Christianity and social stability

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St. Basil of Caesarea founded the first large-scale hospital. Christian hospitals subsequently spread quickly throughout both the East and the West.[1] See: Christianity and hospitals

There are numerous resources pointing out the benefits of Christianity/religion as far as social stability:

In his article The Triumph of the Gospel of Love, Monk Themistocles (Adamopoulo) wrote:

“ It is generally agreed by scholars and saints that the teaching of "love" and charity represent one of the essential dimensions of the Gospel of Jesus and the Gospel of Paul. Accordingly, from the extant words and parables of Jesus many concern themselves with the message of love. For example on the Sunday of Meat Fare, from the Gospel of Matthew, we hear Jesus identifying Himself and in solidarity with the destitute, the suffering, the rejected and the oppressed, calling for and rewarding altruistic philanthropy:

"... I was hungry and you fed me, when I was thirsty you gave me drink, when I was a stranger you took me in, when naked you clothed me, when I was ill you came to my help, when in prison you visited me ... I tell you this anything you did for one of my brothers here, however humble, you did it for me." (Matt 25:35-36, 40)...

Christians undertook a great deal of almsgiving to the poor not only to fellow believers but to pagans as well. So amazed was the anti-Christian pagan emperor Julian the Apostate (361-363 AD), with the sheer benevolence and excellence of Christian philanthropy that he was forced to admit in wonder their superiority over paganism in matters of charity:

"These godless Galileans (ie. Christians) feed not only their own poor but ours: our poor lack our care" (Ep. Sozom. 5:16).[2]

”
Jesus Christ and his apostles taught a gospel of love.[3] For example, the New Testament teaches that a husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5:25).

Positive personality changes and religious conversion

The Big Five personality traits change due to a person becoming more mature, efforts to change the personality traits or a major life change (See: Neuroplasticity and the ability of individuals to change their personality).

Personality changes due to religious conversion:

“ Religious conversion is one of the life events most strongly associated with personality change, because it often reshapes someone’s identity, daily habits, values, and social world. But the magnitude of change is usually not unlimited—it tends to be moderate rather than extreme, and uneven across the Big Five traits.

Average change: Studies suggest that religious conversion or increased religiosity is associated with about 0.3 to 0.7 standard deviations of change in certain traits over time.

Maximum documented change: In rare, profound cases (e.g., dramatic “born-again” conversions or entry into highly structured religious orders), people can shift by 1+ standard deviation on some traits, but that’s exceptional.[4]

”

"A bell curve, also known as a normal distribution, is a symmetrical, bell-shaped curve that represents the distribution of data in statistics. Standard deviations measure the spread or dispersion of data points around the mean (average) of a normal distribution. In a normal distribution, roughly 68% of the data falls within one standard deviation of the mean, 95% within two standard deviations, and 99.7% within three standard deviations."[5]

There is a significant amount of historical and scientific evidence that Bible reading has greatly increased human flourishing such as people's physical health, psychological well-being, character and virtue, and social connections (See: Bible reading and human flourishing).

Protestant missionaries and economic and societal development

See also: Protestant cultural legacies

The atheist and Harvard University historian Niall Ferguson declared: "Through a mixture of hard work and thrift the Protestant societies of the North and West Atlantic achieved the most rapid economic growth in history."[6]

The article The Surprising Discovery About Those Colonialist, Proselytizing Missionaries published in Christianity Today notes:

“ In his fifth year of graduate school, Woodberry created a statistical model that could test the connection between missionary work and the health of nations. He and a few research assistants spent two years coding data and refining their methods. They hoped to compute the lasting effect of missionaries, on average, worldwide...

One morning, in a windowless, dusty computer lab lit by fluorescent bulbs, Woodberry ran the first big test. After he finished prepping the statistical program on his computer, he clicked "Enter" and then leaned forward to read the results.

"I was shocked," says Woodberry. "It was like an atomic bomb. The impact of missions on global democracy was huge. I kept adding variables to the model—factors that people had been studying and writing about for the past 40 years—and they all got wiped out. It was amazing. I knew, then, I was on to something really important."

Woodberry already had historical proof that missionaries had educated women and the poor, promoted widespread printing, led nationalist movements that empowered ordinary citizens, and fueled other key elements of democracy. Now the statistics were backing it up: Missionaries weren't just part of the picture. They were central to it...

Areas where Protestant missionaries had a significant presence in the past are on average more economically developed today, with comparatively better health, lower infant mortality, lower corruption, greater literacy, higher educational attainment (especially for women), and more robust membership in nongovernmental associations.

In short: Want a blossoming democracy today? The solution is simple—if you have a time machine: Send a 19th-century missionary."

