What If Jesus Had Never Been Born?

During this Christmas season, I have been taking some extra time to ponder the question: What if Jesus had never been born? To help me answer this question, I am currently reading the book by Dr. James Kennedy and Jerry Newcombe: What If Jesus Had Never Been Born? It is an excellent book and I highly recommend that you read it.

I am confident that three things will happen to you while reading this book. First, you will have a greater appreciation for who Jesus Christ is in human history. Second, you will be better equipped to defend your faith in Jesus Christ. Lastly, you will be inspired to boldly declare the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

For the rest of this blog, I am going to share excerpts from the book. I hope this will motivate you to purchase the book and read it as quickly as possible. I hope you enjoy!

What If Jesus Had Never Been Born?

We live in an age in which only one prejudice is tolerated—anti-Christian bigotry. Today, the only group you can hold up to public mockery is Christians. Attacks on the church and Christianity are common. As Pat Buchanan once put it, “Christian-bashing is a popular indoor sport.”

But the truth is this: Had Jesus never been born, this world would be far more miserable than it is. In fact, many of man’s noblest and kindest deeds find their motivation in love for Jesus Christ; and some of our greatest accomplishments also have their origin in service rendered to the humble Carpenter of Nazareth.

Listed below are three thoughts about the impact of Jesus on the world:

1. Jesus Christ is the greatest man who has ever lived.

Some people have made transformational changes in one department of human learning or in one aspect of human life, and their names are enshrined in the annals of human history. But Jesus Christ, the greatest man who ever lived, has changed virtually every aspect of human life—and most people don’t know it. The greatest tragedy of the Christmas holiday each year is not so much its commercialization (gross as that is), but its trivialization. How tragic it is that people have forgotten Him to whom they owe so very much.

2. Everything Jesus Christ touched He transformed.

Jesus says in Revelation 21:5, “Behold, I make all things new.” Everything that Jesus Christ touched, He utterly transformed. He touched time when He was born into this world; He had a birthday and that birthday utterly altered the way we measure time. Now, the whole world counts time as Before Christ (B.C.) and A.D. Unfortunately, in most cases, our illiterate generation today doesn’t even know that A.D. means Anno Domini, “In the year of the Lord.”

It’s ironic that the most vitriolic atheist writing a propagandistic letter to a friend must acknowledge Christ when he dates that letter. The atheistic Soviet Union was forced in it constitution to acknowledge that it came into existence in 1917, in the “year of our Lord.” When you see row after row of books at the library, every one of them—even if it contains anti-Christian diatribes—has a reference to Jesus Christ because of the date.

3. Jesus’ Church has impacted people in a positive manner more than any other institution on earth.

Despite its humble origins, the Church has made more changes on earth for the good than any other movement or force in history. To get an overview of some of the positive contributions Christianity has made through the centuries, here are a few highlights:

• Capitalism and free-enterprise.
• Universities, which also began during the Middle Ages. In addition, most of the world’s greatest universities were started by Christians for Christian purposes.
• Hospitals, which essentially began during the Middle Ages.
• Civil liberties.
• The abolition of slavery.
• Modern science.
• The elevation of women.
• Higher standards of justice.
• The elevation of the common man.
• High regard for human life.
• The preservation of ethical standards in regards to sexual conduct in relationships.
• The eternal salvation of countless souls.