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OUR
CHRISTIAN HERITAGE
by
Peter Hammond
On
one of my overseas ministry trips an in-flight documentary
caught my attention. Some anthropologist was waxing eloquent
about the “incredibly advanced Mayan civilization”
of Central America in the 15th Century. They didn't have
a written language, but they were “incredibly advanced.”
Preferring
Paganism?
These Mayans built spectacular pyramid like temples - all
without the wheel! Of course they did use slave labour to
move all those massive stones, but the slaves were captured
from neighbouring tribes!
Unfortunately,
these impressive temples were used for human sacrifices.
The human sacrifices were necessary to make the Sun rise
each day! But they only used slaves and prisoners captured
from neighbouring tribes!
None
of this seems to have dampened the enthusiasm of this anthropologist
as he eagerly described the “amazing”, “complex”
and “intricate” Mayan civilization. They had a
“fascinating” sport which was a cross between
our basketball and football, although you could only use
your shoulder to score “a goal.” Unfortunately
the losing team were all put to death!
And
so it carried on. I could only wonder at what mental and
ethical gymnastics this anthropologist and film presenter
could do in order to praise the “incredibly advanced
Mayan Civilization” which had not yet discovered the
wheel, did not have a written language, used slave labour,
engaged in human sacrifice and routinely executed the losing
sports teams!
During
a recent visit to a museum I saw a similar display of reverence
for paganism. Part of the exhibit included the cover of
an old Time magazine cover “Lost Tribes – Lost
Knowledge”. The cover picture was of a primitive tribesman
from Papua New Guinea with a bone through his nose. The
sub title read: “Treasure troves of scientific knowledge
are being lost by tribes going extinct.”
I
wondered what scientific knowledge would be possessed by
tribes without a written language, but closer examination
revealed that these tribes were “going extinct”
because of the work of Christian missionaries! As these
tribes are evangelized and come to Christ they abandoned
their old tribal religions of head hunting, cannibalism,
spirit worship and polygamy. To the “scientist”
the tribes were “going extinct” because they no
longer walked around naked and no longer engaged in body
scarification, tattooing and body piercing! Now they wore
clothes and glasses, went to the doctor instead of the witchdoctor,
had schools, were learning to read, only married once and
worshipped in Church!
Being
somewhat ignorant of the science of anthropology I would
have thought that ending inter-tribal warfare, cannibalism,
polygamy and occultism was good. I would have also assumed
that giving people the gift of literacy, medicines to improve
their health and extend life expectancy, improving people's
sight with glasses and bringing them the life transforming
Gospel of Jesus Christ was all preferable to allow them
to languish in superstition, ignorance and animistic fear.
But
NO! As National Geographic articles bemoaning the “cultural
genocide” of New Tribes Mission, and other pioneer
missions in the Amazon jungle, have pointed out, these missionaries
are destroying “the cultural distinctives” of
unique tribal cultures.
Apparently,
it is preferable to have illiteracy, polygamy, incessant
tribal warfare, cannibalism, human sacrifices, slavery,
high infant mortality and low life expectancies - not to
mention people dying without the knowledge of Christ - just
so that journalists and anthropologists can have the more
interesting, and financially lucrative, photo ops of naked
savages engaging in body scarification and the eating of
their neighbours.
“For
although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God,
nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile
and their foolish hearts were darkened.” Romans 1:21
Before
the advent of Christianity almost every culture practised
slavery and human sacrifice even the highly esteemed Greek
and Roman civilisations.
In
the great Roman Empire, abortion was rampant and abandonment
of unwanted babies was commonplace. In Ancient Rome, unwanted
infants were (legally) abandoned outside the city walls
to die of starvation or exposure or from wild animals. Infanticide
was not only legal, it was applauded. A father had the legal
right to kill his children, to marry them to whomsoever
he pleased, or to sell them as slaves. The Greek philosophers
Plato, Aristotle and Socrates lived in, and accepted, a
culture which practised slavery and human sacrifice and
glorified paedophilia (sexual abuse of children).
When
missionaries went to nineteenth century China, they discovered
that baby girls were routinely disposed of by being put
out as food for wild dogs and wolves. “Baby towers”
were common, where unwanted babies were left out to die
of exposure and starvation, or to be eaten alive by birds
of prey. Some towns had “baby ponds” where unfortunate
infants were thrown. Tragically this pagan practice of infanticide
has made a comeback under Communism. In Red China every
family is restricted to one child. Abortions have been forced
upon women when they conceive any more children beyond their
quota of one. China also has had a record number of stillbirths.
Often baby girls have been drowned in a bucket of water
or strangled at birth by parents who would prefer to have
a son.
Child
sacrifice was common amongst the pagan religions. Fertility
cults such as those who worshipped Baal and Asherah, the
Ammonites who worshipped Molech and the Phoenicians who
worshipped Kronos all practised child sacrifice.
The
Aztec Empire in Mexico and the Inca Empire in Peru engaged
in slavery, ritual rapes and mass sacrifice. Slaves were
marched up the stairs of the pyramid-type Inca temples in
the Aztec Empire. At the top a priest would rip out their
beating hearts – one by one.
