Christian Impact on the World Brings Blessing

​by ChristCenteredPolitics.com

With so much bad news fed to us constantly by the media, people end up spending lots of time playing the blame game.  American pop culture tends to jump to the usual suspects: American Capitalism and several variations on the theme of American Bigotry.  But the constant accusations and debates can cause us to miss something wonderful.

Over the past 200 years, extreme poverty has aggressively declined.  Freedom and markers of quality of life have unmistakably risen.  This is reason to celebrate!  But why has this happened?

The effects of biblical Christianity carried to the world through the vehicle of an influential America and western-led science has done more to alleviate world poverty than any other societal movement in history.  It may be said that medical advances have brought about this great change.  But modern science and higher education itself were largely the gift of God's People to the world.

Can you imagine what the world would be like if China or Russia or Iran had been the ascendant superpower over the past 200 years?  Thankfully, (and I would say this is due to its godly heritage) a powerful America has exercised restraint.  Christian missionaries have built hospitals, schools, and orphanages around the world.  The principles of Human Rights derived directly from the biblical view that man is created in God's image, regardless of "race" or "class", which are man-made divisions.  

Scripture teaches us that humans are corrupt, even the best of us (Rom 3:10,23).  Out of this wisdom, came the notion of limited government and government of, by, and for the people.  Ideas that we now take for granted were world-shaking and rose of the Protestants' attempt to apply scriptural principles when, for the first time in world history, a group of Christians left their home to build a new society and governmental system of their own.

With the restraint of government and the rise of biblical property rights, commerce was able to take on a completely new status and freedom, adding value and spreading prosperity to more and more parts of the earth.

The biggest threats to world peace and prosperity in modern times have come from those who were influenced by non-Christian ideas.  The 20th century's Axis of Evil would never have existed without the debasing, racist teachings of Darwinism.  Stalin and the Khmer Rouge would be nothing without the unbiblical philosophies of Karl Marx.  In more recent times, we have seen the ways and teachings of Mohammad clearly reflected in the atrocities of some of his most orthodox followers, who try to apply his examples of jihad, imperial expansion, and human-trafficking in the modern world.

The world has been blessed over the past 200 to have America rise to the status of superpower.  The ONLY reason this is a blessing, not a curse, is the impact and imprint of God on the nation's founding and culture.  Americans should agree with these statements with humility.  There is nothing in the genetics, geography, or character of the country that would prevent God from moving on to a new vehicle if the nation forsakes him.  The decline of world poverty and the rise of health, freedom, and education over the past 200 years are easily overlooked while we focus on the day-to-day negative headlines.  No matter what happens next, the world owes an enduring debt of gratitude, not to Americans, western scientists, or medical researchers, but to the God, whose Word gave rise to the good stuff of recent history.