Ovacoma:
Jesus Christ is the reason the world exists. 'All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made'... John chapter one, verses one to five.

so is jesus god then

A WORLD WITHOUT CHRISTIANS

Lately, I've been exposed to alot of criticism directed at Christians and Christianity. "Look at all the suffering and misery that Christians have imposed on the world for the last 2,000 years! The world would be much better off if Jesus of Nazareth had never been born!"

I am the first to agree with the criticism that Christians have done alot of terrible things: Inquisitions, pogroms, the subjugation of women, slavery, the persecution of gays. Christians have a lot to be ashamed of. But are these misdeeds and crimes the fault of the Christian belief system, or is it the fault of human beings who did not live up to the example of their leader? And...what would the world be like today if Christianity had never existed? Would we live today in an egalitarian, humanist utopia?

The World of the Roman Empire

Slavery

Half of the population of the Roman Empire in the first century AD were slaves. Slaves, in both Greek and Roman culture, had the same value as livestock. Aristotle described a slave as "a living tool, just as a tool is an inanimate slave". Romans looked on slaves with contempt.

Christians taught that slaves have the same value to God as a free man. A rich, Christian free-man would share the Communion Table with a poor, Christian slave. Christians introduced a concept of equality not based on wealth, might, or class. Without Christianity, would this concept have ever developed? If we believe the evolutionists, humans have lived on earth for a very, very long time. Prior to Christianity, were there cultures during this long period of time that taught equality and pacifism: "love your enemy" and "turn the other cheek"?

Although true that Christians participated in the slave trade, and that the slave owners in the South were overwhelmingly Christian, it was devout Christians in both Britain and the United States that ended this horrible practice, which was thousands of years old, not a creation of Christianity.

Womens' Rights

During the first century AD women had few rights in the Roman Empire. Women in Athens had the social status of a slave. Roman women had more freedom, but none of the rights of a male citizen. Jewish women were not allowed to speak in public.

Christian women were a force in the growth of the Faith. They were evangelists and worked with men in the churches. Although not allowed to be priests/pastors, and later, not allowed to speak in the churches, there status in the Church was much higher than women in Roman and Greek society.

In the fourth century, shortly after Christianity was legalized, the Roman emperor abolished a law that had been on the law books of Rome for 1,000 years, the Patria Potestas. Under this law, a husband had the power of life and death over his wife and children. Due to Christianity, the women of the Roman world could rightly have said, "Due to the Christians, we've come a long way, baby!" Of course, women had a long way yet to go to achieve full equality, but women were much better off with Christianity than without it.

Christian teaching benefited women in other ways. Roman women did not have the freedom to choose their husbands. Christian women did. Roman girls were frequently married off as young as 11 or 12, Christian women married later.

Although the Christian teaching against homosexual activity was discriminatory for homosexuals, it, along with the Christian prohibition on polygamy and adultery, provided greater stability, physical protection, and reduced health risks for women and their children, compared to their pagan counterparts. The Christian teaching against drunkenness and the admonition to treat your wife as Christ treats his bride would have been a marked difference from the manner in which wives were treated by their pagan Roman husbands, who had the right to beat and even kill them, just as they did their livestock.

Social Welfare

Compassion for the less fortunate was not a prominent teaching in Roman or Greek culture. In fact, it was rare. There was no such thing as a public hospital. During plagues, historical accounts tell of the dead and dying being thrown along the sides of the public roads, and left unburied. It was the Christians who came out of hiding to help the sick and dying, often being persecuted, and sometimes killed by officials for doing so.

After the legalization of Christianity, Christians established public hospitals and hospices. The Christian philosophy of helping those in need was a shocking contrast to the treatment of the sick, poor, and disabled in the cultures of the time, and of the cultures that came before.

Conclusion

We live in a world where Christianity is seen as a great oppressor, and even a great evil. Many people in our modern culture believe that the world would be better off without Christianity. They encourage people to follow humanist principles instead. But would Humanism even exist today without Christianity? I doubt it. Humans learned compassion and giving from the religion begun by a poor, illiterate Galilean peasant 2000 years ago. Without him, I believe that we would live in a brutal world, where each man looks out for his own interest, where women are treated as weaker, inferior sex objects and possessions, and children grow up in homes with little stability or safety.

Yes, Christians have done alot of bad. But overall, I believe that Christianity has done alot of good. It has contributed to huge humanitarian advances in law, government, medical care, and social welfare. And these are only the physical, non-spiritual, benefits of the Christian Faith.

So imagine a world without Christianity? I have...and it makes me shudder!

