The Christian gospel is a two-way road. On the one hand, it seeks to change the soul of men, and thereby unite them with God; on the other hand, it seeks to change the environmental conditions of men so the soul will have a chance after it is changed. Martin Luther King Jr.

As our friends left last night one of them said. I expect this to be in your blog tomorrow. We talked until 4:30 am, about everything but much of it revolved around, Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life.

We somehow got on the Industrial Revolution and my son said, “we believe the Romans had the knowledge to build steam engines but didn’t. Some believe the rationale for not building steam engines was they were a nation powered by slaves. What was their impetus to change?

The impetus for change according to my son was Christianity and the belief we are created in the image of God. This brought about the push to abolish slavery and to get rid of the Divine Right of Kings.

Our friend loved Jordan Peterson in the beginning but no longer feels the same way. We were trying to understand why and it has to do with atheism. Jordan Peterson asserts “atheists really believe in a God, and act as if they do.” What my son believes this means is, you are allowed to not believe in God and live in Christian countries, because of Christianity.  Christianity has created so much of what we value.  Jordan Peterson asserts that even if you don’t believe in God it is useful to act like you do. What this means to me is everything you need to live a good life is found in the Bible. If you follow those rules, you live a good life, if you live a good life you are more likely to be happy, if you don’t follow the rules you are more likely to fall into a life that seems like hell.

Should we not press it home upon our consciences that the sole object of our conversion was not the salvation of our soul, but that we might become co-workers with our Lord and Master in the conversion of the world? Lottie Moon, Baptist missionary to China (1840-1912)

Christianity brought us the enlightenment of all people being equal – even though it has taken a long time to implement. Slavery is gone from the Western World because of Christianity. Christians became the abolitionists. It was non-conformist Christians that brought us the Magna Carta, and the right to vote. It was Christianity that promoted mass education, democracy, and human rights. It is Christianity that brought us laws to protect the common man.

Christianity has shaped every area of our lives, its influence is so huge we take its heritage for granted and forget that Christianity was the source of this civilization.

It is Christianity that created Alcoholics Anonymous and the 12 Step Program. Believing in a higher power is useful, believing there is more strength to lean on than just our self, allows us to believe we can do things we don’t believe we can do alone. If thinking makes it so, then believing in God even if you can’t prove there is one, is useful. So many people turn their life around when they find God. This falls right into Jordan Peterson’s belief it is useful to believe in God because how can you not feel empowered if you believe “all things are possible through God who strengthens me”?

If we become a secular world and lose our belief in God, what else would we lose?

“Where there is Love and Wisdom, there is neither Fear nor Ignorance.
Where there is Patience and Humility, there is neither Anger nor Annoyance.
Where there is Poverty and Joy, there is neither Cupidity nor Avarice.
Where there is Peace and Contemplation, there is neither Care nor Restlessness.
Where there is the Fear of God to guard the dwelling, there no enemy can enter.
Where there is Mercy and Prudence, there is neither Excess nor Harshness.”
—Francis of Assisi (1181-1226)

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