How did Christian faith benefit the world?

[Rubenadriaan]

No pejorative undertone but,

How did Christian faith, not the church (in the 18th century the church provided poor relief, (co-)funded education etc. ) benefit the world?

I can think of maintaining some kind of social cohesion, but this could just as easy be because of the ancient-greek developed notion of reciprocity.

Of course I know that faith can offer a lot of solace individually/

 

[golgotha61]

No pejorative undertone but,

How did Christian faith, not the church (in the 18th century the church provided poor relief, (co-)funded education etc. ) benefit the world?

I can think of maintaining some kind of social cohesion, but this could just as easy be because of the ancient-greek developed notion of reciprocity.

Of course I know that faith can offer a lot of solace individually/

Reciprocity is in direct contradiction to the sermon on the mount’s instruction to do good to those who seek to do us harm. I would say then in nations that adhere to the Christian philosophy, it would be more beneficial to the social adherence to obey the words of Christ in that sermon.


Christian influence begins at the onset of the “great commission”, and the following is just a glimpse of God’s kingdom influencing mankind.


According to Ralph D. Winter in his chapter, The Kingdom Strikes Back, Ten Epoch of Redemptive History, Christianity conquered the Roman Empire in some 20 decades: Then the Barbarians from A.D. 400-800: The Vikings from A.D. 800-1200.


In his article, which is lengthy, he goes on to explain how the Christian faith played a part in civilizing the cultures mentioned to the point of respect for the “religious” things during their campaigns of conquest. One example he gave was that the Visigoths and Vandals spared the churches in their conquests. This was because of the influence of early Christian missionaries. The Vikings on the other hand were drawn to the “monastic centers of scholarship and Christian devotion. They took special delight in burning churches, into putting human life right to the sword in the churches, and selling monks into slavery.” This was because the Vikings were not evangelized yet.
The article is in pdf : http://www.uscwm.org/uploads/pdf/psp/winter_thekingdom.pdf

 

[ElijahW]

Helped establish in the West the concept of the ideal authority/king is expected to serve the people, and not the other way around.

 

[Tristan Johan]

I hope I will be accorded a little leeway, despite some personal spiritual struggles, and being defined on this forum as Seeker, or more roughly non-Christian; and be permitted to play "Christian" advocate, so to speak.

I'm reading through a book about the history of England. The short of it is, Christian missionaries were sent to the post-Roman Dark Age England, overrun by Angle and Saxon tribes. The church encouraged education, reading and writing. They kept records , copied written works, and ended a drought of literacy and the chronicling of history. Ethics and morality calmed the Angles and Saxons, who had centuries before laid waste to the Roman-Briton culture. Helped provide a legal structure for larger and larger nation-states that grew out of separate tribes.

Or at least, that what this history book says. I see no reason to doubt it, so good for the Church in the 600's and 700's (and thereabouts) in England. Sorry if I'm off on some of my facts.

 

[ephraimanesti]

No pejorative undertone but,

How did Christian faith benefit the world?

DEAR ONE,

It taught humans to Love the Lord their God with all their heart, mind, soul, spirit, and might and to Love the rest of humanity--especially their "enemies"--as they Love themselves.

These are the two greatest of all lessons!

ABBA'S FOOL,
ephraim

 

[salida]

Good things christianity has done
What has Christianity done for the World?

 

[Rubenadriaan]

Thanks

 

[Radagast]

How did Christian faith, not the church (in the 18th century the church provided poor relief, (co-)funded education etc. ) benefit the world?

The Church provided medical help to people from the very beginning. For example, Saint Fabiola established a hospital in Rome during the 4th century.

Many other results of Christianity have made the countries with a Christian tradition nicer places to live than countries with no Christian influence.

However, the real test of any belief system should be: is it true?

 

[AvgJoe]

No pejorative undertone but,

How did Christian faith, not the church (in the 18th century the church provided poor relief, (co-)funded education etc. ) benefit the world?

I can think of maintaining some kind of social cohesion, but this could just as easy be because of the ancient-greek developed notion of reciprocity.

Of course I know that faith can offer a lot of solace individually/

[FONT=Comic Sans MS, cursive]The followers of Christ have marched forth in His name armed with commandments of love and have turned the world upside down. Organizations working in the name of God's precious son Jesus have fed more hungry, housed and clothed more poor, ministered to more sick, visited more prisoners and educated more illiterate than all the world's other organizations combined. In His name, more broken hearts have been mended, more broken homes restored, more hope given to the hopeless, more widows and orphans cared for than by any other. In His name untold multitudes of alcoholics and drug addicts have been delivered and restored to their households. Prostitutes have been redeemed and wayward children restored to their families. In Jesus name more hospitals have been commissioned, more colleges and universities established, more missionaries funded and dispatched, and more charitable organizations chartered than by any other name. Many years ago an anonymous writer clearly summed up this matter in this following statement:[/FONT]

[FONT=Comic Sans MS, cursive]He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. Until He was thirty, He worked in a carpenter's shop and then for three years He was an itinerant preacher. He wrote no books. He held no office. He never owned a home. He was never in a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was born. He never did any of the things that usually accompany greatness. The authorities condemned His teachings. His friends deserted Him. One betrayed Him to His enemies for a paltry sum. One denied Him. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed on a cross between two thieves. While He was dying, His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He owned on earth: His coat. When He was dead He was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave.[/FONT]
​

[FONT=Comic Sans MS, cursive]Nineteen centuries have come and gone, yet today He is the crowning glory of the human race, the adored leader of hundreds of millions of the earth's inhabitants. All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that were ever built, all the parliaments that ever sat and all the rulers that ever reigned -- put together -- have not affected the life of man upon this earth so profoundly as that One Solitary Life.[/FONT]
​

 

[bling]

This is the questions Communist in China are asking:

Zhao Xiao is a prominent Chinese economist who has gained attention for arguing that China’s economy would benefit from the spread of Christianity. He wrote an essay in the Chinese edition of Esquire entitled “God Is My Chairman of the Board” which was based on a paper called “Market Economies With Churches and Market Economies Without Churches.” He later converted to Christianity. Here, he talks with FRONTLINE/World reporter Evan Osnos about what Christianity could bring to China, the relationship between morality and a market economy, and his own conversion to Christianity.