Joseph: A Story of Love, Hate, Slavery, Power, and Forgiveness

by John C. Lennox

They ascribe the success of the West hitherto to six principal ideas: Christianity, optimism, science, economic growth, liberalism, and individualism. These, they aver, have suffered a century of sustained attack, and now where cynicism, pessimism, and carelessness abound, a drift toward collective suicide is evident. Their take on Christianity is fascinating: Christianity comprised one overarching belief. . . . The overarching belief was that God became man, lived, suffered, died and rejoined the divine realm. This wonderful news moved humankind and God together. . . . As a result the whole course of human history and the potential fate of everyone on earth, shifted immeasurably for the better. “The Logos became flesh and dwelt among us,” revealing God’s infinite love for human kind. Because of this single event, the eternal became historical, the divine became personal, and individual lives—even those of quite unexceptional ordinary folk—became supremely important. All men and women could access the divine nature, the Spirit of God could dwell within them.4