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The Book and society – how the Bible has changed the nations
Read how the Bible and the Christian faith have affected literacy, health care, and other positive ways. Many are blind to this fact
This text discusses the importance of the Bible. Has its effect on societies been positive or negative? Has it been an elevating or crumbling force in societal development? If this question is asked of atheists, it is clear what they will answer. They do not see the Bible as a constructive book, instead, they attack it and the Christian faith. They do not see anything good in the Christian faith. Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Daniel C. Dennett and Christopher Hitchens, among others, serve as examples of such an attitude. But what is the reality? Could it be that these atheists and many others have been blind to Christianity’s positive effect on the development of many Western countries? They do not see how the Christian faith based on the Bible, has increased social justice, strengthened our understanding of human value and improved living. Those societies, in which Christian faith and revivals associated with it have not been as present, have been in much worse state in this respect. It is also typical for people to want to move to countries where Christianity has had a strong influence. These countries include, e.g., England, the Nordic countries, several Western European countries, United States, Canada, Australia, etc. Christianity and the Bible have thus strongly impacted the development of Western countries and other societies. For example, the president of the United States of America, Dwight D. Eisenhower, summarized his views on the effect of the Bible in his country in his speech held in 1956: "History shows the meaning of the Bible. Our civilization is built upon its words.” (1). The former prime minister of the United Kingdom, Margaret Thatcher, has also referred how her nation’s ideals are founded on the Bible and how the Judeo-Christian tradition influenced legislation, customs and the way how the institutions function:
The ideals of this nation arise from the Bible. If you don't realize this, it is completely impossible to understand our country's literature. It is precisely for this reason that we wanted to ensure that schoolchildren receive sufficient information about how the Judeo-Christian tradition has shaped our laws, customs and institutions. Without such basic knowledge, it is impossible to understand Shakespeare and Sir Walter Scott or the constitutional conflicts in 17th century Scotland and England. But I would like to go even further. The truths conveyed by the Judeo-Christian tradition are of infinite importance, not only because they are true - as I believe myself - but also because they convey to us the moral incentive without which it is impossible to reach peace in the true sense of the word; and the peace we all long for. There is almost no hope for democracy unless the hearts of men and women living in democratic societies respond to a call to something greater than man. Political structures, social institutions or common ideals are not enough - - [Democracy requires] a life of faith with the aim of the nation's temporal and spiritual well-being. (2)
As we speak of the development in the Western countries, the impact of the Bible cannot be bypassed. It has affected numerous areas of life, such as literacy, education, healthcare, and many others. The most important aspect, of course is the gospel and its eternal message, but other positive societal impacts should not be forgotten either. These are the effects we are going to look at next.
Democracy and social stability.
- (1 Tim 2:1,2) I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; 2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
The First Epistle to Timothy urges to pray for those in authority, so that society could enjoy a peaceful life. It is better than having chaos, absolute dictatorship, and constant rebellion against those in power. It is better for the economic development and other forms of advancement if the authorities strive for goodness.How is this related to the development of society and to Christian faith? Democracy and social stability count as major aspects. Countries where Christianity has had a significant influence are usually more stable and practice more democracy than other countries where Christianity has not been as prominent. Many third world countries are examples of bad governance. In them, a bad dictator has been replaced by another bad dictator, and that has kept up the negative spiral. Power-hungry and corrupt leaders have driven the people into poverty, from which it has been difficult to get up.What is distinctive of democracy, which has arisen in predominantly Christian countries? One of the most essential things has been the decentralisation of power so that no single group has had too much power. A distinction has been made between political legislation, the courts and their powers, and the ordinary police force. This decentralization of power has prevented the greatest abuses. In addition, not to forget about the most important principle, that is, that the principles of justice and law are also above the leaders of the people and its representatives. They, too, are responsible for these principles, which have generally arisen directly from the teachings of the Ten Commandments. This has prevented those in power from misconduct, and it has also been a safer option than dictatorship or direct democracy. E.g. the form of democracy that existed in ancient Greece, direct democracy (power was held by an uncontrolled majority), was much more vulnerable. Thus, Greek democracies were usually short-lived, lasting only a few decades. They then descended into chaos and abuse of democracy, just as they did in the French Revolution. As a result, the well-known philosopher Socrates, among others, was killed, just as in the French Revolution, thousands of people were killed when the people gained power. Direct democracy has therefore not been as safe an option as democracy under the decentralised model.From here is it is good to move on to discuss missionary work. Atheists like to criticize it, but researchers have stated that missionary work, particularly, has positively affected the development of democracy and social stability. This has been the case in many African and Asian countries. Where there has been active missionary work, the situation today is better than in areas where missionary influence has been less or non-existent. It comes to the fore in issues such as the fact that the mission regions today have a more developed economy, a relatively better health situation, a lower infant mortality rate, lower corruption, higher literacy rates and easier access to education than in other regions. In Europe and North America, the same development has already taken place in the past, and here, too, the Christian faith has certainly had its own influence. The Christian faith has had a positive impact on the status of people and human rights.Scientist: Missionary work set off democracy
According to Robert Woodberry, the assistant professor at Texas University, the impact of Protestants’ missionary work in the 1800s and in the beginning of 1900s on the development of democracy has been more significant than originally thought. Rather than having a minor role in the development of democracy, missionaries had a substantial part in it in many African and Asian countries. Christianity Today magazine tells about the matter. Robert Woodberry has studied the relationship between missionary work and the factors affecting democracy almost for 15 years. According to him, there where Protestant missionaries have had a central influence. There the economy is nowadays more developed and the health situation is relatively much better than in the areas, where missionaries’ influence has been smaller or nonexistent. In the areas with prevalent missionary history, child mortality rate is currently lower, there is less corruption, literacy is more common and getting into education is easier, especially for women. According to Robert Woodberry, it was specifically the Protestant revival Christians who had a positive effect. In contrast, state-employed clergy or Catholic missionaries before the 1960s did not have a similar impact. Protestant missionaries were free of the control of the government. “One central stereotype in missionary work is that it relates to colonialism. - - However, Protestant workers, who were not funded by the government, reacted always critically to colonialism”, says Woodberry to Christianity Today. The long-term work of Woodberry has received praise. Among others, research professor Philip Jenkins of Baylor University has noted the following about Woodberry’s research: “I really tried to find gaps, but the theory holds. It has great influence on the worldwide research on Christianity.” According to Christianity Today magazine over ten studies have reinforced Woodberry’s findings. (3)
Literacy, education and science. Then to culture and science. In modern times, it is a common view that the Bible and the Christian faith have been an obstacle to the development of civilization and science. This view has been maintained especially by secularist and atheist circles. They have argued that the Christian belief in God has slowed down the development of societies. In the same context, they have spoken about the conflict between belief in God and science. But how is it in reality? It seems that secularist and atheist circles are not clear about the positive meaning of the Bible and the Christian faith in these areas. They do not know history and are not aware of how radically the Bible and the Christian faith have had on the civilization of societies. In this matter, it is worth paying attention to the following points.
