In his book What If Jesus Had Never Been Born?, pastor and evangelist D. James Kennedy provides an overview of the positive contributions Christianity has made through the centuries. (Kennedy, WIJH) Here are ten highlights:
- Hospitals, which essentially began during the Middle Ages
- Universities, which also began during the Middle Ages
- Literacy and education for the masses
- The separation of political powers
- Civil liberties
- The abolition of slavery
- Modern science
- The elevation of women
- Benevolence and charity; the Good Samaritan ethic
- High regard for human life
One of the great injustices of our day is racism. After observing that the Civil Rights movement was essentially a “religious revival,” Timothy Keller notes,
When Martin Luther King, Jr., confronted racism in the white church in the South, he did not call on Southern churches to become more secular. Read his sermons and “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” and see how he argued. He invoked God’s moral law and the Scripture. He called white Christians to be more true to their own beliefs and to realize what the Bible really teaches. He did not say, “Truth is relative and everyone is free to determine what is right or wrong for them.” If everything is relative, there would have been no incentive for white people in the South to give up their power. Rather, Dr. King invoked the prophet Amos, who said, “Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream” (Amos 5:24). The greatest champion of justice in our era knew the antidote to racism was not less Christianity, but a deeper and truer Christianity.
Josh McDowell and Sean McDowell, Ph.D. Evidence That Demands a Verdict: Life-Changing Truth for a Skeptical World.
