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If you live on this planet, the odds are about one in three that you are a Christian.<\/p>\n
The most populous religion on earth, Christianity is necessarily also one of the most diverse, spanning continents, cultures and races in a kaleidoscope of colors, beliefs and practices as multifarious as the world itself. Yet within the very many divisions, sects, branches and schools that profess Christendom, there is one common denominator\u2014an individual who lived 2,000 years ago, the details of his life of which are scant and scattered, of whom we have no contemporary likeness come down to us from which we can glean any clue as to his appearance; and from which we have nothing written by the man save something unknown that he scrawled on the sand while confronting the Pharisees who sought to trap him.<\/p>\n
And though his ideas may have been expressed before in the Old Testament and elsewhere in different words, and though the words themselves may have lost some of their impact with repetition\u2014\u201cLove your neighbor as yourself,\u201d \u201cYe shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free,\u201d \u201cCome unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest\u201d\u2014they are still the most quoted words in the world.<\/p>\n
What Jesus said may not strike us with the thunder that made those who heard them from his lips exclaim, \u201cNever spake man thus!\u201d But rather, it was propelled by the concept, then as well as now, that the pure and infinite love that the Creator has for mankind reminds us that there is a divine spark even in the lowliest of us.<\/p>\n
The great gift of Christianity is the extraordinary idea of a God possessed of such abundant love for humanity that to know Him, one need only receive that love and then unleash it in turn on the world\u2014turn the other cheek, love your enemy, give your coat to he who needs it.<\/p>\n
Christians did not invent organized giving\u20142,500 years earlier, Hebrews established the practice of tithing for the poor\u2014but the multitudes through the ages\u2014individuals giving to charity; churches, monasteries and convents collecting it; colleges and hospitals endowed by it; and other non-profits of all types, sizes and missions\u2014all of whom seek to emulate the example of Jesus as described by the Apostle Peter: \u201cHe went about doing good,\u201d\u2014the sheer volume of avenues for lovingkindness as established by Christians and their organizations is quite literally uncountable.<\/p>\n
Moreover, Jesus\u2019 directions to his flock to love everyone unconditionally and without editing have spawned great movements\u2014civil rights, non-violence, freedom\u2014often led by people of faith, Christian and non-Christian alike. Gandhi, as well as Dr. King, took much of his inspiration from the Jewish carpenter of so long ago.<\/p>\n
And that is the great gift of Christianity\u2014then and now: taking God\u2019s love and turning it into a force for good so powerful and encompassing that it embraces the whole world and all of us in it.<\/p>\n
For other articles in this series, see The Gifts of Judaism<\/a>, The Gifts of Islam<\/a> and The Gifts of Scientology<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n