 The teachings of Christ are as different, as demanding, as challenging today in this culture as they were 2,000 years ago, and that it would be tremendous tumult were there to be a literal second coming, particularly in a scientific age. And yet the great hope that he was offering was that in a simple relationship of love with God and love with people, the world can be transformed. Abraham Lincoln was once asked why he had never joined any religious institution, and he replied,