single meal, we seem bent on trading our heritage in for a mess of pottage.
What if there were no Jesus? There would be no salvation, no Salvation Army, no Red Cross, no YMCA. Many of the languages set to writing would likely never have been codified since missionaries would have had no motive to do so. Many of the barbarians the world over would never have been civilized. Cannibalism, human sacrifice, and the abandonment of children would likely still be widely practiced, as they were before Christian influence.
To paraphrase C. S. Lewis, if Jesus had never come, it would be "always winter, but never Christmas."
Jerry Newcombe, D.Min., is the senior producer and an on-air host for D. James Kennedy Ministries. He has written/co-written 32 books, e.g., The Unstoppable Jesus Christ, American Amnesia: Is American Paying the Price for Forgetting God?, What If Jesus Had Never Been Born? (w/ D. James Kennedy), and the bestseller, George Washington's Sacred Fire (w/ Peter Lillback) djkm.org @newcombejerry www.jerrynewcombe.com
Reader Comments
Once upon a time, the vast majority of human persons suffered in societies and social institutions that were unjust, unhealthy, repressive, and oppressive. These traditional societies were reprehensible because of their deep-rooted inequality, exploitation, and irrational traditionalism.… But the noble human aspiration for autonomy, equality, and prosperity struggled mightily against the forces of misery and oppression, and eventually succeeded in establishing modern, liberal, democratic, capitalist, welfare societies. While modern social conditions hold the potential to maximize the individual freedom and pleasure of all, there is much work to be done to dismantle the powerful vestiges of inequality, exploitation, and repression. This struggle for the good society in which individuals are equal and free to pursue their self-defined happiness is the one mission truly worth dedicating one’s life to achieving. Drew Westen writes about the typical American conservative narrative: A narrative of defense.
Once upon a time, America was a shining beacon. Then liberals came along and erected an enormous federal bureaucracy that handcuffed the invisible hand of the free market. They subverted our traditional American values and opposed God and faith at every step of the way.” For example, “instead of requiring that people work for a living, they siphoned money from hard-working Americans and gave it to Cadillac-driving drug addicts and welfare queens.” Instead of the “traditional American values of family, fidelity and personal responsibility, they preached promiscuity, premarital sex and the gay lifestyle” and instead of “projecting strength to those who would do evil around the world, they cut military budgets, disrespected our soldiers in uniform and burned our flag.” In response, “Americans decided to take their country back from those who sought to undermine it. Jonathan Haidt says that liberals fail to understand ''moral capital.'' He writes rightly, pardon the pun: ...con't
Some liberal wisdom according to Haidt.
1. Governments can and should restrain corporate superorganisms.
2. Some problems can be solved by regulation.
Some conservative wisdom.
1. Markets are miraculous.
2. You can't help the bees by destroying the hive.
I haven't seen All InThe Family. Is it any good?
People grow out of the need for dogma and external authority. That's why organized religion is on the wane. It isn't being 'suppressed', it's becoming irrelevant.
"Start from the presupposition that everyone else is insane"
Dr David Bentley Hart professional baseball fan, philosopher and theologian.
If you download a copy of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Gibbons, (who was quite clearly pissed off at organized religion), you'll probably find one with annotations by a Christian French Translator who calls Gibbon out where he gets too 'anti-christianity.')
With that added perspective, the benefits (per the New Testament, mostly*) of Christianity's essence, free will, not based upon compulsion, nor upon power over government - enforced 'belief' "or else' in hopes of world takeover (contra the Talmud and Islam)) are the same points you see detailed above.
So, more than any other religion I've learned what little I have, Christianity seems closest to a properly aspirational religion for we human fools, who, if good, will naturally morph into that ideal even if they never hear about it.
R.C.
*Ecclesiastes stands heads and shoulders above the rest of the O.T.
RC
Jesus H. Fargling Christ. I'll let you rephrase your 'question'. When you do, think WWJD?
R.C.
Done!
R.C.
R.C.
My father was born in a white sharecropper's cabin (amidst ~90% black ones) to a midwife in 1931. Doncha think that the whole S.Baptist 'Pitch' might have sounded hypocritical to a WISE 9 year old? How old was J.C. when he (hopefully yet supposedly) taught in the Temple?
I've got a temper; and for what it's worth, it's served me well in this life. I suggest and request that you read Isjarvi and, HUGELY IMPORTANTLY, Binra's comment of this day, infra.
This book is closed. HNY.
R.C.
First civil partnerships for 'mixed-sex' couples to take place in London
A heterosexual couple who campaigned for mixed-sex civil partnerships have become one of the first couples to tie the knot in a ceremony today after winning a Supreme Court case to change the law....There is scant evidence of Jesus being a real person, possible, but the works cited as a result of his birth are far removed from the reality of cause and effect. People do good things. To conflate all the good acts of people to what is most likely a fictional character is like saying, look at all the good that has come from the wisdom of Yoda.