• First, the birth of book languages and literacy. Everyone understands that if a nation does not have its own literary language and people cannot read, it is an obstacle to the development of science, research, the birth of inventions and the spread of knowledge. Then there are no books, you can't read them, and knowledge doesn't spread. Society remains in a stagnant state. How, then, has the Christian faith influenced the creation of literary languages and literacy? This is where many researchers have a blind spot. They do not know that almost all literary languages were created by pious Christians. For example, here in Finland, Mikael Agricola, Finnish religious reformer and father of literature, printed the first ABC book and the New Testament and parts of other books of the Bible. The people learned to read through them. In numerous other nations in the Western world, development has taken place through a similar process. If the Christian faith had not existed, the development of Western societies might have been delayed by centuries:
Christianity created the Western civilization. If the followers of Jesus would have stayed as a faint Jewish sect, many of you would have never learned how to read and the rest would have read from hand copied scrolls. Without theology coined with progression and moral equality, the whole world would currently be at a state, where non-European societies were roughly in the 1800s: A world with countless astrologists and alchemists, but without scientists. A despotic world without universities, banks, factories, spectacles, chimneys and pianos. A world, where most children die before the age of five and where many women would die of childbirth – a world that would truly live in the “Dark Ages”. A modern world only arose from Christian societies. Not in the Islamic realm. Not in Asia. Not in a ”secular” society – as such a thing did not exists. (4)
Before the ability to read is born, the written language must therefore exist. In this sense, Christian missionaries have played a key role, not only centuries ago in Western countries, but also in Africa and Asia later. The following examples refer to this. It is significant that even such languages as Hindi, the main language of India, Urdu of Pakistan, and Bengali of Bangladesh have gotten their grammar and linguistic as a result of Christian missionary work. Hundreds of millions of people speak and use these languages:
Vishal Mangalwadi: I grew up in the heart of Hindu language in Allahabad, nearly 80 kilometers from Kashi, where Tulsidas wrote Ramcharitmanasin, the most significant religious epic of Northern India. I was constantly told that Hindi originated from this great epic. But when I read it, I got confused, because I could not understand a single phrase from it. The writer’s “Hindi” was completely different from mine and I started to question, where my mother tongue – the official national language of India – originated from. … Hindu scholars also did not develop India's national language, Hindi. It is thanks to Bible translators such as John Borthwick Gilchrist and missionary linguists such as Rev. S.H.Kellogg that the current Hindi literary language emerged from the language used by the poet Tulsidas (c. 1532-1623). ... Bible translators and missionaries gave more than my mother tongue Hindi. All the living literary languages of India testify to their work. In 2005, Dr. Babu Verghese, a researcher from Mumbai but a native speaker of Malayalam, submitted a 700-page doctoral dissertation to Nagpur University for review. He showed that Bible translators created the 73 present-day literary languages from dialects spoken by mostly illiterate Indians. These included the official national languages of India (Hindi), Pakistan (Urdu) and Bangladesh (Bengali). Five Brahmin scholars examined Verghese's dissertation and awarded him a Doctor of Philosophy in 2008. At the same time, they unanimously recommended that the dissertation be adopted as a required textbook for Indian language studies upon publication. (5)
• One good example is England (see Margaret Thatcher's speech above!). It was the most developed and advanced country in the 19th century, but what caused the development? In this role, the revival born through John Wesley (1703-1791) played an important role, which affected the whole society. It awakened people to social awareness and brought about changes in numerous sectors of society. For example, workers' conditions in factories improved, orphanages were established, the status of the poor was improved, shelters were established for widows, prison conditions were humanized, hospitals were reformed (Florence Nightingale), legislation was improved so that e.g. slavery was abolished after Wesley's death. William Wilberforce, to whom Wesley wrote the last letter of his life, played a key role in the abolition of slavery. It is indicative of Wesley's influence that when he arrived in a town or village in the early years of his activity, it started a violent riot. However, it is no exaggeration to say that at the end of his 88-year long life he was the most respected and loved person in England. Moreover, the historian J. Wesley Bready has even estimated that the reform movement of the Wesleyan brothers prevented England from drifting into the same kind of revolution and violence that occurred in France. This shows how far-reaching significance Wesley and his brother's activities had on English society. How, then, did Wesley affect the progress of civilization in England? The following quotes tell something about this. They show how, as a result of Wesley's activities, schools were established and also Sunday schools where children learned to read. Wesley was also very influential in making reading books possible for the common people:
Wesley labored tirelessly from 1739 until his death in 1791. His energy for work was astonishing... Wesley criss-crossed England on horseback for about 400,000 kilometers in all weathers, night and day, on roads that were dangerous and at times barely passable... This cultured man, sharp theologian and respected intellectual reminded his preachers , that "it is not possible to be profound as a preacher and also profound if one does not read a lot". All the preachers were given the task of distributing and selling the books, and they also had to be clear about the contents of the books. Encyclopedia Britannica states of Wesley in this regard that "no one else in the 18th century did so much to promote the reading of good books, and made so many books available to the people at a very affordable price"... ...In England after Wesley, many of the ills that plagued the country in the 18th century were removed because hundreds of thousands of people had become Christians. There was a change in their hearts, as well as in their thinking and attitudes, and it affected the whole society. Many improvements were a direct result of the Wesley-revival. Firstly, it resulted in the prohibition of slavery and the improvement of the conditions of industrial workers in England. Then followed factory schools, schools for the poor ("ragged schools"), evening schools and technical schools, more humane prison conditions, orphanages, criminal law reform and numerous other projects in the field of spiritual, social and humanitarian work and education. (7)
