WAS JESUS A REAL PERSON ? - PART EIGHT

                                       WAS JESUS A REAL                PERSON?

       PART EIGHT

          (copied from 
           Y-Jesus.com)


Historical Impact

Myths have little, if any, impact on history. The historian Thomas Carlyle said:  "The history of the world is but the biography of great men."

There is no nation or regime which owes its  foundation or heritage to a mythological person or god.

But, what has been the impact of Jesus Christ?

The average Roman citizen didn't feel His impact until many years after His death.  Jesus marshalled no army. He wrote no books and changed no laws. The Jewish leaders and Roman Caesars had hoped to wipe out His memory, and it appeared that they would succeed.

Today, all we see of ancient Rome are ruins. Caesars mighty legions and the pomp of Roman imperial power have faded into oblivion. Yet, how is Jesus remembered today ?  What is His enduring influence ?

* More books have been written about Jesus than     any other person in history.
*  Nations have used His Words as the bedrocks of
    their governments. According to Durant, "The        triumph of Christ was the beginning of                    democracy."
*  His sermon on the mount established a new
    paradigm in ethics and morals.
*  Schools, hospitals, and humanitarian works,          have been founded in His Name. Over 100 
    grand universities - including Harvard, Yale, 
    Princeton, Dartmouth, Columbia and Oxford -
     were begun by His followers.
*   The elevated role of women in Western culture
     traces its roots back to Jesus' teachings.
     (Women in Jesus' day were considered inferior 
       and  virtual non-persons until His teaching             was followed.)
*  Slavery was abolished in Britain and America,
     due to Jesus' teaching that each life is valuable.

Amazingly Jesus made all this impact as a result of just a three year period of public ministry. When noted author and world historian, H.G. Wells,
was asked who has left the greatest legacy on history, he replied, "By this test Jesus stands first."

Yale historian, Jaroslav Pelican writes: "Regardless of what anyone may personally think or believe about Him, Jesus of Nazareth has been the dominant figure in the history of Western culture for almost twenty centuries.... 
it is from His birth that most of the human race dates its calendars. 

It is by His name that many curse.
And it is by His Name that many Pray.

If Jesus didn't exist one must wonder how a myth could so alter history. 



next post 28th August