Why You Should Become a Christian: Christianity Changes the World for the Better
I was very ill as a young child. I had a lung
disease that left me breathless after walking a few feet, much more out of
breath when trying to run, climb, or jump. I was thirteen before I began to
grow out of it, but I had been through a lot before then.
My illness always hit me hard when it came time for
PE, physical education, class. That was when we divided up into teams to play
sports.
I was never the first one chosen for the team. I was
usually chosen last. Everyone knew I would have little to contribute. My best
contribution would be just to stay out of the way.
Little League Baseball was and is more than a sport
in Obion County, Tennessee, where I grew up. It is more like a religion.
Parents had a lot to say about the make-up of the teams, and they organized
try-outs.
I tried hard, but I was never picked to be part of
the best team. I always wanted to be part of the winning team.
Christianity offered me the chance to be a part of
the winning team, to be part of the group that will make a real difference in
the world. Christ’s church proves to be a great influence today.
Here are some of the ongoing accomplishments of
Christians making a difference in the world:
Operation Christmas Child impacts over 10,000,000 of
the world’s impoverished children each year with gift-filled shoeboxes.
World Vision, a Christian relief, development, and
advocacy organization, assists more than 70 million children, with families and
communities, to overcome poverty and injustice.
Southern Baptist Disaster Relief serves over 600,000
meals and purifies over 250,000 gallons of water per year for those devastated
by disasters.
Mercy Ships has performed more than 1.7 million
medical services valued at over $670 million and influencing more than 1.9
million people as direct beneficiaries.
Medi-Share has allowed Christians to give more than
$275,000,000 to meet each other’s healthcare needs independent of healthcare
insurance.
Prison Fellowship partners with hundreds of local
churches and agencies across the country to bring Christ’s love to prisoners,
ex-prisoners, and their families.
World Changers uses teams of Southern Baptist youth
to rebuild the homes and the lives of thousands of families impacted by poverty
and tragedy.
These facts do not mention the countless daily
ministries of local churches all over the world that meet the needs of
Christians and Non-Christians alike. What more could you ask of an
organization?
Christ said of His church, “the gates of hell shall
not prevail against it.” I am finally part of the winning team.
The church truly advances the gospel in word and
deed now, not to mention the many things it has accomplished in the past. That fact is an important argument for the
existence of the God of the Bible in itself.
(For more on the accomplishments of the past, see the books What if the Bible Had Never Been Written
and What if Jesus Had Never Been Born,
both by D. James Kennedy.)
Our next post will take us back to the world of philosophy to tackle what many call the greatest argument against the God of the Bible: the existence of evil.
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