Sunday school movement began in July of 1780, when a lady called Meredith started to host a school in her home down Souty Alley. Older boys acted as guides for the younger boys. Raikes wrote four school books based on the Bible. Slowly, the schools were also welcoming girls. Raikes was singlehandedly responsible for almost all of the expenses. More Sunday schools were founded in Gloucester and in its surroundings. In 1831, when it had been 20 years from Raikes death, approximately fourth of England’s 1,25 million children attended Sunday school. England was becoming a literate society due to the teaching of God’s words; the government had nothing to do with it. (8)
Thomas H. Huxley, Darwin’s “bulldog”, is also a good example of the Christian influence in England. He, too, supported the teaching of Christian faith, like the majority of Englishmen, even though he was a strong supporter of Darwin. He wrote in one of his essays in 1870 the following:
I believe that no person or community has ever achieved anything, nor will they ever, if their actions are not controlled by love for some sort of ethical ideal. - - And if I was forced to choose a school for my children, where they will receive real religious guidance, or a school without such guidance, I would choose the former, although my child would consequently receive a lot of theology. Thus, when the majority from the public of England declared wanting that the Bible be taught for their children in primary schools, - I see no reason to oppose this wish. Surely, I as an individual cannot retain my coherence and oppose other children being taught, what my children have been taught to do. (Thomas H. Huxley: Science and Education Essays, No. 15, The School Boards: What They Can Do, and What They May Do, Macmillan, London, 1893, pp. 396-402. First published in the Contemporary Review, Dec. 1870)
A good question is; would England have been a better country in the past without the influence of the Christian faith? It hardly would have been. Because if atheist communist countries are used as a point of comparison, they have been countries where millions of people have been killed and the opposition has been suppressed. In them, the living conditions would have been worse for people than, for example, in England, where the Christian faith has been respected. In modern times, however, the trend is that the same atheistic ideas supported by the first communists are gaining support everywhere.
• One area is universities and schools. Along with literacy, they are important for the development of science and technology, research, the birth of inventions and the spread of information. Through them, knowledge and research advance to a new level. How has the Christian faith influenced this region? Secularist and atheist circles are often unaware that the Bible and the Christian faith have played a major role in this area. Hundreds of universities and tens of thousands of schools have been started by pious Christians or founded through missionary work. For example, the following universities are well-known in England and America:
- Oxford and Cambridge. Both cities have plenty of churches and chapels. These universities were originally founded to teach the Bible. - Harvard. This university is named after Reverend John Harvard. - The first president of Princeton University (originally the College of New Jersey) was Jonathan Edwards, who is known for the great revival in America in the 18th century. - University of Pennsylvania. George Whitefield, another leader of the Great Revival, founded the school that later developed into the University of Pennsylvania. Whitefield was the son of a barkeeper and a colleague of the aforementioned John Wesley when he was in England. He had an unusually beautiful, melodious and powerful voice, so that he could speak audibly to tens of thousands of people in outdoor meetings. He could also preach with tears in his eyes because of the compassion that God had given him for people What about India? India is not known for its Christianity. However, in this country, as in Africa, there are thousands of schools that have been born on the basis of the Christian faith. The first universities were also born on the same basis. One example is also William Carey's activities. He started dozens of schools for children of all castes. He built India's first printing press and taught Indians to use paper. He founded the first newspaper published in an Asian language and it published articles that led to many social reforms. He established India's first libraries where books could be borrowed. He promoted agriculture and horticulture through the Agri-Horticultural Society of India, which he founded, and published the country's first books on science and natural history. Vishal Mangalwadi tells more about how the Bible has influenced his home country of India:
When I set out to find out if God had really blessed India through the Bible, I made incredible discoveries. The university where I studied, the municipal autonomous community and democracy, in whose sphere of influence I lived, the courthouse near my home and the legal system it represented, the modern Hindi that I spoke as my mother tongue, the secular newspaper I had begun to write for, the garrison on the west side of my street, the botanical garden to the east of it, the library near our garden, the train tracks that cut through my hometown, the health care system I resorted to, the agricultural college located on the other side of town, for all this, my hometown owed thanks to people who took the Bible seriously. I had always been told that the 19th century "Indian Renaissance" had started with Raja Ram Mohan Roy. I was very surprised when I found out that it actually started with the arrival of the Bible in India. We were always told that India could thank the struggle of Mahatma Gandhi for its freedom, but in reality the liberation was thanks to the Bible. Before the advent of the Bible, the modern idea of nationhood and freedom was foreign to Indians. Hindu generals had maintained the Mughal dynasty that ruled India. But this was just the beginning. (9)
• It was mentioned above how the Christian faith has affected literacy and how thousands of schools and universities are the result of it. In India, Africa and many third world countries this development is relatively new, but in Europe it happened centuries earlier. The so-called scientific revolution is also related to the topic. Often in secularist and atheist circles, the view is put forward that this upheaval had nothing to do with the Christian faith, but this view can be questioned. For in the modern sense, science has started only once, i.e. in the Europe of the 1500-1700s, where Christian theism prevailed. It did not start in a secularist society, but specifically in a society inspired by the Christian faith. Almost all leading scientists believed in creation. Among them were Francis Bacon, Robert Boyle, Isaac Newton, Johannes Kepler, Copernicus, Galileo Galilei, Blaise Pascal, Michael Faraday, James Clerck Maxwell, John Ray, Louis Pasteur, etc. They were not representatives of the Enlightenment but of Christian theism:
