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Sermon Illustrations
The MOST Influential
Posted by CCC CyberMinistries on Jun 3, 2006, 12:30
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In the Bible Study, The Gentle Art of Influence....
Jeff Dixon began with a powerful illustration of the most influential people in history. The power of the illustration is in the reason that the author did not list Jesus as the MOST influential. Now for many Christians this is just outrageous...however what makes the illustration one that is worth exploring is the reasoning behind the rankings. That is the point that Jeff made during the study. Your arrival at this webpage is to explore the entire report deeper...
Below are some of the notes taken directly from Jeff Dixon's teaching notes...
In addition are a few quotes from the website itself
There are also direct links to the webpage
Finally, there is a brief application of what "followers" should remember
Michael H. Hart's book The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History. In the book, Hart provides brief biographies of each of the individuals, as well as reasons for their ranking.
1 Muhammad (Prophet of Islam; conqueror of Arabia; Hart recognized that ranking Muhammad first might be controversial, but felt that, from a secular historian's perspective, this was the correct choice because Muhammad is the only man to have been both a founder of a major world religion and a major military/political leader.)
2 Isaac Newton
3 Jesus Christ * (Christianity founder of Christianity)
4 Buddha (Buddhism founder of Buddhism)
5 Confucius
6 St. Paul
7 Ts'ai Lun (inventor of paper)
8 Johann Gutenberg
9 Christopher Columbus
10 Albert Einstein
11 Louis Pasteur
12 Galileo Galilei
13 Aristotle
14 Euclid
15 Moses
It is not uncommon for people to wonder why Jesus is not ranked first on this list. As far as the way the list appears on this web page, the answer is simple: We have reproduced Hart's list in exactly the order he wrote it. But it is true that many people, both Christians and secular historians, would have ranked Jesus first on a list of the world's most influential people. Hart said that he himself would have ranked Jesus first, if all the people who today identify themselves as Christians actually followed Jesus’ teachings more substantially. He considers contemporary Muslims more influenced by Muhammad than contemporary Christians are by Jesus.
While I appreciate the idea that Muhammad was both a founder of religion and a political/military leader, he should not displace Jesus Christ. Newton should be third at best. My obvious religious convictions aside:
1. Our dating system is based on Christ
2. 80% of the people in your top 100 were Christian or some sect thereof, not Islamic.
3. For good or bad, many wars have been fought over Christianity.
4. Christianity has mingled with "the state" in hundreds of countries for centuries.
Technically, Muhammad invented a religion somewhat based on Zoroastrianism. It was not very unique, when analyzed. Jesus Christ is the forecasted Jewish Messiah and the founder of the Christian Church. Hard to get more influential than that.
BUT..The telling, almost haunting comment is… Hart said that he himself would have ranked Jesus first, if all the people who today identify themselves as Christians actually followed Jesus’ teachings more substantially. He considers contemporary Muslims more influenced by Muhammad than contemporary Christians are by Jesus.
Source of list of names: Hart, Michael H. The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History, Revised and Updated for the Nineties. New York: Carol Publishing Group/Citadel Press; first published in 1978, reprinted with minor revisions (reflected above) in 1992.
In the afterword to his book The 100, Michael H. Hart listed 100 runners-up, all of which are listed here. The book's afterword also included brief discussions about ten of these runners-up (about one page each). These discussions include notes about their influence and about they they were not included in the top 100. Hart states that these ten individuals should not be thought of as numbers 101-110 on the list. The ten runners-up discussed are: St. Thomas Aquinas; Archimedes; Charles Babbage; Cheops; Marie Curie; Benjamin Franklin; Mohandas Gandhi ; Abraham Lincoln; Ferdinand Magellan; Leonardo da Vinci. The other runners-up are simply listed, without further details or discussion.
If you want to examine the complete list of 100, the discussion for and against the ranking of Jesus, and commentary aimed at the creator of the website and listing then click the link below
http://www.adherents.com/adh_influ.html
Impact and Application
For Followers of Jesus....we must remember
God has authority over us…
Some recognize that and decide they will try to be better so God will not get them…we know He is God and so there are some things we do or don’t do just because of that authority…
His authority has shaped what we do and what we say
But some have experienced the Divine Influence
Some have decided not just to believe, but to follow
As they have followed they have discovered a depth to a relationship with Jesus that has shaped not only what they do…but what they are becoming…and what they are becoming is transformed and changed…
Hart said that he himself would have ranked Jesus first, if all the people who today identify themselves as Christians actually followed Jesus's teachings more substantially. (What he is really saying…Is that he could not rank Jesus first because those who call themselves Christians don’t rank Him high enough to really follow His teachings)
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