The following student report was submitted by Ambassador League Agent Kelcey W. during the 2009-2010 League.
Mission: Read - Book Report on What if Jesus Had Never Been Born? by D. James Kennedy
It is a concept worth considering: What if Jesus had never been born? How would the world be different if He had never walked on the earth? Salvation aside, would man act the same, invent the same, create the same, love the same, in a world without its Light? Christians have changed the world. Persecution and the threat of extermination have made the "radical Jewish sect" not disappear quietly but actually surpass any and every expectation the world set for them.
History documents time and time again that Christians have been the ones to rush into a quarantined city to help the sick, or send aid to the poor and forgotten, or assist those the world would rather push aside. The first hospitals before Christ were unscrupulous places where only important people were healed; the poor would be sentenced to die alone without medical care. That changed when Christians started taking the message of Christ to the world. Hospitals became places where the poor could go for medical aid, but hospitals also offered dry place to sleep for those who had none. Hospitals also taught patients about Christ and His salvation. The earliest hospitals in the United States were alms houses started by Christians. The Quakers largely supported the first hospital, Pennsylvania Hospital. Others like Florence Nightingale, Henry Dunant (the founder of the Red Cross and the YMCA), and Louis Pasteur were all devout Christians, and their mark on medicine has been unmistakable.
Medieval art and some of the most well-known paintings today were created for the glory of God. Leonardo Da Vinci painted the last supper, Raphael left the world with three hundred paintings of the Madonna, and Michelangelo, who was a devout Christian, painted the dome of St. Peter's Church in Rome. One of Michelangelo's greatest sculptures was the Pieta, Mary holding Jesus after His crucifixion.
Some of the modern world's greatest writers were Christians as well. Charles Dickens, who once wrote that the greatest story of all literature was Christ's parable of the prodigal son, wrote A Christmas Carol, which is believed to be a parable of Christian conversion. One of the most widely read and published books of all time, A Pilgrim's Progress, was written by a Christian named John Bunyan. Other well-known authors who were also Christians include C.S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Hans Christian Anderson.
Some critics of Christianity like to point out the evils it has committed, like the Crusades, the Inquisition, and the witch hunts. This book pointed out, however, that while some of the forces behind the Crusades were Christian, the general body of soldiers was not. St. Bernard of Clairveaux described the crusaders as "utterly wicked and impious, the sacrilegious, homicides, and perjurers, whose departure is a double gain. Europe rejoices to lose them and Palestine to gain them." Though the crusaders took up the "fight for Christ," most did not possess a regenerated heart. Furthermore, the Inquisition was actually a persecution of Protestant Christians who were challenging the dark practices of the Catholic church. They were not heretics, though they were labeled as such; all they desired was to live according to the Bible. The inquisitors burned people at the stake for possessing a Bible in the vernacular language! Anyone who taught or translated Scripture without sanction of the official church was in danger of death. Finally, the witch hunts, particularly in Salem, Massachusetts, were a low point in early American history. Traditionally, the testimony of two unimpeachable witnesses in a court of law was counted as evidence, but during the witch hunts, this method was suspended. The accused could be convicted on as little as a ghostly likeness allegedly seen by one person. Often jealousy, not religious fervor, stirred up these "witch sightings." Critics like to point out that the Puritans were behind these trials, but a little known fact is that the church actually helped end the madness. Increase Mather, and his son, Cotton, wrote and distributed a booklet advocating using the proper trial method with two witnesses. When this was re-instituted, the witch hunt ended.
The last part of the book made the biggest impact on me. I've heard before that more humans have been killed in the name of Christ than any other. Dr. Kennedy pointed out that this is simply not true. In just the twentieth century, millions have been slaughtered in the name of atheism. Hitler alone exterminated fifteen million people. Mao in his cultural purges killed about seventy-two million people. Stalin executed forty million people. About three million people have died in the name of atheistic, totalitarian states. This number of dead – just in the twentieth century, – is astounding. Finally, in twenty years of abortion, about a thousand million babies have been murdered. When I added up these numbers, I started to cry. It came to one trillion, one hundred and thirty million. That's 1,130,000,000 humans killed in the last one hundred years. Even the most exaggerated estimates of the people killed in the name of Christ – in two thousand years! - come to 17 million.
If Jesus had never been born, the world would be a different place. At best it would be cold, at worst it would be devastated. Murder would be counted as nothing. Freedom would be an unknown concept. Women would be worth less than animals. Slavery would still flourish. And, the most important of all, no one would be going to heaven. When Jesus walked the earth, He revolutionized every area of society. Today He offers salvation to the worst sinner, and He grants forgiveness to a world that hated and killed Him. When Jesus comes into a heart and changes it, ultimately the world is impacted, for in changing the heart, Christ also gives the courage to be His light to the world. The centuries have shown that bearing His light could mean anything from starting the Red Cross to standing up to injustice or painting The Last Supper or writing the Chronicles of Narnia. A Christian's impact can be large or small, but one thing is for certain: If Jesus had never been born, the world would lack these good things and overflow with the legacy of Stalin, Mao, and Hitler. That world would be a scary place!
