We stand, at this time, on the brink of a great abyss, a chasm that yawns before us deeper and wider than the Grand Canyon. We teeter on the brink of this place, not knowing the consequences of our actions. If we were to look and find a sign somewhere near the edge of this canyon, we would find one bordered in black with scarlet letters that would bear the inscription “There Is No Christ.” Kyle Butt spoke of this same place:
…Jesus Christ has had an enormous impact — more than anybody else — on history. Had He never come, the hole would be a canyon about the size of a continent. Christ’s influence on the world is immeasurable… Whatever Jesus touched or whatever He did transformed that aspect of human life. Many people will read about the innumerable small incidents in the life of Christ while never dreaming that those casually mentioned “little” things were to transform the history of mankind. (Butt, Kyle and Bert Thompson, “Jesus Christ — Unique Savior or Average Fraud? Part II,” Reason and Revelation, 21(3), 22)
Influence is defined as, “The power to produce effects, especially indirectly or through an intermediary; the condition of being affected; one exercising indirect power to sway or affect; to modify” (Kauffman, Liz, ed., Webster’s Dictionary and Thesaurus, 144). We live in a time when people in general are denying Jesus Christ, not just those who deny him with their mouths, but also those who deny him with their words and with their deeds. There are many who would claim that they believe in Jesus Christ, but their actions do not follow. Perhaps the reason why some do this is because they are not fully aware of the consequences of a world without Christ.
It is not hard to see what the world without Christ would be like; we need only look at the way the world was before his incarnation. The histories of the ancient world bear witness to what the world was like before Christ. Even the so-called “sages” were nothing compared to Christ:
The difference between Jesus and the great sages is so radical and fundamental, that comparison ceases. Cicero, who, with all his excessive vanity, was one of the noblest and purest of old Roman characters, confessed that he never found a perfect sage in his life, and that philosophy only taught how he ought to be if he should ever appear on earth. It is well known that the wise men of Greece and Rome sanctioned slavery, oppression, revenge, infanticide or exposure of infants, polygamy, concubinage, and worse vices; or, like the avaricious and venal Seneca, belied their purer moral maxims by their conduct. (Schaff, Philip, The Person of Christ, 45)
Imagine with this writer for a moment what this world would be like. In the world without Christ, there lives a boy that is eleven years old. His name is Paulus. He lives in a city in Macedonia that is under the domination of the Eastern Empire.
His father is a brutal man, whose only care is for the satisfaction of his own selfish will. His mother is this man’s Wife Third. He has grown up with his half siblings that have managed to survive despite the uncaring nature of those who brought them into the world. Let us explore the world without Christ from Paulus’ point of view.
Paulus got up in the morning and left his house where his mother and her co-wives live. As he walked on the streets of the city, he stepped over the small bodies of the children who had been thrown away the night before. As he made his way toward the temple of Jupiter and looked about him, lying upon the streets in various places were the city’s beggars. Wrapped in whatever rags they could find, they lie there waiting for the opportunity when someone would walk by that they might accost them and show them the reasons of their infirmities and hopefully, by that, receive something that they might continue to live.
Paulus arrived at the temple where his duties included cleaning up after the sacrifice. To this place, many would come to bring their offerings that they might be healed of their illnesses, that they might be able to find a way to continue in this life as long as they could. Although a small boy, Paulus understood why these people came to this place. He understood that they, too, like him, were frightened of the idea of death. For he knew that there was nothing afterward. He had seen too many times the bodies lying in the streets. He knew that no one would care if he too were gone from this life. He knew that, while his mother might act like she was grieving in order to gain attention, she would be grateful for the lifting of the burden placed upon her that his absence would affect. Paulus knew something else: the sacrifices did not really work. He had heard the priest joke about it. Every day, day following day, he would attempt to live his life in such a way as best he possibly could.
Paulus is a child without hope, only knowing what he must do in order to fill his belly, that he might live another day, day following day, with nothing to look forward to. You see, Paulus lives in a world where Christ is not.