A few comments suggest how faith in God was common in the lives of these well-known scientists. It is evident in their memoirs and writings:
Johannes Kepler: I think the reasons for many features of the universe can be traced to God's love for man. Surely no one wants to deny that when God built the universe as a dwelling place, he thought of its future inhabitant again and again. For man is the goal of all creation and the universe. (11)
Isaac Newton, the most famous scientist of the 17th century: When I wrote my treatise on our System, I focused my attention on the principles that would make people believe in God. Nothing could please me more than to find my treatise useful for that purpose. (12)
Robert Boyle, the founder of modern chemistry: Nature's wise and mighty Creator, whose penetrating eye Reaches the whole universe and examines all its parts in one moment, in the beginning created the material bodies into a system, and set them to govern the laws of motion according to the ends he set, and made the world - - like a well-made clock. (13)
John Ray, the father of English natural science: There is no nobler and more pleasant task for a free man than to contemplate the beautiful works of nature and to revere the infinite wisdom and goodness of God. (14)
So what made the scientific revolution possible? One reason was the universities, of which there were about sixty in Europe by the year 1500. These universities were not universities maintained by secularists and the state, but arose with the active support of the medieval church, and natural science research and astronomy played a prominent role in them. In them there was considerable freedom of research and discussion, which was favored. These universities had hundreds of thousands of students, and they partly prepared the ground for a scientific revolution to be possible in Europe in the 16th-18th centuries. This revolution did not suddenly arise out of nowhere, but was preceded by favorable developments. Other continents did not have the same extensive education and similar universities as in Europe, because the Christian faith had not gained the same place in them.
The Middle Ages created a basis for the greatest accomplishment of Western society: modern science. Claim that says science did not exists before “Renaissance” is simply untrue. After familiarizing themselves with classical Greek research, scholars of the Middle Ages developed ideology systems, which led science much further compared to the antique times. Universities, where academic freedom was protected from the leaders’ power, were founded in the 1100s. These institutions have always provided a safe haven for scientific research. Even Christian theology proved to be uniquely fitted to encourage researching the nature, which was believed to be God’s creation. (15)
Hospitals and social work. One of the most important things is human health and well-being. If it is not in order, a person's life is many times more difficult. So how has the Christian faith influenced this area? Many secularists and atheists are not aware of the positive influence of the Christian faith in this area as well. For many organizations focused on charity have started on the basis of the Christian faith and the Bible. For example, the Red Cross was born when the warm-hearted christian Henri Dunant saw the plight of the wounded on the battlefield and began planning ways to alleviate it. Florence Nightingale, a pious christian who reformed both military and general medical care, also worked in the same area. William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, and Eglantyne Jebb, the founder of Save the Children, are also well-known. The latter organization started when Jebb worked for starving Central European children after the First World War. The Christian faith has therefore had a positive effect in numerous areas, including social work. Poverty, disease, hunger and homelessness are major problems in many areas of the world, but those societies where the Christian faith has prevailed and where there have been spiritual revivals suffer less from them. Of course, no society is perfect, but if there was no gospel in the world, there would be far fewer hospitals and more poor and hungry people. Most hospitals in the world have originated under the influence of the Christian faith:
Even though the Christian church has been criticized a lot throughout its history, it has still been the forerunner in medical care for the poor, helping captives, homeless or the dying ones and improving working environments. In India the best hospitals and educational institutions connected to it are the result of Christian missionary work, even to that extent that many Hindus use these hospitals more than the hospitals maintained by the government, because they know that they are going to receive better care over there. It is estimated that when the Second World War began, 90% of nurses in India were Christians, and that 80% of them received their education in missionary hospitals. (18)
Many of the best, still existing medical institutions in India’s peninsula were founded by Christians’ initiative, often against the wishes of the colonies. Missionaries have had downright an exceptional impact on health care in Asia and in Africa. They have taken care of leprous, made groundbreaking discoveries in epidemic doctrine, developed national healthcare systems, educated basic healthcare employees and founded school institutions for women doctors and nurses. (19)
In church the affairs of this life were as much taken care of as were the affairs of the future life; it seemed that everything that the Africans accomplished, originated from the missionary work of the church. (Nelson Mandela in his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom)
What about hospitals and aid organisations run by humanists and atheists? They have often been bystanders in this area. The English journalist Malcolm Muggeridge (1903-1990), who himself was a secular humanist, but nevertheless honest, noticed this. He drew attention to how the worldview affects culture:
I have spent years in India and Africa, and in both places I have come across ample righteous activity maintained by Christians belonging in different denominations; But not once have I been confronted with a hospital or orphanage run by a socialist organization, or a leprosy sanatorium operating on the basis of humanism. (20)