...at a conference presentation in 2002, Woodberry got a break. In the room sat Charles Harper Jr., then a vice president at the John Templeton Foundation, which was actively funding research on religion and social change. (Its grant recipients have included Christianity Today.) Three years later, Woodberry received half a million dollars from the foundation's Spiritual Capital Project, hired almost 50 research assistants, and set up a huge database project at the University of Texas, where he had taken a position in the sociology department. The team spent years amassing more statistical data and doing more historical analyses, further confirming his theory.

...Woodberry's historical and statistical work has finally captured glowing attention. A summation of his 14 years of research—published in 2012 in the American Political Science Review, the discipline's top journal—has won four major awards, including the prestigious Luebbert Article Award for best article in comparative politics. Its startling title: "The Missionary Roots of Liberal Democracy."

...over a dozen studies have confirmed Woodberry's findings. The growing body of research is beginning to change the way scholars, aid workers, and economists think about democracy and development. [7]

”
John Wesley

David Beidel wrote in his article The Bloodless Revolution: What We Need to Learn from John Wesley and the Great Awakening

“ In the 18th Century, most of Europe was on fire. Bloody civil wars and revolutions were decimating nation after nation. Unrestrained injustice, government and Church corruption, slave trade and the oppression of the poor created a powder keg for violence. Miraculously, Great Britain escaped the horrors of civil war and the brutal savagery that revolutionary anarchy engenders.

Few ancient monarchies are still in place today. The mystery of the UK’s capacity to honor the old guard, while raising up a more democratic system without a revolution, is a sociological wonder. Many credit the Great Awakening, in particular the Methodist movement, launched by John Wesley, for this extraordinary and peaceful transition.

Methodism unleashed an army of “little Christ’s” all over Europe. They cared for the poor, took in unwanted and abused children, fought unjust laws and labor conditions, visited prisoners, and battled against slavery; They joined hands with the Apostles and “turned the world upside down.” Eventually compassion became fashionable...

America is in desperate need of a Christ-infused revolution of compassion. We are a land of churches, who are well positioned to hear and answer the cries of our struggling communities. If a critical mass of congregations committed themselves to radically sharing the Gospel and passionately serving under-resourced/at-risk communities, we will see peace powerfully rise in these times of trouble. This will also enable, as in the days of John Wesley, wise reformation to take place because the true Christian Church is theologically hardwired to bring about peaceful, meaningful change that benefits all. I have written much about this in my book, Samaria, The Great Omission, and treasure every opportunity to strategize with churches who have a heart to minister in this way.

Let us stand in the gap as cultural/community peacemakers and healers in this season of sorrow and division. May our magnificent obsession be Jesus, the everlasting, ever loving, rescuer of the oppressed and Father of all.[8]

”

(The Catholic areas of Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Monaco are among the top geographic areas when it comes to the most productive countries per capita income. The wealthy country of Switzerland is 32% Catholic and 20% Swiss Protestantism in 2022)

Bible reading and human flourishing

See also: Bible reading and human flourishing

There is a significant amount of historical and scientific evidence that Bible reading has greatly increased human flourishing such as people's physical health, psychological well-being, character and virtue, and social connections (See: Bible reading and human flourishing).

The Bible indicates that healing is a primary attribute of God's nature, grace, and power, encompassing both physical and spiritual restoration, with many examples and promises of healing throughout both the Old and New Testaments (Exodus 15:26; Psalm 103:2-3; Psalm 147:3; Jeremiah 30:17; Matthew 4:23-24; James 5:14-15; 1 Peter 2:24, etc.)

For additional information, please see: Bible reading and human flourishing

What if Jesus had never been born?

Video: What If Jesus Had Never Been Born? by D. James Kennedy, Coral Ridge Ministries

D. James Kennedy (1930 - 2007)

Books

Painting: Sermon on the Mount by Carl Bloch (1877)
  • The Air We Breathe: How We All Came to Believe in Freedom, Kindness, Progress, and Equality (Discover the Christian roots of the values we prize in western society)
  • What If Jesus Had Never Been Born? by D. James Kennedy. Thomas Nelson; Revised edition (July 11, 2008)
  • The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing: A Theological Commentary by Jonathan T. Pennington. Baker Academic (June 20, 2017)

See also

External links

Video:

References

  1. ↑ The Christian origin of hospitals
  2. ↑ The Triumph of the Gospel of Love by Monk Themistocles (Adamopoulo)
  3. ↑ The Triumph of the Gospel of Love by Monk Themistocles (Adamopoulo)
  4. ↑ How big of personality changes are possible via religious conversion?
  5. ↑ Normal bell curve and standard deviations
  6. ↑ The Protestant Work Ethic: Alive & Well…In China By Hugh Whelchel on September 24, 2012
  7. ↑ Christianity Today, The Surprising Discovery About Those Colonialist, Proselytizing Missionaries, January 8, 2014
  8. ↑ The Bloodless Revolution: What We Need to Learn from John Wesley and the Great Awakening by David Beidel
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