Have you thought recently about just how much good Christians have done for the world throughout history?
It was Christians who stopped the gladiator fights back in the Roman Empire. They thought forcing prisoners to fight to the death in front of cheering mobs was evil. That feeding people to animals was not a good sport. Something that apparently had to be explained to the Roman Empire.
It was Christians who ended the raiding of Vikings and barbarians. Vikings would show up in villages around Europe, leaving those who fought against them in some of the most horrifying tortures ever done to humans. Yet Christians went to them and shared the Gospel until they settled down and became civilized.
It was Christians who preserved the works of antiquity. They put the great writings of Rome and Greece into their libraries and monasteries during the dark ages so that they could be recovered centuries later.
It was Christians who ended slavery. But you say, "Christian countries were slave-owning!" Yes, for 300 years, after the Renaissance, they believed the secret to Rome and Greece's success was slavery. The average European never met the slaves that were on their colonies. When Christians like John Newton and William Wilberforce explained how bad the conditions were, they worked to end it. It was not an easy battle, and in places like America it was tough, yet always at the forefront of abolitionism were Christians.
It was Christians who ended eugenics. All the top scientists said that some races were lower than others. Motivated by Charles Darwin's "Origin of the Species" whose subtitle is often forgotten, "Preservation of favoured races in the struggle for survival." They treated people that they deemed inferior terribly. They sterilized them against their will. They did this all over the world. In Japan, Korea, China, Europe, and America. This led directly to what happened in World War 2. Yet who stood up to the madness? Well ask the pro-eugenics side? In Nietzsche's words, Christians were the enemies that constantly helped the poor and slowed down evolutionary progress.
It was Christians who believed women were not supposed to have their feet bound. 1 in 6 women who had their feet bound died in China. And I say women, but they did it to them while they were children. It was Christians who worked to end this terrible practice.
It was Christians who stopped twin killing in North Africa. They were taught it was because the kids were demons if they were born as twins and they were dropped off behind trees to die after being born. But Christians, specifically Mary Slessor, worked to save those children instead.
It was Christians who went around the world sharing the good news and telling people NOT to eat each other. So much of the world that was once inhabited by cannibals no longer is because Christians arrived and shared the Gospel.
It was Christians who believed people should learn to read and championed literacy among the masses. They wanted people to read God's Word so they built schools to teach them.
It was Christians who believed in higher education for their ministers. So they founded Yale, Harvard, Cambridge, Oxford, Princeton, and so on. These schools may be fallen now, but higher education has Christians to thank for its very existence.
It was Christians who created hospitals. In their rush to take care of the poor, they realized it was easier if doctors could meet them in one spot instead of going from place to place.
It was Christians who realized orphanages met the same purpose. Specifically George Mueller, whose impressive orphanages in the 19th century taught the world children shouldn't just be thrown into factory and mine work.
It was Christians who pioneered pretty much all notions of modern charities. Although they often fail to care for those that they are supposed to, the ideas of non-profits and charities that have done so much good for the world through organizations and corporations, again comes from Christian countries.
So much violence ended, so much good given, and yet this world has never said thank you. Even now, it is Christians who are at the edge of the battlefield in debates like abortion and transgenderism and transhumanism. And they will be mocked, scorned, and derided.
And years from now when those battles are over, no one will remember to thank them or give them credit for their fight.
But God sees the battles Christians have won the world has forgotten.
In the meantime, stand strong. You are one of many soldiers in a long war.
If you would like to