What about all the deaths, wars, and suffering as a result of Christianity? Facts conveniently left out to bolster an untenable premise. Conquistadors, Inquisition, Cathars, Crusades, the list of death at the hands of Christianity would be in the many millions. Please save me from that!!!
The documentary,.Cesear’s Messiah, describes the origin of Christianity as being a bit different than the currently existing mythology.
[Link]
Do some serious research, instead of blindly following what you're told to believe.
Christianity is a messianic cult. Open your eyes to that concept.
Society is our God.
There are very few substantial exceptions to this. We are ruled by our habits and our habits are given to (inflicted upon) us by our society. Our parents were part of the act.
The society of today is technocratic, it has been building and brewing this way for a long time, so virtually all our habits and are beliefs are also technocratic.
Again, very very few substantial departures from this 'truth'. Technocracy is growing stronger and stronger every day and becoming ever more 'impactful', shall we say. Everything is technocratic.
Christianity, Buddhism, Islam are all technocratic now. Whatever you call your 'religion', it is technocratic.
Jesus, Buddha and Muhammad are all technocrats. Each of them, all our leaders and frozen icons, mighty fucking technocrats! Yahoo, Yayhoo, Yewhew.
Nothing about this is going to change anytime soon. Very unlikely.
Only when you are aware of your habits, the danger of your habits, the complete folly of your habits; do you have the even remotest chance of changing them and even then it is very difficult. Everyone around you is discouraging you from changing any of them. Sweet lovin' Jesus controls your mind!
Society is our God.
Have a nice day.
ned,
out
Our society is on a nice little trip, collectively we are on a nice little trip.
I offer this link as only a slight antidote to the above article (about Jeeeeeeeeesus) that we are all commenting on and getting excited over.
It (following link) is a mere water drop in the present day bucket of excrement we are dwelling in, but I post it nonetheless, because I liked it.
[Link]
@Isjarvi:
Thanks in return, the article was written in a style and substance which I appreciate. I happened upon it by chance, I spend a minimum of my time with the computer, although I feel a little bit obligated to spend some of my time as such....
All my life, I've had a problem with technocracy and I ain't gonna lie about it.
More technocracy yields more war and more war yields more technocracy as the 'clever foxes' (the world's leaders) guard the 'henhouse' (the world's resources including the made-subservient human populations).
It is really stupid and really evil, ya know?
Take care,
ned
Where is the historical evidence/facts for a jesus christ?
Since he was introduced in the bible, the bible cannot be used for historical evidence/facts.
Shalom
For what we accept we teach or demonstrate by our behaviours and demeanour. This no less applies to counter stories of invested disbelief.
Are some stories true and others false? all stories are stories - but what you accept as true by acting or reacting as true for you is the world you are living and sharing in as your unique experience of the Gift of your Existence.
It is part of the nature of the changed to become normalised - such that it becomes de facto invisible - excepting if brought into contrast with alternative conditions.
The use of the term 'impact' is not a choice I align in, but an impacted or split 'mind' made on a world of impacting fear-fed tyrannies is a mind divided and at war with itself - projected out onto its relations and collectively consolidated in 'power struggle' writ large.
The attempt to USE truth as a weapon for personal leverage or private agenda is the substitution of truth with totem or idol of a cultic identity set over and against 'others'. And the attraction to engage in controversy as if right and wrong is determined by war is the 'old religion' of Force and Form determining the Right, rather than discernment of - and alignment in truth.
The Idea or Communication of 'Jesus' has been used by many to serve fearful interpretations that result in conflicted and fearful outcomes. However the Idea is still active within the Consciousness of which a split off part has taken its nature as 'separate' - and set over and against Life as a 'self-survival' in rebellion against a fear of extinction, or ultimate penalty for guilt or lack of worth.
Jesus MET the Christ in everyone - instead of projecting fear and the mind of defence against fear.
The point is not whether you can verify the cultural communication of the Beloved embodied - but whether you recognise and embody the love that you are by true Inherence - rather than persist on the premises of a false inheritance - 'stolen' or taken in vanity from a Living father or Source-Nature.
The latter sense of self is a dead world of a dead end - but you are free to sacrifice your life to it over and over and over again until you recognise you but crucify yourself - no matter how the drama is cast out.
The key that I see, is that the Wholeness of you that is in a sense discarded and forgotten while engaged in drama of division that rules out wholeness as if to sustain a sense of private possession and control, is always Calling you to reintegrate such as you give willingness to listen - consciously and unconsciously. However, the rising to awareness of the capacity to abide, accept, extend and share love, is beyond all word and deed in its quality of Re-Cognition. There are no words I can choose that would serve the meaning of what is too Intimate for word or thought. But Life Communicates You to you in ways that YOU can recognise, accept and understand - if not in the way that you thought to understand before. This Communication does not wait on time or circumstance at all - but on willingness. No one can receive love who is as yet unwilling to share it - and any substitution for love will reveal itself false
The deceiver is the a tempt to make your own reality in place of true - rather than shaping our shared reality as a unique and integral expression of the true. We are seeing deceit as underpinning more and more of what we used to be-live true. This as I see it is the Call for truth and the alignment in a willingness to recognise it. Self honesty or transparency to truth is yielding to presence rather than bolstering or living up to a masking presentation. The choice to persist in the latter is supported by a world of reinforcement.