A WORLD WITHOUT CHRISTIANS

would be a world where little children are safe to run around and not worrying about child molesting priests
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_sexual_abuse_cases

A WORLD WITHOUT CHRISTIANS

oh what will we do without pastor Chidioke who made the church of Breast and Honey Harvest Church International.
this pastor tells women to come to his church without bras and their husbands so he could suck out the spirit of rejection from her breast so she can be delivered of the spirit of rejection.

http://africanspotlight.com/2015/10/30/nigerian-pastor-in-kenya-sucks-womens-breasts-in-church-audio/

A WORLD WITHOUT CHRISTIANS
the american christian who went into a black church and shot seven people who were praying...
oh christianity is soooo peaceful

A WORLD WITHOUT CHRISTIANS

fools the kkk(ku klus klan) is a terroist group that is of christian origin and have killed more black people, jewish people, muslims and gays than isis or alkahida yet the people who tell you about isis won't capture them by the way the ku klus klan are based in the usa further more isis was created by the cia to combat the russians after the invaded afghanistan isis didnt attack them alkahida didnt attack them these jihadists you so happily call muslims didn't attack first the attacked who ever attacked them

the only reason they attack now is because america double crossed them and attacked them
then britain and the rest of the allied nations joined in and you didn't know american soldiers raped women in afghanistan

http://www.globalresearch.ca/america-created-al-qaeda-and-the-isis-terror-group/5402881 i beg go and read and educate yourself

boykas:



which foundation is organisation awarded him to be a scholar..do u really know what a scholar is

fool the kkk(ku klus klan) is a terroist group that is of christian origin and have killed more black people, jewish people, muslims and gays than isis or alkahida yet the people who tell you about isis won't capture them by the way the ku klus klan are based in the usa further more isis was created by the cia to combat the russians after the invaded afghanistan isis didnt attack them alkahida didnt attack them these jihadists you so happily call muslims didn't attack first the attacked who ever attacked them

the only reason they attack now is because america double crossed them and attacked them
then britain and the rest of the allied nations joined in and you didn't know american soldiers raped women in afghanistan

http://www.globalresearch.ca/america-created-al-qaeda-and-the-isis-terror-group/5402881 i beg go and read and educate yourself

christianity is a big SCAM if your pastor isn't busy stealing your money to fund their extravagant lifestyle then he will be molesting your children.

christians are so very blind, how do you follow a religion which preaches monotheism but still accepts that there are two gods (jesus and god himself because you people claim jesus is a god and please don't just google it plus he really not a god if he gets killed) and let me ask you this is if god came down as jesus and jesus was killed the who is running the world?

instead of preaching about helping the homeless because you people have been doing this for years now how come there are still homeless people walking the streets you people carry all the money you collect from those who have nothing and build megachurches why don't you build mega homeless shelters why did your god die for your sins why couldn't he just forgive because that god kinda seems like a blood thirsty one.

you people can't even organise yourself into one religion you have more than instead you have more than 300 hundred factions

you bash muslims for the religion allow the man to marry upto 4 wives but yet king solomon had 700 wife and 300 concubines.

there are so many contradictions in the bible eg the bible says that jesus is the begotten son of god but begotten means "to bring into existance via the act of sexually reproduction which is animalistic " so who is lying the white man who drew jesus as a white man even though he was born in the middle east? or the the bible or maybe both of your gods.

King James authorised the new Bible translation for political reasons.

King James believed that a single ‘authorized version’ was a political and social necessity. He hoped this book would hold together the warring factions of the Church of England and the Puritans which threatened to tear apart both church and country. Most of the translators,however, were clergymen belonging to the Church of England, but at least some had Puritan sympathies.[3]

King James issued over a dozen rules that the translators had to follow. King James disliked the Geneva Bible, the Bible used by the Puritans, because he believed that some of the commentary in the margin notes did not show enough respect for kings.[4] James’ new translation was to have no commentary in the margins.

King James favoured the hierarchical structure of the Church of England and wanted the new translation to keep words that supported a bishop led hierarchy. In keeping with James’ preferred views on church government, he specified, “The old ecclesiastical words [are] to be kept; as the word church [is] not to be translated congregation.” (I personally believe that congregation is a better translation in some instances.) King James also ruled that only his new Bible could be read in England’s churches. The translation rules of King James can be found here. The political motives of King James had a direct influence on the translation of the KJV.

king henry the 8th started a new church so he could marry more wives

or the pastor who went to kenya to start up the the Breast and Honey Harvest Church International. so he could "suck their breast so they could be delivered" there you go, go and read it yourself http://africanspotlight.com/2015/10/30/nigerian-pastor-in-kenya-sucks-womens-breasts-in-church-audio/

or the apostle david e taylor who used 2.8million dollars of the church more to buy a house for himself he also bought very expensive cars and clothes

or pastor sign fireman who said the church and god was a game and the poor didnt know how to play it, he also stole money

or these guys 1. Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor

The ‘bling bling pastor’ owns a Bombardier Challenger 601 aircraft which was recently involved in a money laundering brouhaha with 2 Nigerians and an Israeli in South Africa.

2. Bishop David Oyedepo

It is not clear how many private aircrafts this man has however he surely has minimum of 2 private jets. He owns a $35 million Gulfstream V Jet, a Challenger 604 and a Gulfstream IV.

3. Enoch Adeboye

He owns a Gulfstream IV aircraft.

4. Bishop Mike Okonkwo

We could not ascertain as at time of publishing the name of the private jet the Bishop owns.


thieves...