Jesus Is The Reason For The Season But He Influences Us Daily
Architecture
The great cathedrals of Europe are glorious triumphs that epitomized the evolution of the art and science of architecture and the associated field of engineering. When we gaze on these marvelous edifices today we stand in awe and wonder just how these massive monuments to Jesus, still standing centuries later, were built.
The architectural style most associated with Christianity is Gothic dating from 12th century France.
Art
It is impossible to visit any famous art museum and not see masterpieces reflecting the life of Jesus or the aftermath of his walk on earth. Of course among the world’s most influential paintings is The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci, painted on a monastery wall in Milan, Italy, and depicting the Passover Seder that changed the world.
Charity
Look around any community and you will see the Salvation Army at work along with countless soup kitchens, thrift shops, homeless shelters, rehab centers, orphanages, houses for abused women, etc. all run by local churches or Christian/Catholic faith based organizations. Jesus taught his followers to have compassion toward those at the bottom rung of the social ladder and the church over centuries has embraced this concept in earnest. Mother Teresa who died in 1997, has become an iconic example of Christ’s teaching in action.
Education
This area of Catholic/Christian influence is among the most impressive worldwide. In our nation during its first 200 years all children’s public school textbooks emphasized biblical literacy. Now the Catholic school system in our nation is still large, influential and as of late has become a popular alternative to “liberal” public schools for Catholic as well as many non-Catholic families.
It is easy to forget now, since most colleges are associated with liberal/secular teaching, that in Colonial America all but one of the 123 colleges were founded as Christian institutions. Most notable was Harvard University which began in 1636 and was named for its founder and first funder Reverend John Harvard. Among other well known early colleges with religious roots were Yale and William & Mary.
As if none of that would have been possible absent Christianity. Can we please enact a separation of church and press?
Dear Michael,
Your comment is breathtakingly ignorant. Much of what Myra outlines indeed would NOT have occurred without Jesus. Read Kennedy’s book (and many texts with similar themes) and you should be inspired to retract your ill-advised statement.
Merry Christmas!
Unbelievable! You don’t have to be a Christian to understand the amazing influence that Christ and Christianity has had on this earth.
Don’t be such as Scrooge, Michael. Lighten up!
Hospitals exist because Christians invented hospitals, and the pagans recounted with much embarrassment that Christian physicians and nurses treated not only Christians, but pagans as well, charging nothing to the indigent. Infanticide was outlawed because Christians outlawed it. Pagans have never opposed abortion or infanticide; only Jews and Christians banned the practice, and Jews rarely tried to convert pagans.
Thank you for writing this piece, Myra. Just the thing for your readers to peruse this Christmas season. Yes, Jesus has had an amazing influence on this world. But that is what one should expect from Our Lord and Savior. Praise Him this day and every day!
No event in all of history approaches the impact of the life of Jesus of Nazareth. Even if you decline to believe He is the Son of God: No other figure has had his transformative effect on so many persons and societies.
Perhaps the greatest irony arises from militant atheism. Who have they chosen as their principal target? Moses? Muhammad? Buddha? Or Someone Else?
He disdained to write down any of His teachings. Yet He predicted that they would not pass away…and they haven’t, and they will not.
Merry Christmas to all, and may the joy of His coming resonate throughout the New Year!
The bulk of the greatest scientists of the ages were Christians. Judeo-Christianity forms the foundational bedrock of science.
Why? Because the Triune God is a God of order. Pagans had very little science because there was no understanding or belief of order in the universe.
Science at its essence is based on the belief, the FAITH, that events are demonstrably repeatable. There is nothing that requires this be so. The understanding of rationality is what allowed the great Christian scientists to make the leaps they made.
Let us also remember orphanages. Created by Christians.
Believe it or not, Christians were also the first to promote public education in the U.S. In the northeast, a state passed a law funding public education and it was called something along the lines of “Defeating Satan the Great Deceiver Act”. The idea was that by educating our youth we could defeat evil. Guess what kind of education they meant?
I heard a fantastic 40 minute presentation, but have not yet read the book, by Pastor John Ortberg who wrote “Who Was This Man?”, about the overwhelming impact/influence that Jesus and his followers have had on the world. I thought I knew how much He had changed us, but I was wrong. It is far far greater than even suggested in this article by Myra.
Myra,
Thanks for writing this. Don’t know why Kathy S. is getting more attention…