Now, let me begin by saying that I am not looking to start and argument over who Jesus really was and what he means to each person or to the entire world, cosmos, rocks, trees or duck billed platypus. Not for one moment do I pretend that I am an authority on that. You have many much greater selections to choose from to help you with that. What I am here to present is just what the world would be like today if Jesus had not come the earth when he did. This case works well if you choose to believe Jesus is who he said he is, if you believe that he was just prophet and not the messiah(much like the Jews) or don’t believe in him as son of GOD, or worship another GOD, faith or no GOD at all. What I am asking you to do is to imagine what the world would be like today if he had not come or the messiah has not come yet(also much like the Jews).

I would like to present the case that Christ, no matter what you believe or who you think he is; has made the entire world better; and a better place to live. Yes, I can hear you now; “this(how the world is now) is better ? Maybe he should have stayed home.”

I’ll give you a point for acknowledging that it is no perfect world that we live in today, but you really are thinking much too shallow in terms of yourself, your community, your country and the world. This one person, Jesus Christ; has affected the entire world like no one else and all in 33 years. I know many people say that Jesus changed them and then wait for people’s eyes to roll into the back of their heads; but considering just how much he changed the world; one person should be easy; but I’ve digressed.

Alright, you have stayed with me through that; now I will take you for a short ride from Christ’s time on earth to today and make some notables along the way of just how he has increased progress of society, brought freedom, democracy and liberty to peoples all over the world, given rise to agricultural and industrial economies and help to those in need like no other person, religion or country and a record setting pace in comparison to all others.

Yes, I will give the naysayers their due that the Crusades were harmful to many, the inquisition could best be described as barbaric and even today, some do persecute and kill others in the name of Jesus; but these actions pale in comparison to just what the world has accomplished in 2007 years after Jesus Christ took lead. These same churches that put people on racks also were responsible for developing much of the agricultural system in Europe and had many people educated by the church that developed into architects and scientists. I will refer to just one book, “How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization”; but there are many in which you can find contributions from the church, monks and the pope, which all begin with Jesus.

For instance, the Benedictine monks were considered the agriculturalists of Europe and included an agricultural college in every Benedictine monestary. The Cistercian monestary ran its own factory powered by water to crush weath and tan lether. We can also credit the Jesuits with things like the pendulum clocks, barometers, telescopes and microscopes and are listed as having 5% of the greatest mathematicians in history by Bossut, a math historian.

Also, perhaps the greatest contribution Jesus gave the world was individual freedom and liberty. Yes, I know that the Greeks nailed that down many years before Jesus every arrived on the scene. However, the Romans had pretty much put the lid on that and was spreading authoritarianism throughout the world before the church started grabbing hold of people’s desires and needs of freedom that first began in their heads and hearts and was later spread to actions and into democratic nations throughout the world. Even Europe’s serfdom society and essential slave labor was broken by the church and it’s people’s desire to be free.

This desire that Jesus has born into people, made them risk their lives and created the greatest nation of earth; America. Over its short history, it has brought freedom and liberty to more societies than any other country in the world; and to this day America provides more charity and relief to other countries and peoples each year than any other nation on the face of the earth. Luckily, that doesn’t even include the many people all over the world that go to the most remote parts of the world to bring food, medical care, agricultural and industrial technology to help people live better lives and bring news of this person called Jesus. Are there still people suffering all over and in wars(just or unjust), yes; but imagine the suffering without people venturing out to help these people because Jesus told them to do so in his name.

There is not one company, nation or culture that has affected positive change so much in the world in such a short period of time. I would submit that without Jesus, things that we take for granted in America today; we would not have yet. Planes, cell phones, refrigeration, air conditioning and the internet have all come within the past 100 years. Now, democracy would have come again; but at the same pace it did; I think not. Dictatorships and authoritarian rule would most likely have had a greater reign than they did and progress would have been much slower. In fact, much of the US might still be English, French and Spanish colonies; given that slower progress.

So, while Christopher Hitchens may say that “GOD isn’t great”; I submit he is and especially for sending his son. No matter what you believe or think about who he was, there can be no doubt that he brought people together in his name, which resulted in strengthening communities and building civilizations founded on the principles he teached about and people in these civilizations sought to improve it in many cases to gain a greater understanding of GOD through their education of what usually started with reading the Bible.

I will end this with my purposeful gotcha for all those of different faiths or no faith. I ask you to read more about just what has happened over history since Christ came and compare it to those nations that do not have a founding of Christ with their country and also compare liberty and progress in those nations without Jesus now and before the time of Jesus. I think you will find that no one else could have affected so much change in such a short period of time as Jesus did, if he was not who he said he was.