The 100: The Most Influential Persons in History

Mark(Pastor of Willoughby Christian Reformed Church) introduced passages cited from a book, The 100: The Most influential persons in history(Michael H. Hart), several weeks ago.

Hart, the author of the book, ranked Jesus as third following Mohammed and Isaac Newton. And the reason he arranged so is follows,

‘I am neither a Muslim nor a Christian, but on my observation Mohammed has far more influence in the lives of Muslims than Jesus does in the lives of Christians. And if believers simply took more notice of the teachings of Jesus I would have absolutely no hesitation in placing him the most influential person in the history of the world.’

 

And he added,

‘This idea of Jesus that we are to love our enemies is surely among the most remarkable and original ethical ideas ever presented. If they were widely followed I would have no hesitation in placing Jesus the most influential person in history. But the truth is that these sayings of Jesus and this one in particular is not widely followed – in fact it is not even generally accepted. Most Christians consider the injunction to love your enemy as at most an ideal which will be realized in some perfect world in the the future, but not as a reasonable guide to conduct in the actual world in which we live.’

 

This story reminded me the passages in [Luke 19:40]

"I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."