Who is the most influential person in history?

[MERIZoC]

Then why isn't Mary the most influential? After all without her there would be no Jesus. Or why not Mary's mother? And so on and so on.

the capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of someone or something, or the effect itself.

Then we're back to square one, in which Jesus didn't actually influence modern Christianity much.

[Anadarsia]

More of the "Paul invented everything" stuff....
Paul was a contemporary of the Apostles who knew Christ best. If Paul's idea were so off the wall, why was he accepted so readily by the Apostles?

Not to mention that Paul of Tarsus became the apostle of the gentiles only after having witnessed a theophany that changed his previous past as a Judaic prosecutor of Christians. Yet he's the source of all of Christianity, in direct opposition to what he expresses in his own epistles. People will seemingly do anything they can to deride Jesus Christ for no apparent reason. Almost feels like an emotional hangup.

[Uxupox]

Then we're back to square one, in which Jesus didn't actually influence modern Christianity much.

Seems pretty clear to me he inspires every Christian.

[Italios]

In that case, we should really be thanking Mary for giving birth to Jesus

I disagree, though. If someone creates a type of shoe that is unheard of to everyone except a small group of people that wears the shoe, they are clearly not influential enough to be called the "most" influential in the fashion industry. However, if a fashion icon decides to start wearing that shoe and the trend catches on, who really was responsible to the shoe's rise of popularity and influence on later designs inspired by the shoe? Products, ideas, and indeed religions, depend on someone to spread them for influence.

The inventor of the shoe would be the most influential no matter what.

If the shoe never caught on, the inventor would have no influence. If Christianity never caught on, Jesus would have no influence. I'm not denying that Jesus shaped the core foundations of Christianity, and thus created an appeal to the religion, but Jesus himself did not make it spread.

[MERIZoC]

Then we're back to square one, in which Jesus didn't actually influence modern Christianity much.

Seems pretty clear to me he inspires every Christian.

Does he? I know of plenty of Christians who don't follow the teachings of Jesus.

[Aclion]

I'm going to go with Hammurabi.

[Uxupox]

Seems pretty clear to me he inspires every Christian.

Does he? I know of plenty of Christians who don't follow the teachings of Jesus.

They still do it in his name because in essence they believe in him no matter how wrong they are in their teachings.

[USS Monitor]

Do you know there is more history than just the last 100 years?

We have had more technological advances and population booms in the last 100 than the prior 2000.

He was born in the right place at the right time.

No, you have not had more technological advances in the last 100 years than the prior 2000. Knock off the generational chauvinism, whippersnapper. And get off my lawn. The population boom began in the 19th century due to improvements in logistics and food preservation (steam power, canning, etc.) which made the food supply much more reliable -- but even then, I think it would be unfair for the 19th century to claim all the credit since we were building on a chain of previous developments that started with Jethro Tull (not the band) inventing the seed drill and a population bottleneck caused by a plague outbreak doing weird things to the 17th century English economy.

[New Scario]

Seems pretty clear to me he inspires every Christian.

Does he? I know of plenty of Christians who don't follow the teachings of Jesus.

The main schtick of Christianity is that none of us are perfect and that we are all sinners and are bound by nature to defy God ever since Adam and Eve did.

[Jumalariik]

Then we're back to square one, in which Jesus didn't actually influence modern Christianity much.

What?

I don't know how you can say this without laughing. A significant majority of Christians believe that whenever they have communion they are bringing Jesus Christ himself back. That's pretty influential.

[Italios]

Whoever invented instant noodles. Yum!

bad for your health so no

Not really how it works (though you guys were both joking). People have been moaning about Hitler's influence because he did more than "just kill people." We basically all agree he is somewhat influential today, so clearly bad =/= non-influential.

[Jumalariik]

Seems pretty clear to me he inspires every Christian.

Does he? I know of plenty of Christians who don't follow the teachings of Jesus.

So? They're still Christian. Name me another group founded by a single person that 2.2 billion people are part of.

[MERIZoC]

Does he? I know of plenty of Christians who don't follow the teachings of Jesus.

They still do it in his name because in essence they believe in him no matter how wrong they are in their teachings.

Then we have moved away from people and into ideas.

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

bad for your health so no

Not really how it works (though you guys were both joking). People have been moaning about Hitler's influence because he did more than "just kill people." We basically all agree he is somewhat influential today, so clearly bad =/= non-influential.

