Christians around the world will observe the most significant day in the history of our faith on Sunday, but those who believe a Nazarene who lived on earth for 2, 000 times is the Son of God are also essential. This important event, which inspired but many progress that we take for granted today, also affects the secular world’s history.
Christianity radically altered the ancient Roman world’s principles. The Romans considered the early Christians subversives—many called them “atheists” because they did n’t worship any pagan gods—and put them to death for refusing to worship the emperor. Emperor Julian attempted to revive pagan after some kings converted to Christianity, but he lamented that the kingdom had been transformed by the Christian ethics.
In 362 A.D., Julian wrote to a heathen priest in Galatia, explaining how “believers ‘ benevolence to strangers, their attention for the tombs of the dead, and the pretended majesty of their lives have most fueled atheism.” During the Roman plagues, pagans fled the towns, but Christians remained and cared for the sick, risking dying but saving hearts.
Rodney Stark, a presently- dying social sciences teacher at Baylor University and author of the book” The Victory of Purpose: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success”, told PJ Media in 2017 that without the Resurrection,” we would still be in a world of mystery and perhaps in a world of authoritarian empires”.
” Remember, at the dawn of history, people did n’t live in really tiny countries. They lived under huge, huge empires, nasty ones”, the professor added. He argued that Christianity historically has been the driving force behind limited government, science, capitalism, the abolition of slavery, medicine, organized charities, and more—and that Christianity would have been impossible without the belief in the Resurrection.
Following his agonizing and humiliating death at Golgatha, according to the four Gospel accounts, Jesus ‘ followers were quick to abandon their rabbi. Something persuaded the same Peter, who rejected Jesus three times before later, to pass away in agony, proclaiming that Jesus is the Messiah. In I Corinthians 15: 17, the Apostle Paul wrote,” If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, and you are still in your sins”.
1. Universities and Science
While many people believe that science and faith are inherently conflicting, Stark noted that Christianity provides the worldview that makes science understandable.
” In the rest of the world, it’s thought that the universe is far too mystical to be worth thinking about”, much less experimenting on, Stark explained. But “in the West, the universe was created by a rational God, and consequently it runs by rules and, therefore, it makes sense to try to understand and discover the rules”.
Christians think that a rational God created people in his image and an ordered cosmos, enabling them to think in his direction.
A bishop near the university in Paris made a surprising move in 1277 as a result of the cathedral schools of the Middle Ages. The bishop criticized some concepts as being anathema, including the notion that the universe is eternal and cannot be different. These ideas, which the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle promoted and held in high regard among the Muslim world and the university students, discouraged experimentation. There was no need to examine the world to test various hypotheses if mere deductive reasoning could reveal the full truth of the cosmos.
The bishop paradoxically helped free science from the shackles of Aristotelian thought by demonizing this idea.
2. Free Markets
It is difficult to overstate how wealthy modern Americans are in comparison to the majority of people who have lived in the past. Americans still enjoy the conveniences of indoor plumbing, heating and cooling, quick transportation, refrigerators and microwave ovens, and endless options for learning and entertainment via the internet and electronic devices. Although inflation is rising and it is becoming increasingly difficult to get a home,
Although the term” capitalism” may be controversial, respect and protection are due to the free market complexity that created this incredible prosperity and innovation. While German sociologist Max Weber famously attributed capitalism to the” Protestant work ethic,” Stark discovered a more recent source: the Catholic monasteries in the Middle Ages.
Catholic monasteries established a complex network of interest-free lending, and they also altered the outlook on business. ” In almost all known societies at that time, commerce was degraded. It was assumed that no man would have any connection to it, Stark continued. Yet” Christian theologians, who had taken vows of poverty, nonetheless worked out that commerce was legitimate”.
It took centuries for the development of complex markets, and some of it had connections to more obscure times in world history.
3. The Abolition of Slavery
Slavery is present in almost every human society, and if slaves ever succeed in overthrowing their masters, they frequently convert their former masters into slaves.
” It was only in the West that a society has ever overcome slavery, except when it’s forced by outside forces”, Stark said. The only civilization that has ever uncovered and eradicated slavery is the one whose inspiration is Christianity.
Medieval Europe at first overcame slavery, frequently in fits and starts, before occasionally returning to the practice through trade. During the Age of Exploration, slavery and the slave trade were once more common, but in the 1800s, abolitionists like William Wilberforce and Harriet Beecher Stowe led Britain and America in completely abolishing chattel slavery.
Abolitionists like them drew a lot from the Christian doctrine that all people are created in the image of God, and they firmly believed in Jesus ‘ resurrection.
The New Testament does not mandate that Christians abolish slavery, but it is logical to end slavery in the name of one of the most important Christian doctrines. Philemon was urged by the Apostle Paul to free his former slave Onesimus. Paul also wrote to the Galatians that, when it comes to the grace of God in salvation,” There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave , nor free,  , there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” ( Galatians 3: 28 ).
4. Limited Government
Most Americans today have no idea how united religion and government have been throughout human history. In ancient Egypt, Pharaohs claimed to be gods on Earth, and in ancient Mesopotamia, kings built large temples to their gods in part to maintain their legitimacy. The three-generation Kim family that is in charge of North Korea maintains the notion that god is the supreme ruler.
By claiming that God held the supreme authority over political rulers, Christianity wracked up the supremacy of power. St. Augustine drew distinctions between the” City of Man” and” City of God,” focusing on the disconnect between the needs of power and daily life and the” City of God.”
Christians ‘ belief in helping the poor and cooperating with others outside of government institutions led to the growth and development of civil society. Conservatives in strong families who attend church and make their own money are most likely to give to charity, according to David Brooks ‘ 2007 book” Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism.”
While Jesus famously told his disciples to pay taxes to the government, he also drew an enormously important distinction. ” Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s” ( Mark 12: 17 ) did n’t just mean “pay your taxes”. It also meant that Christians—who are made in God’s image as coins were made in Caesar’s image—owe their ultimate loyalty to God, not to the state.
These principles were used in government by the early settlers to America and the Founders. The Declaration of Independence affirms that the laws of nature and nature’s God apply to Americans ‘ right to rebel against Britain. Not because religion is unimportant, but because religion is far more important than the government, the First Amendment forbids Congress from passing any law “respecting an establishment of religion or preventing the free exercise thereof.”
This separation sets Christian civilization apart from communist and fascist totalitarianism in the 20th century and from the despotisms of the past. Civil societies exist in other parts of the world as well, but Christianity serves as a compelling justification for giving state control to other interests.
Does All of This Prove that the Resurrection Is Real?
These and other advantages of Christian civilization extend far beyond those who believe in Jesus ‘ resurrection, and they do not eliminate the many deceptions and sins committed in the name of Christianity over the years. However, they do illustrate the side- effects of faith in Jesus, which calls Christians to become the” salt of the Earth” and the “light of the world”.
If the Holy Spirit is active in Christian churches, those who reject the Gospel will experience the benefits of this faith.
These blessings are exactly what we should look for, assuming the Resurrection is real.
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