Economy. Above we discussed how the Bible and the Christian faith have influenced democracy, literacy, education, science, social work and helping people. Many social reforms have emerged from this basis. What about the economy? How has the Christian faith affected the economy? The answer to this is that those countries where there has been spiritual revivals and where great value has been given to the ten commandments, Jesus' Sermon on the Mount and the ethical teachings of the New Testament have generally been successful. Such states have been e.g. Nordic countries, North America, Western Europe and Australia. The same countries have also been at the top in happiness measurements. If you look at their development over a long period of time, i.e. from the perspective of centuries, they have been successful, much better than states where an atheistic or pantheistic worldview has prevailed. Partly the reason for the development of the economy is precisely the matters listed above, such as literacy, education, democracy and social work, which have been influenced by the Christian faith. If they are at a high level, it will also benefit every nation at the economic level. Or if there is no eg. literacy and education, it is much more difficult for a nation to rise out of poverty. So where did economic development start in Europe? This topic was studied by the famous German economist and sociologist Max Weber about a century ago. When he looked for reasons for the success of Western countries, he claimed that it all started in Geneva and Jean Calvin's activities there (Max Weber: The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, 1958, original work in German 1904-1905). This city was one of the most miserable cities in Europe and the smelliest city in Europe. It was known for its crime, corruption, slums and problems, but when Calvin began to teach the principles of God's word and how to live, it brought about a change in the city. The misery was replaced by a city that is known as the center of international diplomacy and aid and other organizations. Switzerland is also known for its banking activities. Calvin played an important role in this. He advised bankers not to charge too much interest because he saw usury as a sin. Calvin set a fixed interest rate of four percent. It allowed a small profit for the lender and that the borrower could finance a new investment. The four percent interest established by Calvin remained in Switzerland for four centuries. The next comment refers to the same topic, i.e. the influence of the Christian faith in the past. 18 American tourists visited China and they met with a researcher from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He astonished the guests when he assessed the reasons for the success of the West. It is noteworthy that in the last thirty years, the Christian message has won the field in China as well, so that, according to some estimates, there are already almost 200 million Christians in China. At the same time, China has gradually risen from poverty and its economy has grown:
The following example also refers to the same. It compares North and South America to each other, specifically past history. In principle, South America would have had exactly the same opportunities to develop and large natural resources, but there has not been the same prosperity as further north. The quote also gives a reason why one area is prosperous and another is not. Will the situation change in the coming years, when the spiritual situation in South America has changed, while, for example, the United States has drifted far away from the spiritual heritage that its fathers had? The United States has become e.g. the biggest producer of porn and its pernicious entertainment industry affects all over the world. It is likely that its importance among nations will wane and its best days will begin to be behind it. Other states come alongside and pass it by in development.
The professor of administrative studies, Mariano Grondona, from the faculty of law of the national University of Buenos Aires, says that none of the countries in the East or the West were “developed countries” before the 17th century: “The “Protestant Reformation was the factor that brought economic development into Northern-Europe and into Northern-America.” (25) He also remarks that the economic growth in Protestant countries has partly regressed, exaclty because the spiritual life of these countries has decreased. (26)
One example is corruption. Research results show that the countries most influenced by the Bible are the least corrupt. Secularist countries such as ex-communist and atheist countries are about as corrupt in this respect as Hindu, Buddhist and Islamic countries. What about India and idolatry? If we think about the situation there, one of the big reasons for the problems and sufferings of this beautiful country may be specifically Hindu philosophy. When the first and second commandments say that we should not have other Gods beside the one true God and not make images of gods (Ex 20: 3,4: You shall have no other Gods before me. You shall not make to you any Graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in Heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.), this has not been respected in India. Instead, rats and other vermin are protected there because they are considered sacred. Although they destroy a lot of grain, they are protected. Things like this definitely affect the economy because they keep millions hungry. Without the philosophy of putting rats and other animals before people, India could be a more successful country. K. P. Yohannan, himself an Indian, tells about the situation and the problems in his home country:
I'm not trying to belittle the social and material needs of the Asian people, but I feel that it is important to point out again that the basic problem in Asia is of a spiritual nature. The Western media focus almost completely on the hunger problem. When the media shows them images of starving children, it is difficult for Americans not to get the wrong idea that hunger is the worst problem. What causes hunger? Asian Christians know that the awful situation is only a symptom of the actual problem – spiritual slavery in the yoke of Satanic philosophies. The key factor – and the most overlooked one – in understanding the hunger problem in India is the religious system of Hinduism and how it influences the production of food. Most people are familiar with the concept of the "holy cow"; cows roam free eating tonnes of grain while people nearby are starving. A less well known animal protected by the religion, and one that has caused more trouble, is the rat. According to those who believe in reincarnation, rats must be protected because it is likely that a rat will receive a soul when it starts its spiritual journey towards Nirvana. Even though there are many people who do not share this belief and who try to poison rats, extensive attempts to eliminate the rat problem have been rejected by religious parties. One of the Indian heads of state has said, "The problems in India will never cease until the religion is changed..." Rats eat or destroy 20% of the Indian grain meant for human consumption every year. A recent inspection in a grain cultivation area called Hapuri in northern India showed that there are in average ten rats in each building. (...) One could assume that the destruction caused by the rat in India would cause contempt. Instead, rats are protected and even worshipped in some places due to the people's spiritual blindness. One example of such a place is a temple a couple of dozen kilometres south of Bikaner in northern India. (27)
Rabi Maharaj, a former Hindu guru, refers to the same issue. He believed that Hinduism, its fatalistic belief in karma, reincarnation, and false gods, is the root cause of India’s problems. It is important to note that Europe was also, in many respects, a society similar to India or Africa a few decades ago. There were idols, gnomes, pantheism, and animism. Even in the Nordic countries, there is no need to go back many centuries when that was the case.
