So wonderful to consider just how the Word of God has impacted this dark world. God's Word there has been, is and shall never be anything like it.
Again great information for tools in sharing the faith as well.

I bought this book at a library bookshelf for $0.25 more as a joke than anything else. Filled with silly circular logic like
"I know the Bible is the inspired work of God because Jesus told me." Mmmkay? But, what I did appreciate was a collection of quotes and now cliches that originate in the Bible, very interesting.

I have learned so much!

This book has helped me learn about the Bible and how it has affected history. I will be reading this book again.

Very enjoyable. A history lesson interwoven with Christians from the past. There were many details I never knew. Eye-opening.

This was a good book. It was about how much impact the Bible was had on recorded history and how it still affects us today.
I've always known that the Bible has had a major impact on humanity, I just didn't really realize how bug this impact is. This book helped me understand God's Words affect on the world.

Very little in this book is sincere and genuine, without blatantly dishonest tactics intended to mislead readers. The Bible is miraculously cohesive over 1400 years and 40 authors? Ignoring the lack of cohesion (vengeful vs. merciful, etc.) then why not point out the Council of Nicaea, which chose the books to be included and the books to be excluded? And there are many examples of things that are dishonest, from insinuating that the lack of Bible readings in public schools is the cause of illiteracy, to claiming that modern science is only possible with Christianity, which ignores the brilliant scientific and mathematical discoveries that came from Arabic scholars while Christianity was wallowing in the Dark Ages.

I'd love to read a book that challenges my understanding of the Bible, but this book isn't it. If your truth is dependent on assumptions, confirmation bias, and confusing correlation with causation, then it isn't truth at all. And frankly, if the Bible is the Word of God, then it shouldn't take such convoluted reasoning and 'dirty' logic tricks to try to make it fit reality.

Great Book a must read.

"Had Jesus never come and the New Testament never written, the vast majority of humankind would know nothing of The Old Testament. It would just be the sacred writings of a wandering and obscure nation. Instead, because of Christianity, both the Old and New Testaments, with their higher codes of morality, have now gone out into all the world!"

[NOTE: This review was originally written in September of 2006]

I should have done this review several weeks ago but I kept procrastinating. Soon I will be finished with one of my current books and will have to review that one. OK so a while back I read the book What If The Bible Had Never Been Written? - by D. James Kennedy & Jerry Newcombe.

This book was somewhat enjoyable, and very informative, however, it reads like a boring school text book. It has a large notes section at the end with all the bibliographical information on the sources of the facts. Unfortunately many of the references are other works by the authors especially this books companion book "What if Jesus had Never Been Born?." The back of the dustjacket has some reviewer quotes and praises for the book. One of them indicated that when confronted with skeptic's comments about The Bible not being true and it doesn't matter you can hit back with this book. Unfortunately skeptics who read this book will not be convinced, and probably will ask even more questions or become more skeptical.

Author James Kennedy is a Presbyterian Minister in Southern Florida and his co-author Jerry Newcombe is a senior producer for Kennedy's televised sermons so it is obviously going to have a Christian point of view slant. I think this will help Christians and those seeking more information on Christianity more than it will answer questions from skeptics. The main focus of the book is how the Bible and Christians have influenced society and in many cases contributed to major historical events and scientific break-throughs. Many of the people discussed I didn't know had been Christian or had been influenced by Christian beliefs and the Bible. It also gives a pretty decent history of Christianity so its not a total waste of time. The writing style is very stale, as I said, it reads like a boring school text book.

One section of note is at the beginning of chapter five which deals with how the Bible has influenced politics. When Jesus tells his disciples "You are the salt of the Earth" Kennedy goes on to explain that salt is a preservative to keep good things from going bad. He says "The followers of Christ have in face proved to be, more than anyone else, the preservatives of decency and morality in the world." Many non-Christians may disagree with that, and try to twist it to say the complete opposite.

Well if I had to rate this book I'd give it only a 2.5. I think it works better as a reference book than as a source of entertainment.

I reviewed this book on my blog http://klandersen.blogspot.com/ "A Recent Read Number 5"

This book opened my eyes to the tremendous influence and usefulness of the bible in every area of our daily lives.