HISTORY 56 December 2022 www.goodnewsfl.org Good News • South Florida edition What if Jesus had never been born? That’s quite an intriguing question. More than 25 years ago, I had the privilege to co-write a book by that title with the late Dr. D. James Kennedy. The book shows that because Jesus was born look at all the incredible blessings we have throughout the world. For instance, the Christian church created the phenomenon of the hospital and has created hospitals all over the world. Christianity has inspired some of the world’s greatest music and arts and has expanded education from the elite to the masses - even creating the phenomenon of the university. Life Prior to the coming of Christ, human life on this planet was exceedingly cheap. Life was expendable prior to Christianity’s influence. Even today, in parts of the world where the gospel of Christ or Christianity has not penetrated, life is exceedingly cheap. Christianity bridged the gap between the Jews, who first received the divine revelation that man was made in God’s image, and the pagans, who attributed little value to human life. In the ancient world, child sacrificewas a common phenomenon. In ancient Rome, babies were often left to die if the father did not want them. Many Christians saved these babies and reared them in the Christian faith and helped turn the tide. Christianity also helped to get the gladiatorial contests ended, where slaves would be forced to fight unto death for the entertainment of the crowds.AndChristianity got slavery to be abolished in the ancient world and then again in the modern world. Wherever the gospel has truly penetrated, the value of human life has greatly increased. Science Christianity and the Bible even helped give birth to modern science, beginning in the lateMiddleAges. The belief that a rational God had created a rational universe inspired so many scientists to engage in scientific exploration, looking to catalogue the laws the Creator had impressed upon His creation. The early scientists thought of themselves as "thinking God's thoughts after Him" (in the words of astronomer Johannes Kepler). The Royal Society in England was the first key scientific group, which is the oldest scientific association still in operation, and it was founded in a Puritan college in the 1660s. The American Constitution Here’s another example:America as a nation was largely settled and founded by Christians for religious freedom, which they eventually extended to people of other faiths or no faith. George Washington, the father of our country, said that unless we imitate the divine author of our blessed religion, meaning Jesus, we can never hope to be a happy nation. John Adams noted: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” The essence of America is that our rights come from the Creator, and our government was established on that foundation. What if Jesus had never been born?Therewould be no salvation, no SalvationArmy, noRedCross, noYMCA. Many of the languages set to writing would likely never have been codified since missionaries would have had no motive to do so. Many of the barbarians the world over would never have been civilized. Cannibalism and human sacrifice, and the abandonment of children would likely still be widely practiced, as they were before Christian influence. American author James Russell Lowell, around 1900, once said, “I challenge any skeptic to find a ten square mile spot on this planet where they can live their lives in peace and safety and decency, where womanhood is honored, where infancy and old age are revered, where they can educate their children, where theGospel of Jesus Christ has not gone first to prepare the way.” Note: A nationwide television program by this title will be coming out from D. James Kennedy Ministries-TV in December. www.djkm.org What If Jesus Had Never Been Born? Jerry Newcombe, D.Min. Executive Director, Providence Forum
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