The following student report was submitted by Ambassador League Agent Richard P. during the 2009-2010 League.
Mission: Book Report on What If Jesus Had Never Been Born by D. James Kennedy
"...for all have fallen short of the glory of God..." Suddenly, that passage took on a new meaning. As Dr. D. James Kennedy wrote about the horrors of history including the degradation of women, the killing of the elderly, child sacrifices, cannibalism, slavery, suicide, and the Roman gladiators, I was deeply moved by the documentation of how evil people can become. None of the information was truly new; but the compilation of it was enormously powerful. Appalled at the depths that human beings can stoop to in a society, I was drawn into the book. Fortunately, Dr. Kennedy doesn’t end there.
"What If Jesus Had Never Been Born?" is remarkable. In a non-confrontational style the author explores some of the questions and accusations made by the skeptics of Christianity. He refutes every point. The evidence of history is overwhelming.
In particular, the passages concerning ancient Rome were most striking and Kennedy does an excellent job of putting it all together. From the gladiators to the children, the women to the slaves, the suicides to the infanticides; Rome was a bad place. That’s an important distinction because Rome is one of the cities of the past that we hold ourselves up to, and consider an epitome of human construction. We look in it, like a mirror, to see what good we are emulating.
More and more we are comparable to Rome: corruption of good morals, corruption in the value of human life, and the corruption of American society. By elevating the pleasures and niceties of life, we focus almost exclusively on ourselves. "All roads lead to Rome" is a rather scary phrase if it includes more than the geographical location of the legendary city.
I think there's a dual nature in the publication and writing of "What If Jesus Had Never Been Born?" As Dr. Kennedy wrote, "In one sense, the point of this book is to say to...leading anti-Christians of the past and the present, that the overwhelming impact of Christ's life on Planet Earth has been positive, not negative."
But a truly anti-Christian individual probably won't even be tempted to pick up the book. That's why I believe the author had another aim. Dr. Kennedy, who died in 2007, was also a respected broadcaster and senior minister of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Kennedy’s second goal was to assist his congregation, by helping the flock come to a fuller understanding of both Christ and the church.
Armed with that new knowledge, Kennedy challenges us to follow the integral mandates of Scripture: the Cultural Mandate, and the Great Commission.
Neither mandate is easy. Sure, they're easy to understand, easy to plan, even easy to talk about. But the rubber meets the road when head knowledge collides with everyday living. The Cultural Mandate commands us to glorify God in everything we do. The next command is the Great Commission which asks us to share the news of the Gospel. By fulfilling the Cultural Mandate our actions reflect the Great Commission; doing one will lead to the other.
The Church has its problems. After all, nobody's perfect. As the Lord’s ambassadors to this world, as sons and daughters of the Living God, however, we are commanded to be perfect. Thankfully, we have a tremendous amount of help with this because Jesus was born.
