How Jesus And Christianity Changed The World

Jesus is arguably the most influential person who ever lived. He is the creator of Christianity, the largest civilization of today. Christianity has evolved the world, and changed how people think, and live. Ancient times would have been drastically different if Jesus was never born. The constitution and laws of vast amounts of countries would be different, and colossal amounts of lives would have been spared in the ancient world. Jesus was only on Earth for a short amount of time, and yet he left behind a giant imprint. Christianity and the Wiccans Before Christianity came to rule the world, there were people all over who worshiped the earth, they were called many things from ‘Druids’ to “Wiccans’. Some of them participated in an act that we know today as ‘Witchcraft’. They were not prominent in most societies, but they were known, yet, not looked down upon. These ‘witches’ mixed together debris from the planet and said incantations to worship the earth. After the rise of Christianity, most witches continued their religion underground, fearing prosecution of the Christians. The Christians wanted everyone to switch to their religion, and the Wiccans were not excluded. In some instances, if you didn’t switch to Christianity, you would be killed for your sins. Wiccans continued to do participate in ‘witchcraft’ until the ‘Great Witch Hunt’ of the 1500’s. The Christian church encouraged the hunt of the witches in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The church told the public that witchcraft was an evil art, and that anyone participating in witchcraft was also worshipping the devil. Anyone accused of witchcraft would have a trial before being prosecuted. The church had a habit of influencing the judge to come up with the guilty verdict. After being charged guilty, the person in question would be put to death. Being burned at the cross was a common punishment, but many were also hung. A large amount were thrown down wells, or drowned in local lakes. These witch hunts are commonly depicted in Hollywood movies these days, and have given plots to dozens of movies.

Christianity’s Effect on Rome The Christian religion was not fond of violence and human cruelty. The Roman Empire is today famous for their ‘gladiators’, men who fought each other for the entertainment of others. As you can bet, the Christians were not fond of this sport. Once Emperor Constantine declared the new Roman faith as Christian, the people of Rome began to follow what the Bible says. It was only a matter of time before all other religions were wiped out of Rome completely. If you were caught in worship in any other religion than Christianity, you would be punished by death. It is very amazing how times could change. Before, Christians in Rome were hunted down and killed for their ignorance, yet, a century or so later, if you were not Christian, you were evil. It was even the Romans who killed the Messiah of their new religion. It is baffling as to why the Romans would have a sudden change of heart. You may be wondering why the Romans didn’t accept the Christian religion at first. If you look back into Roman history, you will see that they accepted numerous other religions and worked them into their own. For example, the Romans took the Greek religion and made it their own by taking the mythology and changing the names of the gods. Christianity wasn’t accepted with open arms for one reason. To be Christian meant to worship only one god. The Romans worshipped their emperor as a god, starting with the first emperor, Augustus Caesar. If you were only allowed to worship one god, then the ideal that emperors were gods would become extinct. This is one of the major reasons that the Roman government and the emperor hated the Christians and executed them by large numbers. The Christian religion made the people of Rome more soft than their earlier ancestors. The Bible said to love your neighbor, among other things, which grew activists against gladiator fights. Gladiator battles were not eradicated immediately. They were slowly wiped out over time. At first, only women gladiators were banned from fighting. Female gladiators were always involved with controversy, so the ban on them was not surprising. Next, about 165 years later, humans were not allowed to battle wild animals for sport. 34 years later, a Christian by the name of Tetramachus jumped into a gladiator battle to try and stop it, and he was killed. Facing pressure, the Emperor banned gladiator battles for good. Another change that Christianity brought upon Rome was how children were treated. Before the Christian religion spread to Rome, children could be abused, starved, or worse, killed. Don’t get me wrong, it was still

illegal to kill a man in Rome, but harming a child was not frowned upon, it was even at some points favored. Christianity taught people to love children, and treat them with care. The message from the church was that harming a child was one of the greatest sins that a person could commit. A Holy War In the early 1000’s, the Christian church along with the Pope began to build up an army to fight the Muslim people to both eradicate their old religion, and to take back the ‘Holy Land’, Jerusalem. Men were recruited to be ‘Soldiers of the Church’. They would be handed a cross from the Pope or one of his associates, and then would be sent to war. This brought even more interest to those who did not care a lot about the church, or were not Christians. They saw this great power rising, and they knew that it would be best for themselves to become involved in it. This was a type of religious propaganda. The first Crusade was considered ‘Just War’ by the church and Christians. They were only going to war to take back what was rightfully theirs from the ‘evil’ Muslims. Some today may consider this drastic, but they only wanted to preserve their heritage from those who would do it harm. This is what gave the Crusade such overwhelming support. No Christian opposed this ‘Holy War’ because they believed that they were doing it to serve justice and take back what was rightfully theirs. Some say that the Christians struck out against the Muslim people because they were scared that they would rise up and challenge their power. This is very interesting considering that the Christian and Islam can be considered the two religions which are ‘arch-enemies’ today. There were numerous Crusades over the years, all meant for different purposes. The last of which were ended by Napoleon Bonapart. The Crusades were a very dark period in Christian heritage, one that the church and all Christians tend to forget or pass over. These Crusades took place during a time where the church was a little power crazy, and a little less ‘loving’ and civilized as they are thought upon today. You can’t look down on them though because they were just defending their religion and land.

