Dear skeptic friends and family, and to those believers that are unaware of how God is moving in history, we need to talk. There are accusations of the church being impotent and self serving. I’ll grant that it is true in some circumstances, but these are of a tiny minority. Some of our brethren aren’t very effective or generous with the resources they have been blessed with, but they have been unfairly chosen as the representative of Christianity and the church at large. Even some Christians, without merit, refuse to participate in financial sacrifices along with the rest of the church because of the myth that “their money” is contributing to some else’s selfish gain.
Stolen from the folks over at Being Libertarian.
The “four horsemen” have gone as far as saying religion (when they say religion, they typically mean Christianity) literally poisons everything. No matter how hostile your position may be against Christ and His church, it’s intellectually dishonest to make such a claim. Many of the movers and shakers in all facets of life have been indisputably followers of Christ. With this article, I want to briefly highlight those believers that I know of, but this is by no means meant to be exhaustive.
Coming off of the heels of black history month, talks about racial reconciliation and celebrating the contributions black Americans have taken prominence. I’ll start with the pioneers of racial reconciliation in America, the abolitionists. Of the many, William Wilberforce is of note. His convictions that all men were made in the image of God were so strong, he not only fought slavery in his home country, but he left his native land to take the fight where ever the battle took him.
Going further back into America’s history, the constitution and the branches of government are derived from scripture. As much as skeptics hate to acknowledge this, Checks and balances were put in place to deal with the problem of man’s sin. That’s a reality taken right out of scripture. The idea that all men are created equally also comes directly from scripture. You’ll see a lot of the typical internet journalism disputing this fact with dank memes, but if you really investigate what the founders were all about and why they felt so compelled to settle another country to begin with, you’ll see something entirely different. You’d also have a hard time explaining the public prayer over the constitution.
Did they implement those ideas perfectly? Obviously not. Many atrocious things still happened in our history. My argument is that without scripture, and the Christians that faithfully implemented it into how this country was initially run, America would not be what it is today. Upon it’s founding, you could not even run for office unless you were a Christian. It’s still true in some places! Google it. People are still fighting that to this day.
Onward to the realm of education, there was Booker T. Washington. His convictions that men and women of all nations were of equal value and could both contribute to the betterment of America led to the founding of Tuskegee University. Yale University was founded by Christians “wherein Youth may be instructed in the Arts and Sciences (and) through the blessing of Almighty God may be fitted for Publick employment both in Church and Civil State.” John Harvard, the namesake of Harvard University, was a Christian.
In the realm of science, men like Isaac Newton, George Washington Carver, Charles Bell, and Blase Pascal were all Christians. Even the way we communicate has been based on ideas implemented by men and women professing faith. The Morse Code was invented by a Christian, Samuel Morse. Bonus: Google “transatlantic telegraph first contact”. What you’ll find might surprise you.
Christians throughout history have influenced politics, science, healthcare, art, education, race relations, architecture, agriculture, the workplace, and every other facet imaginable of life as we know it. Where there has been slavery, Christians have stepped in and declared “This cannot be so, because we are all created equally in the image of God”. Where there has been poverty, the church has fed and clothed. When the Romans were throwing their children out to die from exposure, the Christians were there to adopt them. We’re still seeing that happen today. Where there has been illiteracy, the Christians have stepped in to teach reading, writing, and arithmetic so that people could read and teach scripture. Where there has been no healthcare, Christians have stepped in to build hospitals so that we can care for the sick, the elderly, widows, and the orphans.
When the church is given a chance to flourish, everyone benefits. We will feed the hungry. We will house the homeless. We will take custody of the mother and fatherless. We will nurse the sick. We will educate the ignorant. This is a truth that has been verified over and over throughout history. These are things that are still happening today when and where we’re able to be effective.
That’s a good place to start, but I’d recommend following this up with someone a lot more informed than I am. Yale historian Kenneth Scott Latourette wrote a 12 volume work on the history and spread of Christianity. 12 volumes! Get the first set here and the second set here. What I’ve said here doesn’t even scratch the surface of the good things done in the name of Christ.
That’s a massive undertaking and too much for some, surely. That’s probably a place to end rather than to start. Another great resource is “Collision”. The film is only an hour and a half long. It features the famous atheist Christopher Hitchens debating Pastor Douglas Wilson on the issue of Christianity and if it’s good for the world or not. You can pick that up here. Below is the trailer. Have a look and check out the full video!
Anxious Hearts 