It is impossible to describe India to people who have not seen it for themselves. The misery, poverty, disease and superstition are shocking. The villages are awful too, but only when the visitor sees the millions and millions of people crowding the cities of India will they feel sheer terror. (...) My heart hurt when I looked at the suffering multitudes of India. I wondered why the western people are searching for spiritual information from India. From experience I knew that Hinduism, its fatalistic belief in karma, reincarnation, and wrong gods was the basic reason for the problems in India. It was the blindness of the western people that made them turn to search for enlightenment from eastern mysticism! There was nothing else but darkness, and the anguish of India proved very clearly how deep this darkness was. Such an enormous deceit could only come from the same devilish, intelligent source that drives millions of people to destroy themselves because of the apparent paradise of drugs. (28)
Crime, alcohol, drugs. Above, it was brought up how the Bible and the Christian faith have influenced democracy, literacy, education, science, social work and helping people, even the economy. Many social reforms have emerged from this basis. Without the Bible and its positive influence, society would have many more problems and less literacy. One aspect is also crime or the lack of it. Crime has great social effects. Because if everyone commits crimes, such a society will become impoverished very soon and life will become difficult. Or if no one did normal work, what would happen? It would quickly lead to the paralysis of society. Food would disappear from the shelves of stores, fuel would run out in a few weeks, hospitals would have no one to take care of patients, taxis and public transport would not work, the fire brigade would not put out fires and all services would cease. The chances of living would become very small and the mortality rate in society would increase. How has the Bible and the Christian faith affected crime? It is known how many prisoners have left their criminal careers, and it benefits society financially as well. It has been calculated that one day in prison costs the society about 150 euros, and if, for example, 50 people end their criminal careers and become regular taxpayers, the society will quickly save tens of millions of euros from additional costs. Then to the 19th century and one example of how crime decreased dramatically. Charles G. Finney was one of the most famous preachers of the time. In his book, Ihmeellisiä herätyksiä, he tells a case where the city's crime rate dropped almost to one-ninth of what it had been before. The city became calmer in terms of order.
I have told that the moral situation changed greatly through this revival. The city was new, economically prosperous and enterprising but full of sin. The population was especially intelligent and ambitious but as the revival swept through the city by bringing large crowds of its most remarkable people, men and women, to conversion, there happened a very miraculous change concerning the order, peacefulness and morality. I had a talk with a lawyer many years later. He had been converted in this revival and was a general prosecutor in criminal cases. Because of this office, the criminal statistics were thoroughly familiar to him. He said about the time of this revival, “I have examined documents of criminal law and noticed a surprising fact: while our city has grown three times larger after the times of the revival, there has not been even a third of the indictments than there were before. So miraculous an effect did the revival have on our society.”(…) (...) Both public and personal opposition gradually abated. In Rochester I did not know anything about it. The salvation had its own great visitation, the revivals were so powerful and moved so widely, and people had time to become acquainted both with themselves and the results of them to such an extent that they feared to oppose them as before. The priests also understood them better, and the wicked were convinced that they were acts of God. This idea of them became almost common, so clear was the sane nature of the conversions, so really transformed, “new creations”, were the converts, so thorough a change occurred both in individuals and in the society, and so permanent and undeniable were the fruit.
Alcohol may also be behind crimes. Many acts of violence have been committed under the influence of alcohol, when a person's judgment has failed. In addition, new problems arise through alcohol: the breakup of families, an increase in medical expenses, children born sick (each year approx. 600-700 children damaged by alcohol are born in Finland), an increase in traffic accidents, an increase in absenteeism from work and other problems. It is not appropriate to forget the economic costs of alcohol to society. Kauppalehti-paper (September 16, 2011) told in its article "Sweeping the alcohol problem under the rug is expensivet", how the big bill comes from booze. It mentioned how alcohol causes direct costs of around one billion euros for a small country like Finland. Indirect costs multiply the amount:
Alcohol causes clearly more disadvantages and costs in working life than people generally think. Experts state that "complaisant" doctors make it difficult to see just how major a problem alcohol is when they disguise illnesses caused by alcohol abuse, saying that they have been caused by something else (…) It is difficult to assess how much additional expenses alcohol causes to employers, however. Researchers of the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) state that alcohol causes around one billion euro in direct annual costs for the society. Indirect costs can be up to five billion euro. (...)
How has the Bible and the Christian faith influenced this area? Has it been helpful in trying to get rid of alcohol addiction? The following quote says something about this. Erik Edin was an alcoholic himself, but he experienced a change and as a result started helping other alcoholics as well. As a result of his actions, an estimated 10,000 alcoholics were freed from their addiction. It meant huge financial savings for Swedish society:
It was the year 1954. Erik Edin met Lewi Pethrus and from these events the LP organization started working in Strandgården. There began wonderful work of helping alcoholics. Over the next 30 years the work developed with a fast rate. Erik Edin was said to have saved 10 000 people and their families in a program in Swedish Television. Erik Edin was also awarded with a medal and he was elected into the Swedish Parliament. He was valued by the whole country, because the largest amount of alcoholics had been saved and become sober through him. None of the other institutions taking care of alcoholics came near the kind of results that Erik Edin had. (29)
What about the situation in Finland? One example is the Laestadian revival movement. It was born in the 1800s among the Sami, many of whom were caught up in alcohol. Lars Leevi Laestadius, himself a Sami and who could speak the Sami language, was a key figure in this area. Soon, a change began to take place among the Sami people. An interesting historical reference to this can be found in one of the episcopal inspection minutes (Enontekiö episcopal inspection protocol 1902, attached Report on the Enontekiö chapel parish, prepared for episcopal inspection 57.7 1902. OTA Eb:4. OMA) from Enontekiö:
The Laestadian movement must be said to be a form of Lapland's religion and the only direction that hints at spiritual pursuits, without which there would be outright paganism, reindeer theft, drunkenness, fornication, etc. in power. For everyone who is not attached to that movement in one way or another is attached to the above-mentioned sins and many others.
