Contrary to Popular Belief - (Resurrection Series Part 1)
Christianity has been really good for this world
By Jeremiah Taylor
Christians care about the sick…
When Christianity sprung to life in the bloody, diseased, and rat-infested cities of the Roman Empire, Christians were known to be the people who cared about all of the sick and hurting people around them. Historians have noted that when various plagues struck the Roman cities, the pagan Romans would throw sick family members and friends out in the streets to die out of fear of being contaminated by them.
Dionysius, a Christian Bishop in the third century, writes about this reality: “The heathen… at the first onset of the disease, pushed the sufferers away and fled from the dearest, throwing them into the roads before they were dead…hoping thereby to avert the spread and contagion of the fatal disease.” (Rodney Stark, Rise of Christianity, 83)
Christians, however, did not pull away from people dying from disease; they drew near. They cared for the sick and the dying at great cost to their own lives. Here is Dionysius again, encouraging his members during a plague. He writes:
“Most of our brother Christians showed unbounded love and loyalty, never sparing themselves… Heedless of danger, they took charge of the sick, attending to their every need and ministering to them in Christ, and with them departed this life serenely happy; for they were infected by others with the disease, drawing on themselves the sickness of their neighbors and cheerfully accepting their pains… the best of our brothers lost their lives in this manner… winning high commendation so that death in this form, the result of great piety and strong faith, seems in every way the equal of martyrdom.” (Stark, 82)
Not only have Christians historically cared for the sick and dying on a micro level… but they also cared for the sick and dying on a macro level by being the first to create systems of care, staffed by people with medical expertise for those in need—even for folks who could not pay. If you ever go to a hospital to receive care, you ultimately have Christianity to thank for that, because it was Christians who came up with this idea (See Gary Ferngren, “Medicine and Healthcare in Early Christianity,” 113-139).
Christians care about the poor…
Christians have always been known to care for the poor, both Christian and non-Christian alike.
The Roman Emperor Julian, who hated Christians, once wrote the following in the 4th Century:
“[Christianity] has been specially advanced through the loving service rendered to strangers, and through their care for the burial of the dead. It is a scandal that there is not a single Jew who is a beggar, and that the godless Galileans [his term for Christians] care not only for their own poor but for ours as well; while those who belong to us look in vain for the help that we should render them.”
Christians throughout history have put together societies and missions for those on the margins of society. Some of the great institutions to help the poor that still exist today were started by Christians (Samaritan’s Purse, Compassion Int’l, World Vision, Red Cross, International Justice League, The Salvation Army etc.)
Christians care about human rights…
The West’s belief in human rights—the idea that every human being has equal dignity and worth and should be treated accordingly—came from Christianity. For example, ancient cultures have always accepted slavery. It was Christians who first pushed back against it. The earliest record we have of someone saying that slavery was wrong was a Christian bishop named Gregory of Nyssa in the 3rd century. In a scathing rebuke to his culture at the time, he preached,
“You condemn a person to slavery whose nature is free and independent, and you make laws opposed to God and contrary to His natural law. For you have subjected one who was made precisely to be lord of the earth, and whom the Creator intended to be a ruler, to the yoke of slavery, in resistance to and rejection of His divine precept...How is it that you disregard the animals which have been subjected to you as slaves under your hand, and that you should act against a free nature, bringing down one who is of the same nature of yourself, to the level of four-footed beasts or inferior creatures?”
More recently in history, Christian abolitionists like William Wilberforce and others put an end to the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.
The civil rights movement in the 1960’s was led by many Christians—most notably, the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., who used the Christian Scriptures to condemn white supremacy and actually critique many white churches who were practicing it and/or doing nothing to stop it.
The human rights we celebrate today, and the belief that all people are created equal and are therefore worthy of dignity and respect, are cultural gifts that have been given to us by Christianity.
Christians care about women…
In the early years of the church, women flocked to Christianity in much higher numbers than men (This has been the general rule throughout the years of Christianity’s existence). Why is this? There are a lot of reasons. First, in Rome, if you were a man of high standing, you could have sex with any woman of lower standing that you wanted. Additionally, if you were a married man, you could have sex with other women. A married woman could not do the same.
When Christianity came onto the scene, it condemned all sex outside of the covenant of marriage. It made men more faithful to their wives and less promiscuous with women who were not. Additionally, Christianity condemned abortion and infanticide, which meant Christian men didn’t make their wives kill their unwanted babies (usually girls). Christianity also valued women more highly than their pagan counterparts. Christian churches allowed women to participate in services and lead in significant ways. Widows in the church were also provided for by the church. In short, Christianity began by elevating the status and care of women.
When we get to the modern era, it was Christians like Lucy Stone, Susan B. Anthony and others who led the charge in the women’s suffrage movement. They led this movement because the Christian Scriptures placed an incredibly high value on women as image bearers of God and thus, they believed that women were worthy of the rights that they were fighting to achieve.
So… to summarize:
Christians care about the sick.
Christians care about the poor.
Christians care about human rights.
Christians care about women.
Many more examples could be given, but hopefully this will suffice to show, that contrary to popular opinion—Christianity has been a powerful force for good in this world for more than 2,000 years.
But maybe you’re thinking, “Christianity has been a force for much oppression in this world!” My response would be to say: Yes, it’s true; sadly, many Christians or people who claimed to be Christians, have done many horrible things in this world. But two things need to remembered on this point. First, the Christians who have done evil in this world, stand condemned by the very Scriptures they claim to represent. They show themselves to actually not be Christians at all or that they have strayed from the teachings of Jesus. Secondly, for all the bad that some Christians (or non-Christians who said they were Christians) have done, it cannot erase all the good that Christianity has brought. Without Christianity, our world would be significantly worse; because of Christianity, our world is demonstrably better.
And what is the reason for all of this demonstrable good that Christianity has unleashed into this world? It was the single, solitary life of one man—Jesus of Nazareth. How did one man bring about so much good into this world? How does one explain the birth of Christianity? In my humble opinion, there is only one reasonable explanation. It goes back to one particular event in the life of Jesus of Nazareth—the day he rose from the dead. On that day the world forever changed.
Stay tuned… next week I’ll share something else that is contrary to popular belief; which is that Jesus actually rose from the dead.