The Book That Built the World. A Partial List of the Bible’s Influence on Just About Everything (Part 5 of 5)

We probably couldn’t imagine the civilization we would be living in were it not for the Jews, the Bible, and the subsequent expansion of Christianity. So many people today do not understand the incredible brought to the world through this book of books.

Let’s make a list.

• Monotheism — The concept of one God who is the source of moral law and sacredness in the world. This transcended polytheism and tribal gods.
• Linear time — The Bible depicts history as going somewhere with a beginning and end, enabling a sense of progress. There isn’t an endless circle.
• Objective moral values — The Bible introduced absolute standards of right and wrong based on God’s commands, not just cultural relativism.
• Human dignity — Humans have inestimable worth as creations made in God’s image and objects of divine love. This elevated the family as the means of protecting the family.
• Ethics of compassion — Biblical commands to love one’s neighbor, help the poor and oppressed, and treat our enemies with dignity.
• Human rights — Biblical ideas were foundational in the Magna Carta, Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights. The spread of democracy is based on a base assumption that all people are equally created by and equally valued by God.
• And so much more: Weekends come from the Bible. Hospitals, science, human rights, education, literacy, and laws against slave labor, child abuse, and sex trafficking — all of these were sparked by the light of hope in the Bible.

So the Judeo-Christian Scriptures provided a theological framework, moral vocabulary, and institutional precedents that profoundly shaped Western civilization. Where would we be without it? God only knows.

True, there have been dictators, charlatans, and rogues that have misused the text of Scripture, but those unfortunate incidences do not take away from the overwhelmingly positive influence of the Bible on our life today.