Jesus changes lives. Beyond the changes that lead a true Christian to be more honest, loving, hard-working, and kind, resulting in a better society generally, Christians have profoundly changed our world in many ways. 

 

Considering Human Life as Special and Valuable

• Christians fought to abolish the common Greek and Roman practices of infanticide, child abandonment, and abortion.

• They abolished the barbaric gladiator shows which forced people to fight animals or each other for the entertainment of others.

• They abolished the practice of human sacrifices among the Aztec and Mayan peoples of Latin America, and of cannibalism in some Pacific islands.

 

Improving Sexual Morality and Married Life

• Christians fought against the immoral sexuality that was very prevalent in Roman society.

• They elevated the dignity of marriage.

 

Improving the Life and Status of Women

• Christians fought against the Indian practice of widow-burning until it was abolished.

• They fought against the tradition of Chinese foot-binding of women until it was abolished.

• They have fought against the practice of female circumcision.

 

Increasing Charity and Compassion

• Christians have encouraged charity to the elderly, widows, and the poor.

• They have encouraged compassion and charity for orphans.

• They have established many voluntary charitable and service organizations.

• They passed child-labor laws to protect children.

• They led the fight to abolish slavery.

• They established the first hospitals, mental institutions, and emergency relief agencies.

 

Impacting Education

• Christians have provided education for both sexes and all classes of society.

• They have provided education for the deaf and blind.

• They have established many schools and colleges.

 

Dignifying Work and the Value of Free Enterprise

• Christians taught that to work hard is honorable.

• They encouraged a moral free enterprise, harnessing the profit motive for the common good and prosperity of all.

 

Motivating the Development of Science

• Christians applied to the physical world Christian presuppositions about Reality being rational, under a rational God, with discoverable laws (with God being separate and distinct from His creation). They also believed they were called by God to develop the potential of our world for the common good and God’s glory. The result: Most of the most famous early scientists in human physiology, biology, astronomy, physics, chemistry and medicine were Christians.

 

Promoting Liberty and Justice for All

• Christians have insisted that no one is above the law.

• They understood laws are needed to restrain evil.

• They believed in a foundation of Natural Law, part of God’s creation, as the foundation for all human laws. This became the basis for legal documents such as the Magna Carta, the American Declaration of Independence and Constitution, and for such basic principles as individual rights, freedom of religion, the equality of individuals, and the distinction between church and state.

 

Inspiring and Shaping Modern Culture

• Christians have codified and put into writing many of the world’s languages.

• They have influenced the development of Art and Architecture.

• They have inspired much in Music and Literature.

• They have shaped our calendar, our vocabulary, and many common symbols.

​

--------------------------------------

​

One Solitary Life

​

He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village, where He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. Then for three years He was a wandering preacher. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family or owned a home. He didn’t go to college. He never visited a big city. He never traveled even two hundred miles from the place He was born. He did none of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself.

 

He was only thirty-three when the tide of public opinion turned against Him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to His enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves.

 

While He was dying, His executioners gambled for His garments, the only property He had on earth. When He was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.

 

But almost twenty centuries have come and gone, and today He is the central figure of the human race. All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man on this earth as much as that one solitary life.

                            

 

(References: How Christianity Changed the World, by Alvin J. Schmidt, and

What if Jesus Had Never Been Born, by D. James Kennedy)

​

​