The Church and School

The Christian church grew to power over the short time that its religion existed. By about the 1600’s, the church had a part in almost everything that happened in Europe. One way to keep the newer generations involved in religion was to run the school system, and that is exactly what they did. Priests and Nuns would teach children how to read and write in school houses, as well as teach them the ways of god. They put ideas in their heads that said if they did not obey the church, they would burn in the depths of hell for eternity. After doing this for a century or so, it was just a part of life, and it wasn’t questioned. This also went along with church. If children at a young age were taught to always go to church, they would do so without question, and after two generations were brought up doing this, everyone did. The schools taught Latin to the children, for it was a language that the church and the Bible used. The biggest school in the medieval times was one located in Paris. It was more of a University. Here the smartest men in Europe gathered to be taught. Here they could learn about a number of things, from math, to art. The church encouraged young men to become artists and scientists hoping that they would later come and donate to the church if they became famous for their work. Christ’s Effect on Women Jesus treated women as an equal. This was unheard of back in his time. Women were treated as slaves, or property, not equal human beings. If a woman was killed, it would not be thoroughly questioned, it would in most cases be accepted or ignored. Others saw Jesus’s kindness towards the female sex, and some began to follow in his footsteps. Some historians disagree that women were treated better because of Christianity. They think that it is a bit of a stretch, considering that even today in many societies, women are not treated as equals. But even if you look at society today, you will notice that Christian women are treated better than females in other religions. In certain Christian religions, women can become ministers or reverends. This cannot be said in Judaism or Islam. Another thing that Jesus brought forward was that women had the right to divorce their husband if they so wished. He tried to remove the invisible stool that put men above women. His efforts paid off in Rome. Two hundred or so years after the Roman Empire adopted Christianity, women were given the right to leave their husbands. Even better, rich ones were

allowed to leave and take a large sum of money with her. Fast-forward 1900 Christ’s Effect on World Religion Arguably the biggest effect that Jesus Christ had on the world was creating both the largest religion in the world, and also what is counted as a ‘World Religion’. There are only 5 religions counted as ‘World Religions’. They are Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Christianity. Christianity is counted as a world religion for many reasons. The largest is the fact that it has over 10 million followers. Another is the fact that it has around 2000 years or heritage, making it older than Islam, but younger than the rest of the World Religions. The followers of the Christian religions are also devoted and well organized. So well organized that there are numerous different sections of it. There are Catholics, which have a leader that goes by the name of ‘The Pope’. There is also Protestant, Orthodox, and others. It is very rare to have a religion that has so many different groups. Christ’s Effect on Time and People To keep track of the years on Earth, people divide the world’s heritage into ‘BC’ (Before the birth of Christ), and ‘AD’, (Anno Domini, or, The year of our Lord). Jesus had such an influence on the world, that they separate the earth’s history into before he was born, and after. What also should be noted is how many Christians have given their lives to help spread and support the message of Christ. Jesus was an influencal person, and yet, surprisingly, he did not use his powers for evil. He used them to spread the message of god, and this is why he is considered ‘The Son of God’. He succeeded in spreading his cause, and others became very devoted to him, and went out to spread the word of god, just as Jesus had done. James, the brother of Jesus, did not believe that Jesus was anything special. But later, whence Jesus rose from the dead, James completely changed his mind. He saw the error of his ways, and became the leader of the Jerusalem church. After he refused to give up his religion, he was killed. Paul is a very interesting case as well. He was the chief persecutor of Christians. If he found a Christian, he would take them, and bring them to prison. Here they would be given the chance to change their ways. If they did not, they would be killed. Paul believed that the Christians were

