Who knows why Christian civilization can lead the world?

Among the popular religions in the world, Christianity is undoubtedly the religion with the largest number of followers and the greatest influence. What's more worth mentioning is that people in most powerful countries in the world still believe in Christianity, and Catholic countries mainly include France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and South American countries. Protestantism is mainly distributed in Britain, Germany and some Nordic countries, while Orthodox Christianity is mainly concentrated in southern and eastern Europe. On the other hand, America is special. The northern part of the country is dominated by Protestants, because it was originally a Puritan, while the southern part is dominated by Catholics, because it was originally a colony of France and Spain. In other words, the countries leading the world are all countries with Christian civilization. We might as well look at history. Ancient Greece is the birthplace of western civilization, as well as the hometown of philosophy and art. Science and philosophy were born in the cradle of Greeks, and parliamentary democracy was also brewed in the cradle of ancient Greece. Greece became the most civilized representative in the world at that time because of its rationality and democracy. After tens of thousands of Greek troops defeated hundreds of thousands of bloody Persian troops, they became more and more proud, feeling that human reason can measure everything and their own needs can become any action. Since then, ancient Rome has become the most powerful empire. But when such a developed ancient Roman civilization met Christianity, it first resisted and persecuted Christians. But with the fermentation of time, all the civilians and emperors actually believed in Christianity. At the beginning, it was three illiterate Galilean peasants who preached in ancient Rome. This incredible miracle really happened. In fact, the essence of human civilization is inseparable from Christianity! From medieval Gothic architecture to Roman church, the concept of law was established, which gave birth to the embryonic form of modern civilization, from the brilliance of human nature in Renaissance to classical music in 17 and 18 centuries, from architecture and sculpture in Renaissance to industrial revolution in 19 centuries. From the British election chapter to the French Revolution, from the founding of the United States to the development of modern science, these inspirations all come from the Bible, such as The Last Supper written by Leonardo da Vinci, Genesis, The Last Judgment and Sculpture of David left by Michelangelo, Ode to Joy composed by Beethoven, and Newton's research on the laws of the sports world. No wonder Newton, the greatest scientist of mankind, spent his whole life trying to prove the existence of God. Why is Christian civilization so powerful? This is closely related to the rational spirit of Christian civilization. If a theory wants to convince westerners who are so rational and love to talk about logical reasoning and dialectics, it shows the accuracy of this theory. Christianity stresses love, self-discipline, equality, hope, faith and justice, which just makes up for the deficiency of democracy and rationality in ancient Greek civilization. A human society, as long as the driving trajectory is the same and the traffic laws and regulations are the same, can minimize traffic accidents! In fact, the Christian Bible is about the rules and regulations of being a civilized person. Very scientific, very rational, very delicate and very loving! What are the principles of the Bible? Not average, but "justice, equality, fraternity, democracy and rationality"! And this has been regarded as the highest value of human civilization! The idea of Christianity stands at the highest end of human civilization! Without lofty realm, nothing will be achieved in the end. As Jesus said, "whoever has, give it to him, so that he may have more;" No, even what he has will be taken away. "The more you pursue practicality, the more you get nothing; You don't seek practicality, but pursue the truth of God with all your heart, and everything will be given to you. God is really wonderful. When you pursue truth rather than practicality, the actual effect will come to you. When you pursue utility wholeheartedly, you may not pursue anything practical. Einstein engaged in the study of relativity. He didn't expect to be used He just wants to understand the nature and mystery of the universe through this research. Results Relativity changed the world, and now nuclear technology comes from his famous mass-energy conversion formula e = MC square; When the Wright brothers tested the plane, they didn't expect that the plane could transport people and goods and become an important means of transportation in the world, making today's world a global village. The Wright brothers didn't expect to get this patent and make a fortune. What they long for is that people can fly freely like birds. They just want to play. We China people have been pursuing practicality for a long time. What have we caught up with? Counting, from electric lights, telephones, computers, televisions to toilets, they are all practical, and none of them were invented by China people. The "Four Great Inventions" are simply self-deceiving jokes. 