One
writer who expressed appreciation for the positive impact
of the Judeo-Christian emphasis on the sanctity of life
came from an unexpected quarter. Jerry Adler of Newsweek
(6 /11/1995) wrote: “The Gods Must be Hungry”
in response to the uncovering by archaeologists of a 12-year-old
girl sacrificed by the Incas five hundred years ago. He
expressed outrage at the tendency amongst anthropologists
to justify barbaric practices such as the ripping out of
beating hearts from human offerings by Aztec priests. He
quoted the following example of intellectual detachment:
“A Tulane University anthropologist has written about
ritual killings: 'within the context of [Aztec] culture,
it all made sense. The sacrifice of human blood, and particularly
the heart, was necessary to make the Sun go around every
day. It ties in to their stories of creation and myth. It
was part of the cultural tradition'.” Adler went on
to note: “ 'The Highest Altar' writer Patrick Tierney
documented the prevalence of human sacrifice in cultures
from almost every part of the world.” Adler's article
concluded: “The religious tradition of the West begins
with a great renunciation of blood offering, when Abraham
put down the knife and unbound Isaac. And it proceeds through
the glorious sacrifice on Calvary, when God Himself offered
up His Son to redeem the world. Modern people know better
than to think that the Sun needs a fresh heart to rise each
day, or that natural disasters can be bought off with corpses."
“Suttee”–the
burning of widows on the funeral pyre of their husbands
– was common when missionary William Carey arrived
in India. Yet with perseverance he succeeded in having that
vile practice outlawed. It was the tireless work of Christian
missionaries like Anna Bowden, Mary Slessor and Amy Carmichael
which saved tens of thousands of abandoned children. They
raised them in their own homes or orphanages. And it was
the persistent work of Christians which outlawed abortion,
abandonment and infanticide, first in the Roman Empire,
then throughout Europe and America.
Similarly,
slavery was eradicated as a result of the tireless efforts
of Christians such as William Wilberforce, David Livingstone
and General Charles Gordon. Respect for life and liberty
are a fruit of Christianity. Those promoting abortion, euthanasia
and pornography are not offering us progress, but only a
return to pre-Christian paganism.
Most
in our society do not seem to realise how much we owe to
the advent of Jesus Christ. Hospitals as we know them were
an innovation of Christianity (hence the universal healing
symbol of a cross to represent hospitals). The nursing profession
was founded by Florence Nightingale out of devotion to Christ.
One of history's greatest humanitarian movements, the International
Red Cross, was founded by Christians in response to the
Scriptural injunction to care for the sick and suffering.
Christians, such as Dr. Louis Pasteur, have fuelled some
of the greatest practical advances in medicine. More hospitals
have been founded by Christians than by all other religions
combined. The Christian Church has been the supreme (and
often the only) force restraining man's inhumanity towards
man.
The
whole concept of charity was a Christian innovation. The
Church of Christ has done more than any other institution
in history to alleviate poverty and suffering. Before Christ,
benevolence to strangers was unknown. Where the Bible became
known, compassionate and unselfish sacrifice flourished.
Dr. James Kennedy's book “What if Jesus Had Never Been
Born?” documents a wide range of the unparalleled contributions
of the Christian Church.
The
Christian Church has made more positive changes on earth
than any other force or movement in history. Most of the
languages of the world were first codified and put into
writing by Christian missionaries. More schools and universities
have been started by Christians than by any other group.
The elevation of women (from the second class status they
were assigned to by other religions) was a Christian achievement;
as was the abolition of slavery, cannibalism, child sacrifice
and widow burning. Those countries which enjoy the most
civil liberties are generally those lands where the Gospel
of Christ has penetrated the most.
As
Noah Webster, the statesman, educator, and author of Webster's
Dictionary, wrote: “The Bible is the chief moral cause
of all that is good and the best corrector of all that is
evil, in human society, the best Book for regulating the
temporal concerns of men, and the only Book that can serve
as an infallible guide . . . The principles of genuine liberty
and of wise laws and administrations are to be drawn from
the Bible and sustained by its authority. The man, therefore,
who (undermines) the Divine authority of that Book may be
accessory to all the public disorders which society is doomed
to suffer.”
Christianity
gave birth to liberty. Constitutional republics, the separation
of powers, limited government and freedom of conscience
are a result of the Reformation.
It
is the secular humanists who have a heritage of oppression.
The 44 secular or atheistic states have caused the deaths
of over 160 million people in the 20th century alone. The
abuses of human rights, atrocities and massacres in the
Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, Red China, North Korea, Eastern
Europe, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Angola, Mozambique
and Cuba were the inevitable results of rejecting God's
Law. Either men will be governed by God's Law or they will
be ruled by tyrants.
“All
the miseries and evils which men suffer from: vice, crime,
ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery and war proceed
from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained
in the Bible.” (Webster)
We
could also recount the unparalleled contributions made by
Christians in the fields of science, art, education, economics,
civil and human rights and in works of compassion and mercy.
The teachings and example of Jesus Christ have inspired
the greatest acts of generosity, hospitality, self-sacrifice
and service for the sick, poor and needy.
It's
easy for opponents of Christianity to criticise, but what
are our critics doing for the lonely, the widows, the orphans,
the sick, the aged and the refugees?
This
article appeared in the latest edition of Christian Action
Magazine, for the rest of the articles from this edition
please turn to the following link. http://www.christianaction.org.za/christian_action_news/ca_magazine.htm
For the Christian Action website visit http://www.christianaction.org.za
Dr
Peter Hammond
P.O. Box 74
Newlands 7725
Cape Town
South Africa
E-Mail: admin@frontline.org.za
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