How Do You Explain It?

Last updated on: January 14, 2022 at 5:00 am by Richard E. Simmons III

How Do You Explain It? 2022-01-05T14:34:25-06:00 Richard E. Simmons III

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

It is almost mind-boggling how Christianity and the church survived the first two hundred years after Christ’s departure. The powerful Roman Empire ruled the ancient world and over time they saw Christianity as Rome’s great enemy. They set out to eradicate Christianity from the face of the earth. Not only did they fail to do this, but Christianity eventually thrived and became the official religion of the Roman Empire. The Roman gods were forgotten.

How do you explain this?

Clearly the gospel message penetrated the lives of many. But there was another factor that had a major impact on the Roman world. Sociologist, Rodney Stark, who received his Ph.D. from Berkley has spent much of his life researching and documenting the fact that the church’s engagement with the poor and suffering was crucial to its explosive growth. Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert expound upon this in their book, When Helping Hurts:

It is strange indeed to place the poor at the center of a strategy for expanding a kingdom, but history indicates that this unconventional strategy has actually been quite successful …Cities in the Roman Empire were characterized by poor sanitation, contaminated water, high population densities, open sewers, filthy streets, unbelievable stench, rampant crime, collapsing buildings, and frequent illnesses and plagues. “Life expectancy at birth was less than thirty years – and probably substantially less.” The only way for cities to avoid complete depopulation from mortality was for there to be a constant influx of immigrants, a very fluid situation that contributed to urban chaos, deviant behavior, and social instability.

Rather than fleeing these urban cesspools, the early church found its niche there.

Stark explains that the Christian concept of self-sacrificial love of others, emanating from God’s love for them, was a revolutionary concept to the pagan mind, which viewed the extension of mercy as an emotional act to be avoided by rational people. Hence, paganism provided no ethical foundation to justify caring for the sick and the destitute who were being trampled by the teeming urban masses.

In contrast Stark notes:

Christianity revitalized life in Greco-Roman cities by providing new norms and new kinds of social relationships able to cope with many urgent urban problems. To cities filled with the homeless and impoverished, Christianity offered charity as well as hope. To cities filled with newcomers and strangers, Christianity offered an immediate basis for attachments. To cities filled with orphans and widows, Christianity provided a new and expanded sense of family. To cities torn by violence and ethnic strife, Christianity offered a new basis for social solidarity. And to cities faced with epidemics, fires, and earthquakes, Christianity offered effective nursing services.

God’s kingdom strategy of ministering to the suffering was so powerful that other kings took note. In the fourth century AD, the Roman Emperor Julian tried to launch pagan charities to compete with the highly successful Christian charities that were attracting so many converts. Writing to a pagan priest, Julian complained, “The impious Galileans [i.e., the Christians] support not only their poor, but ours as well, everyone can see that our people lack aid from us.”

A good question to ask is “Why should we feed and care for the poor? How rational is it?”

Science does not tell us to meet the needs of the poor. In fact, it defeats the purpose of natural selection. Shouldn’t we let the weak die out and let the strong survive?

I don’t think anyone really believes this. We recognize that all human beings have great value. The only way that human life can be extolled and held sacred is if God in his divine wisdom created humanity as a reflection of Himself. We are made in the image of God. This is why the early Christians cared for the poor. This is why we today should hold the poor in high regard, they have great value in the eyes of God.

To learn more about the evidence for God that exists, I invite you to read my book Reflections on the Existence of God. The book lays out, in short essays, much of the evidence for the existence of God that is available. We should seek to take the evidence offered and use it to make reasonable conclusions. What you will find is, as the evidence accumulates, it enables us to come to confident conclusions about God. Who He is. And, that He truly is.

Character Development

Leadership

Personal Growth

Seeking God

About Richard E Simmons III

Richard E. Simmons III is the founding director of The Center for Executive Leadership, a faith-based ministry in Birmingham, Alabama focused on counseling businessmen and professionals. His newest book, an Amazon best-seller, is Reflections on the Existence of God – a series of short essays seeking to answer life’s most enduring question: Does God exist? You can read more about the author here.

Previous Post

January 11, 2022

Starting a New Year

Next Post

January 17, 2022 The Loneliness Epidemic

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Character Development Inspiration Leadership Life Purpose Personal Growth Relationships Seeking God Spiritual Truth The Bible True Masculinity Uncategorized Wisdom

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What is the longest Gospel?

Select your answer to see how you score.

John Luke Matthew Mark