Jesus Christ: The Most Influential Figure of All Time

Monia Earl

Professor Sherman

ENGL 1301-2802

9 March 2016

Jesus Christ: The Most Influential Figure of All Time:

Regardless of religious affiliation, it is hard to disagree that Jesus Christ could be the most influential figure of all time.  Before his life began, people told of his coming; during his life, people followed him much in the way society follows current leaders; in his death and thousands of years later, he is still talked about.

To be considered the most influential figure the established criteria considers influence, impact on society, materials in print, discussions, studies and research projects. Others that may be included are presence in media and longevity. Research suggests Jesus Christ is the most influential figure of all time based on these criteria.

It seems that, regardless of religion very few doubt his existence. People of all faiths acknowledge him, only disputing his role as a Messiah. The Jewish faith believes he existed, the Muslim faith acknowledges him, and scientists swear they have found remnants of his burial shroud.  Christians believe he was the Messiah, born to save humanity and offer eternal life.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records the best-selling book of all time is the Bible, It was written over 2000 years ago details the prophecies about him before his birth. It says even Wise men traveled great distance to welcome him into the world. In times when cars and internet did not exist, his coming must have been big news to have traveled so far. This same book details many years of his life as a prophet leading what might have been thousands of people to believe in his religion and his God.  In his lifetime, he influenced followers to turn their back on what are now consider Pagan religions such as Greek gods or those worshipped by the Romans.  Now 2000 years after his death, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media are flooded with images asking for people to type “amens”. (Martinez) There are also millions of people who follow his teachings and try to live a life as the Bible says Jesus did.

 It cannot be disputed that his influence is the driving factor behind millions of lives. Everywhere you look, there are reminders of his teachings.  A charity donating time to feed the homeless can be traced back to a story in the Bible when Jesus feed many with one loaf of bread. In his lifetime he practiced abundant acts of kindness and gave selflessly even though he had nothing of material value.  Many quotes that people model their behavior come directly from his words.  There are countless buildings dedicated as places to worship him. A simple search on goggle using his name Jesus Christ turns up 168,000,000 results (google.com). There is no other figure in history that commands as much influence as Jesus Christ. One must make note of the influence he has had over history.  His birth converted many to the “New Way” without it we would have a history based on the Jewish faith (Whitt).  Those who became the first believers changed the lives of their descendants for eternity (Whitt).  Without him in history, we would not have the development of the dynamic of A.D and B.C which is how the largest percentage of the population measures time. Jesus has affected how we measure time, B.C. referring to the time before Christ and A.D. reflecting the time after his death (Whitt).  His birth and death also forever changed our calendar with the integration of Christmas and Easter to correlate to pagan holidays; some speculate that this was done to allow Christians to celebrate without fear of persecution.  The common calendar even celebrates days such as St. Joseph’s Day, a day honoring a man who reportedly lived a Christ like life; In addition to several other celebrations on the calendar.