spreading a false and evil message. All of this later changed though when he ran into Jesus on a route to Damascus. He then changed from being a persecutor of the Christians, to being one of the figureheads of the religion. This persecution of Christians even happened in the modern world, where you may believe that Christianity was the ruling religion. But this was not the case in Romania in the 1950’s when the Soviet Union occupied Romania. A man who went by the name of Richard Wurmbrand was a Christian follower during the Soviet Union occupation. The Soviet government did not approve of Christianity, and the people under their rule had no rights so they could not choose what religion they wanted to take part in. Because of this, Richard began an ‘underground’ church where he was the minister. As you can imagine, it didn’t take long for the Soviet’s to hear about this and put a stop to it. Wurmbrand was then sentenced to 8 years in prison. Having been sent to prison didn’t stop Richard Wurmbrand. After he got out, he resumed his mission to bring free Christianity to the people. Once again, the government found what he was doing, and he was sentenced to 25 years in prison. During his time in solitude, he was tortured and beaten. He was later released after a deal was made with the Soviet government by a organization based in Norway. Christianity and the Afterlife The Christian ideal of the afterlife is much more pleasant than the ones of other religions, especially religions of the ancient world. Taking a look back at the Greek afterlife, you were just a spirit in a dark cave that was home to the god of the dead, Hades. And to get into the afterlife, you had to have a coin under your tongue to pay for your trip there, if you didn’t do that, then you would wander the earth for eternity. The Christian religion said that if you died, and were a good person, you would go to heaven. Here you would be in bliss for eternity. Here there is no war, no anger, no hatred. The common conception of heaven is a land of clouds, with humanoids walking around with wings and a halo over their head. Here everything was perfect. Christianity was used to raise moral amongst soldiers. This is considered a reason that the Roman Empire switched to the Christian religion. Because the afterlife was so amazing, soldiers weren’t afraid to die in battle. Few went out on purpose and died, but if they were killed in battle, they would be happy and grateful for their time on earth, and look forward to

the next life. Some call this manipulation into getting men to fight and die for their country, but they were the ones who wanted to die and go to the other world, the government and church just told them about how great heaven was. The Church and Homosexuality Back in ancient times, homosexuality was fairly common. It was even said that Alexander the Great had a gay relationship with one of his best friends. Today, homosexuality is frowned upon, times are changing, but for the past 100 years, if you were gay, you would keep it a secret, fearing exclusion from the community and friends. How did gays and bisexuals go from being free and flaunting around their sexuality, to keeping it hush and underground? The Bible talks of homosexuality as a sin. Other religions such as the ancient Greek and Roman ones had no problem with gays. It was incredibly common at the time. Once Christianity spread to Rome, things began to change. Homosexuals were slowly pushed underground, and phased out of society. In England in the 1500’s, men were sometimes killed if they had gay tendencies. Christianity’s Effect on the Jews The Jewish community did not have an easy time during the 20th century. Their people were being prosecuted against by the German Nazi government under the lead of Adolf Hitler. It is believed that one of the reasons that Hitler hated the Jews so much was because they are blamed with the death of Jesus Christ. Jesus was crucified by the Roman Empire along with the help of the Jewish community back 2000 years ago. Yes, Jesus was a Jew as well, which is very ironic considering the religion that he founded. To this day, the Jewish community is looked upon by many as a religion of evil who killed the Christian messiah. The 2004 film, ‘The Passion of the Christ’ did not help the Jewish image, as many felt that the director, Mel Gibson, was being biased against the Jewish religion by blaming them for Christ’s death. The information above shows you how Christ changed the world. If Jesus did not come to Earth, Rome would not have changed their religion, meaning that they may have stayed strong for another thousand years, or

they may have fallen even sooner. If Jesus was not born, Christianity would not have been a source of education back in the middle ages, meaning great minds may not have been tapped into, and we would be behind technically from what we are today. If it were not for Christ, we would not use the ‘BC’ and ‘AD’ dating system. The lives of many Pagans would have been saved, as well as the lives of martyrs who were spreading Christianity. The holocaust may not have happened at all if Christ was not born, because Judaism would be the main religion in the world. For the most part though, Christ’s effect on Earth was for the better. The Christian religion kept people in line. Yes, the religion does have a dark past, but it also has a bright future. In Christianity, if you cannot turn to anyone else, you can turn to god, and he will be there to help you, and also to forgive you for your sins. This is unlike in other religions, especially in the ancient Greek religion where the gods may kill you if you bothered them. The Christian church is looked upon as a place of hope and comfort. If you have nothing else left, and you are living out on a street, you are taught that you can always turn to God. Christianity is one of the last good things on the planet. One of the last communities full of good, pure people. Over the years, the influence of the church has declined, but they are still a force that is felt in communities. The Christian church in its early years were rather barbaric at times, but once it matured, it helped keep people in line with the law. Helped keep people honest, it made people help out their neighbor, put others above themselves, and stop corruption. The world would be a completely different place if it were not for Jesus Christ, it would be much worse.