In another place, a place not the product of imagination, another child wakes in the morning. He can hear the sounds in the kitchen of his mother and father talking. He can approach the place where they are, with their heads bowed at the breakfast table. He can hear the name “Christ” within the prayer that his father leads. He can know that when the prayer is concluded, his mother will turn to him and show him the affection that he would expect. He takes it completely for granted that his parents go through life in the certainty of life after death. He takes it completely for granted that they live their lives according to a certain code of rules. He takes it completely for granted the love that they have for one another and for him. You see, this other boy lives in the real world where Christ is. Modern-day skeptics who deny the reality of Jesus Christ do so at their own peril. Wilbur Smith quoted an unknown writer:
…when skeptics can find such a place ten miles square on this globe, where the gospel of Christ has not gone and cleared the way and laid the foundation and made decency and security possible, it will then be in order for the skeptical literati to move thither and then ventilate their views. But so long as these men are dependent upon the religion which they discard for every privilege they enjoy, they may well hesitate a little before they seek to rob the Christian of his hope, humanity of its faith, in that Savior who alone has given to man that hope of life eternal which makes life tolerable and society possible, and robs death of its terrors and the grave its glooms. (Smith, Wilbur, M., Therefore, Stand, 32)
The influence of Jesus Christ upon the lives of all humankind on this earth is beyond the scope of man’s full understanding. While we may imagine what the world would be like without Christ, truly we cannot grasp the entire idea. Let us take a few moments and imagine some of the differences that there would be. Let us think about what the world would be like where our character Paulus lives.
In the world of Paulus, there are no benevolent hospitals. There is nowhere that a person may go who is sick or injured, where he might be able to find the care and compassion of other human beings to take care of them. If they have no money, no one will care for them out of Christian duty and dignity. If they are unable to care for themselves, they will be cast aside as useless members of society, for after all, if no gain can be gotten of them, what use are they anyway? A man named Rogers once wrote of a world without Christ, in which he is overwhelmed with horror at the realization of what it would be like:
Then it was that Rogers realized that if Christ were not, the schools, the hospitals, the orphanages, the missions, and many other of our twentieth century benevolent institutions would all perish, and this lawyer cried out that he would not want to live at all in a world where Christ were not. (Baxter, Batsell Barrett, “This and That — What If Christ Were Not?” 470)
In Paulus’ world, there is no mercy in war or peace. There is no man with a red cross on his arm that the wounded can cry out to in time of war. There are no heroes from the other side who will come and care for you. There is no American that will save the life of a German, no German who would save the life of an American. There is no Christianity.
In Paulus’ world, women are objects to be used. They are useful to have around for the gratification of the stronger sex. They are easily possessed, for after all, what value is a woman? They are things of convenience, things that one likes to have around, for after all, who wants to have to take care of his own work? There is no Savior to raise womankind to a position of respect.
In Paulus’ world, the poor are useful. The poor can be used for testing of new drugs or for gladiatorial entertainment. Sometimes, at a good slave auction, one might be able to pick up three or four young girls to use around the house. Why would we need any type of machinery when people are so cheap? It is easy to take care of hazardous waste in the time of Paulus; for you simply send the undesirable element of humanity, which is anyone weaker than you, to do that type of work. It doesn’t matter if they get sick and die cleaning up the mess. After all, you can just buy more.
By far, the blackest part of Paulus’ world is that there is no hope. There is no appealing to the better nature of a man’s character, for there is not one. There is no hope that people will see that something is wrong and turn away from it, because nothing is wrong. There is no desire to make the world a better place for no one knows what that means. Truly, the world where Paulus lives is a bitter, dark and horrid place. What a difference Christ has made: “It has been said that Christ changed the course of the River of History and lifted the centuries off their hinges — a stirring verbal tribute that is quite apropos, considering the evidence” (Butt and Thompson, 22).