What about drugs? Among them the so-called hard drugs can be very addictive. A person who is a slave to them is usually not capable of long-term work. In addition, many turn to crime when trying to pay for their expensive lust. In general, hard drugs are a worse problem than alcohol. How has the Christian faith and the Bible influenced this area? If you compare how people are freed from drugs with the help of worldly methods and how they are freed with the help of God, there is a relatively big difference. Secular methods are often expensive, the treatment results are bad, and the addiction may be replaced by another addiction (Instead of narcotics, another narcotic such as subutex or methadone is offered.) Instead, the power of God can touch every drug user who seriously wants it and who surrenders his life to God. David Wilkerson, who worked for years with drug addicts in New York, tells his own experience. The state has saved a lot of money through this kind of activity, where hundreds or thousands of drug addicts have been freed from their addiction:
We specialize in desperate cases and will reject no-one, although we worked at first only with teenagers. Those who need help come to us voluntarily, usually when they have lost all hope. (...) We simply believe in God's power of breaking the Shackles of habit and also making the Victory thus achieved last through faith. I'm not interested in whether other professional organizations fighting drug addiction accept my method or not. I know that drug addicts accept it. I challenge anyone in the world to bring a hundred people cured from drug addiction to the same event, as we have done. As of yet, nobody has responded to this challenge. We can present to you thousands of former drug addicts who were completely freed from drugs and filled with the power of God. (30)
What about STDs? They are mostly due to the fact that our society does not respect the teaching that sex is only right between a man and a wife in marriage. Therefore, in light of this, premarital sex, cheating on a spouse and homosexual sex are wrong(1 Cor 6: 9,10: Know you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not Deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor Thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortionists, shall inherit the kingdom of God.). However, sexual misconduct also has financial consequences. For example, the medical treatment of one AIDS patient costs around 20,000 euros per year (31). In addition, there are other costs, so it is not exactly a cheap treatment. Homosexual sex (men) is especially harmful in this sense. Although thousands have marched for this issue, and we understand that people's choices should be respected, this issue also has an impact financially. For the unfortunate fact is that a very large percentage of sexually transmitted diseases are spread through homosexual relationships. Professor David Deming has written on the subject:
The fact that two-thirds of cases of syphilis and AIDS concerns one percent of the population clearly shows that homosexuality is not a safe choice ... I am disturbed by hypocrisy. Many ardent supporters of the homosexual agenda condemn opponents of mandatory vaccinations. They remind us that vaccinations serve the common good by reducing disease. But they do not accept that the reduction in homosexuality achieves the same goal ... We are constantly told about the costs of gun violence, smoking and obesity. What are the costs of homosexuality? How much does it cost to treat syphilis, AIDS and a whole host of other diseases? What price do we have to pay for the fact that syphilis, which was almost defeated, has now been allowed to spread again? (32)
Family life and when it breaks down.
- (Matt 19:3-9) The Pharisees also came to him, tempting him, and saying to him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? 4 And he answered and said to them, Have you not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, 5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall join to his wife: and they two shall be one flesh? 6 Why they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder. 7 They say to him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorce, and to put her away? 8 He said to them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say to you, Whoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, commits adultery: and whoever marries her which is put away does commit adultery.
- (1 Cor 7:39) 39 The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband lives; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord.
- (Mal 2:14-16) 14 Yet you say, Why? Because the LORD has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously: yet is she your companion, and the wife of your covenant. 15 And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And why one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. 16 For the LORD, the God of Israel, said that he hates putting away: for one covers violence with his garment, said the LORD of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that you deal not treacherously.
When it comes to the costs to society, many of them are caused by wrong lifestyles: crime, alcohol, tobacco, drugs, unhealthy food or sexually transmitted diseases (e.g. the medical treatment of one AIDS patient costs around 20,000 euros per year. In addition, there are other costs). It is good that society can help people who are connected to these things, but surely it is more reasonable that each of us strives to change our lifestyles in the right direction. It will be much cheaper and people themselves will benefit from it. What about family life and human rights? If the Christian faith is genuine, it should affect these areas as well. That's what happened in the first centuries of the Christian faith. For example, in ancient times, child abandonment, child marriages, the unsafe status of female widows (just as in India they have even burned female widows) and slavery (in Greece, slaves were approx. 15-30 percent of the members of society) were common, but these customs and things gradually disappeared under the influence of the Christian faith. The Bible and the Christian faith had a positive impact on the lives of many groups of people. What about modern times? If the Christian faith is genuine, it should affect everyone's attitude towards the permanence of marriage. If a person respects the teaching of the Bible, he tries to do his best for his marriage. But what is the trend? Even a century ago, there were only a little over a hundred divorces a year in Finland; now almost every second marriage fails. When there is a loss of respect for the teachings of the Bible, such as the permanence of marriage, the tendency is this. However, the breakdown of family life has major financial consequences. If, for example, children are marginalized, it will be expensive for society (EteläSuomen sanomat reports 31.10.2010: Institutional care for children and young people will soon cost a billion, Children's problems have escalated drastically since the beginning of the 1990s... Institutional care for one child costs up to 100,000 euros per year.../ Likewise Aamulehti reports on 3/3/2013: A marginalized young person costs 1.8 million. If even one is brought back into society, the result is positive.). In addition, the more families break up and the more incorrect models are favored, the more housing allowances, subsistence allowances and other subsidies have to be paid to correct the situation. This is shown by the following news. On the other hand, if the teachings of Jesus and the apostles are followed in these areas, it should have the opposite effect, i.e. families do not fall apart so easily and do not need the support of society.
