What was so good about Western civilization, that it galloped past the rest of the world and achieved great things?
The Bible!
In 2011 Vishal Mangalwadi, a scholar from India who converted to Christianity, wrote a book that brilliantly proves that it was the Bible, God’s Word, and nothing else, that made the West great. With the Red Pope yapping about the obligation of countries with decent, relatively honest governments to stop eating food that ought to go to people living in countries with unspeakably corrupt governments, and the need for some even more corrupt world government to “redistribute” everything, Mangalwadi’s book deserves to be read–and re-read–by, well, everyone.
https://chalcedon.edu/magazine/the-book-that-made-your-world-by-vishal-mangalwadi-review
I reviewed his book in 2012, and it’s high time to revisit it. Sure, it’s a long review: but this book deserves one: The Book That Made Your World, by Vishal Mangalwadi.
Cool, I’ll have to check this book out. I’m not sure if I mentioned it before, but “How Christianity Changed the World” by Alvin J Schmidt is also a good one.
Thanks for posting this, Lee. I bought a Kindle copy and hope to work it into the stack, soon.
Ancient Israel had an advantage over its neighbors, because of The Law of Moses. They didn’t always live up to it, but to whatever extent they did adhere to the Law, they experienced blessings.
Europe developed at an astounding pace once they had the Bible and our Western Civilization has prospered ever since, albeit not to the extent it prospered 50+ years ago.
“Without the Bible, the West’s hard-won freedom has degenerated into a ‘freedom’ to fornicate while paying confiscatory taxes to the state; its science, once based on the observation of nature, becomes ‘Science’ based on man’s manipulation of computer models which he creates himself; and the modern nation-state, once a barricade to would-be rulers of the world, becomes their choice instrument of tyranny.”
Great observation, Lee. This nails it. Sexual immorality has always been a tool Satan loved to exploit, but the Bible protects us from this, if only people will take heed and act upon the instructions the Bible gives on this matter.
I,also appreciate the contrast between someone like Kurt Cobain and someone like Bach. As a music lover and sometimes performer, I am distressed by what has happened to music. Some people can barely comprehend the existence of guitar music without heavy, harsh distortion. The beauty and clarity of the guitar music I grew up loving is all but extinct, these days.
Would Gershwin be able to make a living were he to come along in our day? Would anyone pay attention to Bach, Beethoven or Mozart in the 21st century? I fear that I know that answer to these questions and we are poorer as a culture because of it.
The point here is simple; God gave us a wonderful gift when he provided His written word. He gave us nothing less than true civilization which turned away from slavery, turned away from immorality and all sorts of other bad things and provided mankind with the best life in all of history. I believe with all my heart that mankind will not turn away from our God entirely and that people from every ethnicity will be afforded the opportunity to partake fully in the blessings of God.
I think this is one of those books that grows more relevant, not less, with every passing year.
I agree, and I think that the fact that the Bible’s relevance is coming to light day by day is by design.
Imagine how great America would still be if we had maintained our government “under God, with liberty and freedom for all”?