What If Jesus Had Never Been Born? Changing societal views on rape

Awhile back I did a series of entries based upon the fantastic book, What If Jesus Had Never Been Born? by D. James Kennedy and Jerry Newcombe which examines how Christ has affected culture in so many different ways. We often take for granted the changes that came about in western civilization since the founding of the early church and today's article that appears in Real Clear Science highlights how Chrisianity affected the prevailing mindset of the world before Christ in regard to forcible rape.

"Helle Møller Sigh, a researcher at the Department of Culture and Society at Aarhus University, has studied the Danish versions of the Norse Laws, which were written down between the 1170s and the 1240s.

“We’re seeing a change in the legislation, in which rape goes from being a violation against the household – the woman’s husband or her father – to being listed as a separate crime which violates the woman,” she says.

“This is in no small way due to the influence of the Catholic Church, which wanted to create a peaceful and civilised society and help the weak, including women.”...

The reason the church was interested in changing the perception of rape was that this enabled it to point out that the crime was a violation against the woman. In this way the church could ensure that the rapist was convicted of the violation, something which made society more civilised.

The church had a ‘peace ideology’. This meant, for instance, that there was a wish to replace the right to take the law into your own hands with a fine system, and that the weak people in society should be helped.

“And of all people, it’s fair to say that women back then were among ‘the weak’,” says Sigh."

How far we have fallen as a society when we take the institution that is historically responsible for elevating the status of women to a level much higher than we typically see in the non-Christian world and accuse it of waging a 'War on Women'© simply for wishing to protect the unborn. Kennedy and Newcombe's book is filled with many other examples of these types of changes that Christianity brought to the world and is a great read if this subject matter interests you.

Happy Thor's Day

I rarely go to the movies anymore being that I find so much of what Hollywood has on offer these days to be complete crap. Nonetheless, me and the Mrs. went to check out Thor this past weekend. It was quite entertaining actually and we both enjoyed it. One little snippet from the film portrays how we supposedly got the name for our fifth day of the week....

"Thor was usually portrayed as a large, powerful man with a red beard, flowing hair, a hearty enjoyment of food and drink and eyes of lightning. Despite his ferocious appearance, he was quite popular as the protector of both gods and humans from the forces of evil. He even surpassed his father Odin in popularity because, contrary to Odin, he did not require human sacrifices. At his temple in Uppsala he is shown standing with Odin at his right side. The 11th century Christian missionary, Adam of Bremen, on noting the great temple of the gods in Uppsala, Sweden, wrote, "Thor, they say, presides over the air, he governs the thunder and lightening, the wind and rains, fair weather and crops... If plague and famine threaten, a libation is poured to the idol Thor." This temple was replaced by a Christian church in 1080.

Thor was the foremost of the gods to the common man, who could call upon him to ensure fertility, and widely worshipped. Hammer shaped amulets, a symbol of Thor because it was his weapon, were worn around the neck well into the Christianization of Scandinavia. There are molds from that time that contain both the cross and hammer shapes, side by side. His name occurs in numerous place names and it was his statue which was central in the great temple at Uppsala. He was associated by the Romans with Jupiter. Donar was an early version of Thor among the Germans. the Anglo-Saxons worshipped a thunder god named Thunor.

Thor has lived on, not as a part of any religion, but on our weekly calender. Thursday (Thor's Day) was derived from this mighty god."

I guess there is truth to this because this information is found at other sites as well. Upon reading this, I was reminded of an earlier entry that I posted which contained the following...

"In A.D. 1020, the Norwegians had their first national assembly in their history. At this gathering, presided over by King Olav, Christianity became law. "At the same time," writes Norwegian historian Sverre Steen, "old practices became illegal, such as blood sacrifice, black magic, the 'setting out' of infants', slavery and polygamy."

So it took the penetrating power of the gospel of Jesus Christ to turn the hearts of the most feirce, warrior like people that Europe has ever known.

What if Jesus Had Never Been Born?: The Rise of Modern Capitalism and the Protestant Work Ethic

In continuing our series on the book What if Jesus had Never Been Born? by Dr. D. James Kennedy and Jerry Newcombe, we find that modern capitalism arose in large part through the efforts of the Protestant church and specifically through the teaching of John Calvin (above). Kennedy-Newcombe go on to cite author and historian Richard Dunn who informs us of the effect of Protestantism on the development of capitalism...

"Was it mere coincidence that the most dynamic businessmen were to be found in Protestant Holland and the most vigorous industrial growth in Protestant England, both states heavily tinctured with Calvinism? Why were the Huguenots [French Calvinist] so prominent in the business community of Catholic France? Or Protestant Brandenburg-Prussia under the Calvinist Great Elector almost the only seventeenth-century German state to exhibit increasing prosperity?" [1]

Indeed, Kennedy and Newcombe state that such writers as Ernst Troeltsch and Max Weber actually "blamed" Calvin for the start of capitalism.

Calvin is credited for transforming the school of thought that was quite prevalent at the time in which money was to be lent without interest. Calvin saw this Biblical admonition as actually classifying usury as the charging of excessive interest and thus lending was instituted that benefitted both the lender and borrower and the world has not been the same since. Kennedy-Newcombe conclude the chapter by saying...

"Accumulated capital or profit is transformed into tools and implements, which seperates the technological [twenty first] century from the poverty of the Middle Ages...

Jesus said that "whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant" (Matt. 20:26). And in the parable of the talents, Jesus said that God has given us certain amounts of wealth, as He has seen fit in His sovereign will, and we are responsible for how we use it."

I only hope that those who are blessed with having more than most will keep in mind that they will be held accountable one day for how they utilize their wealth. It seems that in this day and age, politicians utilize class envy to soak the "rich" and create division when having material wealth in and of itself is not a problem. The political class focusing on the possesions of others and trying to create jealosy to balkanize society certainly is though.

[1] (Source cited by Kennedy-Newcombe), Dunn, Richard S.; The Age of Religious Wars, pg 117, Norton and Company, 1970