Instant noodles keep US college students alive. Sort of. Whoever invented them influences that, every semester so, there.

Now kindly rub my belly.

[United Provinces of Atlantica]

Obviously Jesus was influential, but most Christian teachings came from Paul, with historical evidence (e.g., the various New Testament apocrypha) showing that Paul's view of Christianity was merely one among many; and even so modern Christian doctrine as accepted by most denominations was largely standardized at the Council of Nicaea roughly 300 years after Jesus' life, which was formed at the behest of Constantine who in many ways led to the acceptance of the Trinity throughout the Christian world.


The only account of Abraham is in the Bible, and the historical accuracy of the Bible is highly dubious.

More of the "Paul invented everything" stuff....
Paul was a contemporary of the Apostles who knew Christ best. If Paul's idea were so off the wall, why was he accepted so readily by the Apostles?

Multiple Gospels were (allegedly, mind you) written by various Apostles that disagreed with Paul's teachings, Gospels that later became apocryphal. The large Gnostic and Jewish Christian movements in the 2nd and 3rd centuries simply cannot be ignored, for they provide an excellent insight into Christian movements that were strongly opposed to both Pauline and even more specifically Nicaean Christianity and could have certainly won out and today be widely-accepted across the globe.

[Italios]

Then we're back to square one, in which Jesus didn't actually influence modern Christianity much.

What?

I don't know how you can say this without laughing. A significant majority of Christians believe that whenever they have communion they are bringing Jesus Christ himself back. That's pretty influential.

Was it Jesus himself who made communion popular and told people to model the communion ceremony after the Last Supper?

[Jumalariik]

They still do it in his name because in essence they believe in him no matter how wrong they are in their teachings.

Then we have moved away from people and into ideas.

No. If we compiled your forum posts into a book and started teaching you to be God and people used your posts as the book to rule their lives and everybody for 2 thousand years was in some way effected by those posts you would be the most influential person ever.

[New Scario]

We have had more technological advances and population booms in the last 100 than the prior 2000.

He was born in the right place at the right time.

No, you have not had more technological advances in the last 100 years than the prior 2000. Knock off the generational chauvinism, whippersnapper. And get off my lawn. The population boom began in the 19th century due to improvements in logistics and food preservation (steam power, canning, etc.) which made the food supply much more reliable -- but even then, I think it would be unfair for the 19th century to claim all the credit since we were building on a chain of previous developments that started with Jethro Tull (not the band) inventing the seed drill and a population bottleneck caused by a plague outbreak doing weird things to the 17th century English economy.

Hitler's influence doesnt just come from what he directly created. It also comes from his timing.

Get out of here, you boat.

[New Scario]

Not really how it works (though you guys were both joking). People have been moaning about Hitler's influence because he did more than "just kill people." We basically all agree he is somewhat influential today, so clearly bad =/= non-influential.

Instant noodles keep US college students alive. Sort of. Whoever invented them influences that, every semester so, there.

Now kindly rub my belly.

Ill be consuming 50x more Ramen in short 8 months from now.

[Collatis]

Does he? I know of plenty of Christians who don't follow the teachings of Jesus.

So? They're still Christian. Name me another group founded by a single person that 2.2 billion people are part of.

Mark Zuckerberg comes pretty close.

[Jumalariik]

So? They're still Christian. Name me another group founded by a single person that 2.2 billion people are part of.

Mark Zuckerberg comes pretty close.

Lolno.

[New Scario]

So? They're still Christian. Name me another group founded by a single person that 2.2 billion people are part of.

Mark Zuckerberg comes pretty close.

HA

[USS Monitor]

The Nazis numerous tech advances, although for the wrong reasons, helped shoot us forward by many many many decades.

Not really. Many of the technological advances during WWII were on the Allied side. For example, nuclear weapons and radar. Considering there was technological development on both sides, I see little reason to give Hitler credit for the technological advancements that occurred on the Nazi side. The scientists making the inventions are the ones who deserve the credit. Their work would have been possible even if they were working under different leadership.

[MERIZoC]

Mark Zuckerberg comes pretty close.

Lolno.

You asked.

[Ainin]

Mark Zuckerberg comes pretty close.

Lolno.

1.8 billion active monthly users.

Which I bet is a larger number than the amount of people that regularly attend Mass.