Life has a spiralling way of bring to us that which we may meet more truly or deeply as a result of the experience of what we have lived before. The Christ Idea is as like to a restatement of original Creation - that is given as the Holy Spirit to the re-cognising of Wholeness accepted and extended. "This is My Beloved Whom Is My Delight!". These Words need to register as the qualities of the two commandments Jesus chose as the most important.
Love of your (recognised) other as your self is the horizontal or space and time expression of love of God as your Source, Nature, Existence et. These two are one - and your current relational balance can be discerned as to feedback to the choices you are aligning in - consciously of as habitual conditioned reaction.
However, love needs no word or thought or action from our thinking, to be Itself.
But if we actively invest in believing or identifying against love, we will re-interpret all things to support our thinking.
Fear of loss of possession and control 'sees' the world in pieces as a result of dissociated thinking.
Existence Is.
The One is in the Many and the Many is in the One.
What you give sets the measure of your receiving.
Everything changes - excepting the above three recognitions.
Existence underpins Relational Integrity.
Persisted dissonance is an imbalance of false priority.
Reconciling you account with your Self, your Brother and your Ground or Source of being is not what you think,
The 'Bridegroom' (Intimate Infinite) cometh when ye thinketh not.
The coming INTO the mind and world of that which both are an expression of - but seen through a glass darkly - is 'interpreted' into worldly terms, and effectively denied - until the mind that thinks its world Real - and suffers it so! - Is brought to question or opened to a relational appreciation from beyond its frame of reference. This is beyond belief - but stepping forth from such an Intimacy of being, is the discerning of the ideas that serve and align helpfulness in the unique relational situation.
Relational trust cannot be systemically substituted for - but that is the world that fear and power struggle generates to hide and protect FROM fear of reliving the 'separation trauma' of rejection, abandonment, betrayal. Whatever forms of such experience are our trigger points - and which are targeted by manipulative intent - even as we align in the attempt to escape or overcome or eradicate them as an unconsciously manipulated consciousness.
The recognition of 'Jesus' is the ongoing recognition and acceptance of Light and Life as one. The forms that it takes are not the reality. The synchrony of love's meaning is not waiting on 'getting it right' or becoming 'worthy'. But I repeat myself.
Compassion discerns the call for love that is hidden in forms that would make it otherwise impossible to hear - and respond to.
I used the term 'love' for an abidance through to the recognition of truth - not for the contractual manipulations of the social masking.
The revisiting of our 'separation trauma' (despite and because of our attempts to evade it) is the opportunity to recognise fear itself as the call for love instead of calling to an alien power to make it go away. Love and Light may seem to come from outside you - because you are self limiting - but only to resonate within you towards the establishing of conscious presence as your freely willing acceptance.
@Baybars:
I believe I will have one or two later today as well.
I have to buy the cheap beer--the really crappy stuff.
I wish I had home brew.
My son used to brew me some, when he was a young teen-ager.
That was cool.
Nnow he is busy being 'grown-up'.
And a 'life' of his own.
ned,
out
A good thing on this sh*tty day (US attack on IRAN in 'our' (sic) Iraq.
R.C.
May your 2020 be happy, safe and free of U.S. drones
Btw. Once a jehowah witness came to my door to peddle me some yehowah crap. I was reading celestine prophecy at the time and after half hour of talk where I explained my perspective on the world he RAN AWAY afraid for his dogma and his mind. Never to be seen again...
That was some 20 years ago If that happened today his dogma wouldnt stand a chance.
You make me laugh and cringe at the same time, as do any religious automatons...
Church leaders are all murderers and rapists! Why is there so much pedofilia where it shouldnt be, in the seminary and even in the confession booth. Isnt the Jesus teaching strongest there? The tree is known by the fruits it grows. Monopoly of the "salvation" of the soul through murder, manipulation, lies and abuse. Chatolic church is essentially just like any other monarchy but is acting to be spiritual.
As I said, this knowledge is READILLY available for any who is seeking answers.
I wanted to let you off the hook eventho you are commenting ON MY POST. But you are not letting go...
We are here to read and respond to your comments and links, that's why!
P.s., the way to REPLY to a comment (like I just did to you) is go to the comment, click the left pointing arrow at the bottom right of the comment, and a window with the name will automatically open up for your reply to stay near your referenced comment.
Just FYI & Happy New Year. .
NRN
R.C.