I'm guessing that what you are getting at here is -- Christianity led to America and America led to airplanes and computers ??

Somehow I'm not making the leap with you from Jesus to high pressure aluminium.

- our world would most likely still be flat.
- our thinking and technology would be slower
- no WWII giving us jetengine
- no high pressure aluminum for jetplanes
- no computers
- poor medical knowledge

- the middle east would most likely be more advanced than us

I suspect that some similar religion would have come along. And eventually one with an incarnation myth. We may have had worse wars. Hard to say. Resources and population growth..the greed of those who can start wars without having to fight them. And also this: in times with worse nutrition and medicine, a death on the battlefield was a clean out, that payed well (in some cases) compared to the alternative. Just thoughts.

Just for the record, Greek astronomers and navigators had theorized that the Earth was spherical about 600 BCE.

Yes indeed, just sad that "might makes right" thus the Pope could dictate nonsens ..as usual.

7skullz et al,
Do you think that Christianity brought a significant moral influence to the world for good? I.e. has Christianity had an overall positive impact on the world? It certainly has been used for evil enough times (crusades, slavery, suppression of women's rights).

Coming from someone who has been actively involved in studying Patristic Theology, Mystical Theology and other ancient Christian-related literature, the answer, from a CHRISTIAN, Biblical perspective, is: the same thing that happened.

The reasoning is simple: if you thumb through the Old Testament, you will find certain "prophets" that hint at the coming of the Messiah - the Messiah being the Theanthropo or God-Man, Jesus.

The problem, however, is not to be found in the Old Testament - seeing as Jewish are generally unanimous in their theological orientation. To answer your 'What IF..." question in a more succinct manner, I suggest you read (about) the early Christian literature - which contains HUNDREDS of documents that DO NOT agree with the general "orthodox" conception of Christianity. As a matter of fact, there is a Gospel of Judas wherein Judas and Jesus had PLANNED everything beforehand....

Pretty shocking, right?

All "Christians" that you'll stumble across have pretty much adopted the Nicene version of Christianity; that is: they adopted the Nicene Creed. There have ALWAYS existed and still DO exist different, ANCIENT, pre-Niece versions of Christianity: see Coptic Orthodox, Ethiopian Orthodox, Nestorian Church of the East, and etc. There were, at one point, Gnostic Christians, which, unfortunately, have been driven to extinction by "orthodox" Christianity.

Interesting stuff I tell you....