Let us look now at the place where the other child lives, this is the place where Christ is. In that world, the people who wear the Red Cross are there to reach out to those who need it. There are those in that world who do what is right, for in that world, right and wrong truly exist. There is an objective standard by which things are measured. They are the very words of this One that we call the Christ.
In this world, there are those who stand outside the places where children are killed and scream, “Wrong!” and “Murder!” and “Stop!” In this world, where this other child lives, there are those whose hearts break to hear of people who don’t have enough to eat. Not only are their emotions affected by this tragedy, but because they are the children of Christ, they reach for their wallets as well.
In this world, where the other child lives, there are places to which one can go where someone will say to them, “I will give you clothing. Come. Be sheltered under my roof. Please, take some of my food.” This is so because they are the children of Christ. Not only that, not only will they ask that you partake of the things that are necessary for the body, but they will also say to them, “Come. Hear about my Savior. Let me tell you why you need not fear death. Let me tell you how to live a life in hope. Let me tell you how to live a better life.”
The influence of Christ upon the lives of these people, that abiding peace, that never-changing joy that comes from the Christian life, is something that they freely share, in the knowledge that the world is a better place because of the influence of the glorious One called Jesus the Christ. For in this world, even in times of war when man’s greatest desire seems to be to slaughter one another, the time comes when, under the banner of that Holy One, there are those who seek to bring peace. There are those who go out into the battlefield and, under the storm of gunfire and artillery, bring back enemy soldiers to the safety of the dugout, to the field hospital where they are taken care of and administered to just as their own. This is because in this world, Christ is watching and that same glorified One who has come and taught us all the things that are good in this life commands us that we love our enemies. Where else, under whose flag, under whose star, where is there ever such a One as Christ?
As we consider the two worlds, the world of Paulus and the world of the other child, let us reflect on what would happen if the world of the other child were to change. What would happen if, in the world of the other child, people began to forget Christ? What would happen if those who followed him no longer believed him? What if they were not willing to accept what he taught? The world would slip; it would change; it would become the world of Paulus.
As you stand upon the brink of the abyss and you consider the two worlds, as a Christian think on this: the world under the influence of Christ, as difficult as it sometimes is, is a far better place than it would have been if Christ had never come. However, imagine this: the other child is your child; you are the people in this story. Christians everywhere, please, remember to take the Gospel into all the world. The influence of Christ continues through us, and unless your fondest wish is for your child to grow up in Paulus’ world, please, preach the Word.
The fact remains that we can lose what Christ has given us. “Without Christ man could not be saved, but not only that, man would slip back into paganism and barbarism” (Baxter, 472). Anyone who doubts this possibility need only watch the evening news. As the world in general continues to get worse, we should heed the words of Daniel Lapin who wrote in his book America’s Real War:
The educational bureaucracy expects the state to accommodate every possible bizarre cultural mutation and lifestyle, but finds prayer at graduation an intolerable and fatal compromise of state neutrality toward religion. Those of us who venerate freedom, be we Jewish or Christian, be we religious or secularized, have no option but to pray for the health of Christianity in America. No other group possesses both the faith and the numbers sufficient to hold back the ever-encroaching, sometimes sinister, power of the state. (Dobbs, Buster, “Potpourri Irrational Fear,” Firm Foundation, Volume 115, Number 11, 32)
Mr. Lapin is Jewish. Even those who are not Christians can see the profound influence that Christ has had upon the world. More startling than that is that they can see the danger that we face if we turn this world into one in which Christ is not.
The Christian life is one that contains duty. That duty includes converting others to Christ. The only thing that can keep the world from slipping into a new Dark Age is the knowledge of Jesus Christ. The Great Physician yet heals a sick and dying world. As Phillip Schaff said:
Not for all the wealth and wisdom of this world would I weaken the faith of the humblest Christian in his divine Lord and Savior; but, if, by the grace of God, I could convert a single skeptic to a childlike faith in him who lived and died for me and for all, I would feel that I had not lived in vain. (Schaff, 124)
