Psalm 27:13 I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. I believe that Christianity is the greatest source of goodness known to humankind. Here is how I support this theory..... A world without Christianity? Take a moment and close your eyes and try to imagine a world over these past two thousand years without the influence of Christianity. Yes, it hasn’t all been rosy, but, for the great majority of world history Christianity has been the most powerful and consistent source of goodness that the human race has ever experienced. Now, go ahead and remove the faith altogether. Imagine a world where Christianity never existed. What kind of world has appeared in your mind? I see a world where there are no Christian missions, no Christian schools, no Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter; a world without the stability of laws and justice as we have known it for 2000 years. There would be no Christian sanctuaries, no churches, no great symbols of peace and love. The Christian concept of grace and mercy and moral character, the act of forgiveness, the concepts of turn the other cheek, love thy neighbour – these things would not exist or would not be practiced as they are today. The great gift to the world of Christian charity would be unknown. The concept of good will would be greatly altered, redefined, diminished. This world would be a very different place. Click "Read More" to the right to continue.... Even current events emphasize the greatness of Christian goodness: Of all the faiths, cultures, societies and ideologies, the Christian nations of the earth are the ones that have held out a helping hand to the Muslim refugees from the Syrian civil war. The same Christians despised by Muslim fanatics and that includes a great many Syrians – the celebratory dancing in the streets after 9/11 occurred in many cities across the middle east and Damascus was one of them. Today, they look to the west, to western Christian nations, for military help and humanitarian aid when not even their own Muslim brethren are offering to step up to the refugee table and resolve the ongoing crisis (with the sole exception of Jordan who are not doing it willingly.) But the Christians stand with open arms and open wallets and open hearts and we do so while facing serious potential for violence and terrorist acts against our citizens. We do this because Christ called upon us to become disciples, to deliver love, compassion and goodness to all people in the world regardless of the borders they live within.
Now, what would life be like without that kind of Christian love? Likely the world would be influenced, perhaps ruled, by the remaining dominant faith of Islam. We would be living under sharia law and from what I have learned about this Muslim concept of law the clock of justice would be rolled back over a thousand years. Our governments would be theocracies run by radical clerics or tyrants and dictators. We would be living in the smoke of war between Sunni, Shi`ite and the many opposing sects of Islam all of whom are struggling for supreme power and have been doing so since the birth of the Islamic faith in the beginning of the seventh century. Basic human rights would be denied; the role of women in society would be returned to what it was in the dark ages (and what it is in most Muslim nations today.) There would be no grand foreign missions of crisis relief to poorer regions of the planet or to those impacted by natural disasters or war. The concept of Christian love and charity that we take for granted would not exist. No other faith engages with the world the way that Christians do and have for thousands of years. Over the past twenty centuries Christianity has been the greatest source of goodness on the planet. It has helped shape our society. Our faith inspired the likes of Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa, Billy Graham, Bishop Desmond Tutu, Pope Jean Paul II, Nelson Mandela, C.S. Lewis and countless political leaders, theologians, scientists, artists and citizens. Our faith is the backbone of inspiration behind hundreds of global initiatives by organizations created to positively impact our world like World Vision, The Red Cross, The Christian Children’s Fund, The United Way, The Salvation Army — there are hundreds of Christian organizations doing great things around the world every minute of every day. We have an undercurrent of goodness instilled in us because of our beliefs and how we practice our faith and because we are commanded by God to show grace and mercy and care toward our neighbors. I take pride in knowing that I am a tiny part of a huge congregation of goodness that has and continues to shape our world. How cool is that?
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