5/kloc-papyrus existed in ancient Egypt 0/00 years ago, and the manuscript of Homer's epic in ancient Greece 2,800 years ago is still there. Movable type printing was invented by a priest in Gutenberg, Germany, in 1450. Printing with seals was still used in China in the late Qing Dynasty. So, to some extent, we can say that the road of civilization is the road of Christian communication history! If the Bible originated in Israel on the east coast of the Mediterranean, together with the crescent-shaped area in Mesopotamia, it is the cradle of the oldest human civilization, and then the center of civilization moved to ancient Greece, ancient Rome, and then to western Europe in the Frankish kingdom, and now it moved to the United States and Europe, especially the United States, which is now the center of the world, and the United States is also the most devout Christian country, this is not a coincidence, but a necessity! At that time, both the Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire had beliefs, which strengthened their position as the center of world civilization. At the same time, the Gauls in western Europe and the Germans in northern Europe were extremely barbaric, but missionaries made the later Frankish kingdom in western Europe a country with faith. Naturally, the Frankish Kingdom became the torchbearer to carry the torch of human civilization. Nordic savage pirate countries such as Denmark and Sweden stopped being pirates after they had faith. There used to be so many kings who wanted to unify Europe by force, but today Europe has used the same currency and elected the president and foreign minister of the European Union, because all European countries believe in Jesus and democracy. Let's take a look at other more civilized and developed Asian countries: some of South Korea's greatest presidents, such as Kim Dae-jung and Lee Myung-bak, are Christians, and most of their nationals were Christians; President Ma Ying of Taiwan Province Province is also a Christian; Singapore is gradually becoming Christian, and once it truly moves towards democracy and believes in Jesus, Koreans will often have world-class exchanges and biological research results, which shows that South Korea has truly become one of the leaders of world civilization! Studying the religion and economy in Europe, we can find that the market economy developed after the reformation in Europe has created more material wealth than the whole history of civilization in a short time, and promoted the unprecedented development of productivity and social culture. However, why is the market economy and even the whole modernization process produced and developed in Protestant countries, and then it is the most developed in Protestant countries? For this interesting and meaningful question, the encyclopedic modern social scientist Max 6 1 Weber made an important discovery by comparing the spiritual and cultural temperament of the major nationalities in the world and studying their relationship with social and economic development. A basic condition of market economy is the accumulation of capital, which requires capital holders to accumulate money or wealth, invest in enterprises and expand reproduction, rather than squandering and eating them up. In daily language, this basic condition is frugality or frugality, which is an important part of the ethical spirit and cultural temperament that Protestantism should cultivate. When talking about Protestant ethics, Weber said: "The supreme goodness advocated by this kind of ethics-making as much money as possible, is combined with strictly avoiding impulsive enjoyment of life ... making money economically is not subordinate to people who meet their material needs." In this way, the so-called "asceticism" ethics of Protestantism provides the basic conditions for the development of market economy. The so-called "frugality" is not only to invest money, but also to have real professionalism, which is a basic part of Protestant ethics. Weber once summed up the relationship between "professional thought" and the "core doctrine" of Protestantism: "The only way of life allowed by God is to fulfill the responsibilities and obligations entrusted to people by their status in this world. This is his unshirkable responsibility. " Therefore, "labor must be regarded as an absolute self-purpose and a vocation". Moreover, "individuals are responsible for their bounden duty-it is the most representative thing in the social ethics of bourgeois culture, and in a sense, it is the fundamental foundation of bourgeois culture. "This concept of' responsibility' is self-evident, and it plays a positive role in a market economy that requires' division of labor and cooperation' and' professionalism'. When talking about the significance of labor necessary for market economy, Weber said: "Only labor, not leisure and pleasure, can increase the glory of God." Moreover, "God is more willing to do everything in his own way and actively fulfill his will". Therefore, "people must persevere in hard physical or intellectual labor". Even in dealing with sexual temptations that degrade people, "the prescription used to resist all sexual temptations is the same as the prescription used to resist religious skepticism and moral shamelessness, that is,' loyalty'". In a word, both historically and theoretically, Christian civilization deserves to be the leader in the development of world history. Civilized countries are often Christian countries. What should China do? A man of insight is not difficult to judge.