History Is Paved With Christianity
Nathan Guy, in an article for Christianity Today titled, “Some of Christianity’s Biggest Skeptics Are Becoming Vocal Converts” writes…
"Tom Holland did not set out to defend Christianity. As a historian of the ancient Greek and Roman world, Holland assumed that faith was a relic—useful once, perhaps, but now intellectually unnecessary. Then history began to argue back.
Immersed in the brutal moral universe of the ancient world, Holland noticed something unsettling: the values he instinctively cherished—human equality, compassion for the weak, dignity for the suffering—were utterly foreign to pagan antiquity. In Rome, power defined worth. Mercy was weakness. The strong ruled; the weak endured.
And yet Holland felt those ancient assumptions were wrong. But why?
The answer, he discovered, was Christianity. The idea that the poor matter, that suffering can be redemptive, that every human life has infinite value—these were not self-evident truths of reason. They were historical consequences of the cross.
In 2016, Holland publicly admitted he had been wrong about Christianity. While he stops short of a traditional conversion narrative, he returned to church and confessed that, morally and imaginatively, he was “thoroughly Christian.” Secular humanism, he realized, was living off borrowed capital—Christian ethics detached from Christian belief.
Holland’s journey reminds us that Jesus does not merely shape private devotion. He reshaped civilization itself. Even those who deny him often reason, hope, and protest injustice using categories he introduced. Sometimes the road to Christ runs not through emotion, but through history—when the evidence becomes too strong to ignore."
Isn’t it ironic that many of those who protest Christian values, who try to marginalize Christianity, who speak out for godless ideas and affirm godless morality do not even realize that were it not for Christianity they would have no such perverse freedoms? Remind them that they can’t do in Iran, Syria, Russia, or China just to name a few, what Christian values have enabled them to freely do in America.
Community Prayer for the Nation… May the 7th is the National Day of Prayer. Ridgecrest has been asked to host a city-wide prayer gathering on Wednesday, May 6th at 6:00 PM in our worship center. Churches from all over the area will gather. As a result, we will have no other events going on that evening and I am asking for the RBC family to be a part of this night of prayer for our city, state, and nation. Let us remember the words of 2 Chronicles 7:14 “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
Let’s be those people knowing that our nation is certainly in need of healing. And remember, God is always trying to take us someplace new. I love being your Pastor!
For God’s Glory Alone,
Pastor Ray
"Tom Holland did not set out to defend Christianity. As a historian of the ancient Greek and Roman world, Holland assumed that faith was a relic—useful once, perhaps, but now intellectually unnecessary. Then history began to argue back.
Immersed in the brutal moral universe of the ancient world, Holland noticed something unsettling: the values he instinctively cherished—human equality, compassion for the weak, dignity for the suffering—were utterly foreign to pagan antiquity. In Rome, power defined worth. Mercy was weakness. The strong ruled; the weak endured.
And yet Holland felt those ancient assumptions were wrong. But why?
The answer, he discovered, was Christianity. The idea that the poor matter, that suffering can be redemptive, that every human life has infinite value—these were not self-evident truths of reason. They were historical consequences of the cross.
In 2016, Holland publicly admitted he had been wrong about Christianity. While he stops short of a traditional conversion narrative, he returned to church and confessed that, morally and imaginatively, he was “thoroughly Christian.” Secular humanism, he realized, was living off borrowed capital—Christian ethics detached from Christian belief.
Holland’s journey reminds us that Jesus does not merely shape private devotion. He reshaped civilization itself. Even those who deny him often reason, hope, and protest injustice using categories he introduced. Sometimes the road to Christ runs not through emotion, but through history—when the evidence becomes too strong to ignore."
Isn’t it ironic that many of those who protest Christian values, who try to marginalize Christianity, who speak out for godless ideas and affirm godless morality do not even realize that were it not for Christianity they would have no such perverse freedoms? Remind them that they can’t do in Iran, Syria, Russia, or China just to name a few, what Christian values have enabled them to freely do in America.
Community Prayer for the Nation… May the 7th is the National Day of Prayer. Ridgecrest has been asked to host a city-wide prayer gathering on Wednesday, May 6th at 6:00 PM in our worship center. Churches from all over the area will gather. As a result, we will have no other events going on that evening and I am asking for the RBC family to be a part of this night of prayer for our city, state, and nation. Let us remember the words of 2 Chronicles 7:14 “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
Let’s be those people knowing that our nation is certainly in need of healing. And remember, God is always trying to take us someplace new. I love being your Pastor!
For God’s Glory Alone,
Pastor Ray
Posted in Shepherd Talk
Recent
Archive
2026
February
March
2025
May
June
August
September
October
2024
February
April
May
August
No Comments