Divorce is costly for manyEconomist Pasi Sorjonen of Nordea Bank wonders why the financial impact of divorces is not discussed much even though divorces are very common and the financial impact caused by a divorce can be great for the people involved. A study by Nordea Bank suggests that a divorce can lower the living standard of a family even more than unemployment. It is a very extensive social phenomenon: almost half of marriages now end in divorce. "Divorces are very costly to the society," says Executive Director Heljä Sairisalo of the Finnish single-parent family association. (Newspaper Etelä-Suomen Sanomat, 25 January 2011)
The rate of giving allowances is accelerating in Finland… Housing allowance is being paid at a more and more rapid rate. In November Kela paid public housing allowances for over 93 million euros, when the same amount last year in November was a little under 87 million euros and in the year before that it was 65 million euros. The total sum of the money that goes into public housing allowances has doubled in the 21th century.. (Newspaper Etelä-Suomen Sanomat, 8 January 2017)
What is the Christian faith about? The impact of the Bible and the Christian faith on society has been discussed above. As a result, many useful things have been obtained. That is if there had been no Bible and Christian faith, there would have been less social justice in societies, worse living conditions, and lesser understanding of the human value. In addition, there would be more selfishness. However, the core of the Christian faith is not social projects, but a relationship with God and the forgiveness of sins. Social projects are useful only for this life, but the forgiveness of sins extends beyond this life. How can a person be forgiven of their sins then? Put simply, it is through Jesus Christ. This is the central teaching of the Bible and the New Testament, and it was also taught by the Reformers. It does not require deeds or our own merits, as everyone can receive immediately the forgiveness of sins. Therefore, take a step of faith towards Jesus Christ and allow yourself to be reconciled with God! Jesus said in His time (John 5:39,40): ”Search the scriptures; for in them you think you have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And you will not come to me, that you might have life.” If you are serious, you can also pray for salvation, for example, as follows: ”Lord, Jesus, I turn to You. I confess that I have sinned against You and have not lived according to Your will. However, I want to turn away from my sins and follow You with all my heart. I also believe that my sins have been forgiven through Your atonement and I have received eternal life through You. I thank You for the salvation that You have given me. Amen.” References:
1. America's God and Country - Encyclopedia of Quatitions, p. 227. Toim. William J. Federer. Amerisearch, Inc. 2000. 2. The Rt Hon Michael Alison MP & David L. Edwards, (toim.): Christianity and Conservatism, p. 337-338, Hodder and Soughton 1990. 3. Matti Korhonen, Uusi tie 6.2.2014, p. 5 4. Rodney Stark: The victory of reason. How Christianity led to freedom, capitalism and Western Success. New York, Random House (2005), p. 233 5. Vishal Mangalwadi: Kirja, joka muutti maailmasi (The Book that Made Your World), p. 181,182,186 6. Usko, toivo ja terveys, p. 143, Risto A. Ahosen artikkeli 7. Vishal Mangalwadi: Kirja, joka muutti maailmasi (The Book that Made Your World), p. 285,286,292 8. Vishal Mangalwadi: Kirja, joka muutti maailmasi (The Book that Made Your World), p. 236,237 9. Vishal Mangalwadi: Kirja, joka muutti maailmasi (The Book that Made Your World), p. 72,73 10. Rodney Stark, (2004), p. 172 11. Mysterium Cosmographicum 12. The Correspondence of Isaac Newton, toim. H.W. urnbull & J.F.Scott & A.R.Hall & L. Tilling. 7 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 3:233 13. Tapio Puolimatka: Viisauden ja tiedon aarteet Kristuksessa, p. 364 14. The Wisdom of God manifested in the Works of Creation, 1691 15. James Hannam: The Genesis of Science: How the Christian Middle Ages Launched the Scientific Revolution 16. Vishal Mangalwadi: Kirja, joka muutti maailmasi (The Book that Made Your World), p. 265 17. David Bentley Hart: Ateismin harhat (Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and its Fashionable Enemies), p. 65 18. Lennart Saari: Haavoittunut planeetta, p. 104 19. Ramachandra, Vinoth, Gods that Fail, Carlisle: Paternoster Press 1996, 216 20. Malcolm Muggeridge: Jesus Rediscovered. Pyramid 1969. 21. P. Cousineau: Conversations with Houston Smith on the spiritual life, p. 259 22. Jukka Norvanto: Raamattu elämään, Alussa 1 Moos 1-5, p. 34 23. D. Aikman: The Delusion of Disbekief, p. 168. Carol Stream, Illinois.: Saltriver. 24. Uuras Saarnivaara: He elivät Jumalan voimassa, p. 289 25. Mariano Grondona: A Cultural Typology of Economic Development, in Culture Matters, ed. Lawrence E. Harrison and Samuel P. Huntington, p. 54,55 26. Loren Cunningham / Janice Rogers: Kirja joka muuttaa kansat (The Book that Transforms Nations), p. 95 27. K. P. Yohannan: Haaste, joka lähtee sydämestä (Revolution in World Missions), p. 130,131 28. Rabindranath R. Maharaj: Gurun kuolema, p. 190 29. Carl-Gustav Severin: Rohkeasti täysin raitis (It Is Never Wrong To Be Totally Sober), p. 100 30. David Wilkerson: Kukkaislapsia löytöretkellä (Purple-violet Squish), p. 9 31. Heikki Peltola, infektiotautien professori Hus Lasten ja nuorten sairaala, Helsingin sanomat mielipidepalsta 2.3 32. David Deming: The Gay Agenda and the Real World, American Thinker, December 19, 2015.
Read how the Christian faith has improved human rights and conditions of people
The Ten Commandments under analysis. The Ten Commandments are a good foundation for conduct. By following them, crime and most of the problems will remove from society
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Jesus is the way, the truth and the life
Grap to eternal life!
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Read how the Christian faith has improved human rights and conditions of people
The Ten Commandments under analysis. The Ten Commandments are a good foundation for conduct. By following them, crime and most of the problems will remove from society
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