The “Hidden” Benefits of Faith
November 9, 2003
Dear Friends,
The November 10 edition of Newsweek featured the following headline on the front cover: “God & Heath – Is Religion Good Medicine?” On the inside it showed a chart in which longer life expectancies could be correlated to the number of times you went to church in a week. The average age of death for someone that did not attend church was 75, a person that attended once per week was 82 and one that attended more than once per week was 83. Just beside it was another chart saying that churchgoing promotes a healthier lifestyle. Churchgoers smoke less, are less depressed, get more exercise and don’t drink as much. I call information such as this a BFO (Blinding Flash of the Obvious). Guess what other “amazing” things you’ll find out if you do the research? Serious Christians have much lower instances of certain diseases such as AIDS, syphilis and genital herpes. They very seldom are drug addicted, drive while intoxicated, are involved in organized crime or get into fights. The “astounding” thing is that all of this translates in to a longer life just as God told us it would. “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.” (Ex 20:12)
Let me preempt the next series of BFOs from the national news media and share with you the other benefits of true Christianity:
How about a cover story entitled “God and Children – Can the Bible Help Us Raise Our Kids?”
On average, the children of serious, Bible-based believers will be better behaved, happier and do better in school. Believe it or not, the Bible has the keys to successfully raising children, not Dr. Spock. The children of these people have lower instances of out of wedlock pregnancy, drug use, profanity, alcohol related problems and the like. There is nothing like getting a child to read the Bible to get them off to a good start academically. There is also nothing like showing them the love that God has for them to give them a healthy self-esteem and respect for their teachers and peers. Kids that have been raised on the commandments of Christ have a strong moral compass that will serve them well against the vagaries of modern humanistic society.
Another “incredible, but true” cover story could be “God and Marriage – Can True Christianity Solve Marital Problems?” An “amazing” statistic is that there is a interrelation between believing in the Bible and the divorce rate. As incredible as it may sound, the more a couple believes in the Bible as the inspired word of God, the less instances there are of divorce. What possibly could that relationship be? Perhaps it is the command of Jesus, when speaking on divorce, he said “What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” (Mark 10:9) Researchers will also find that these same people follow more traditional martial roles and have lower instances of infidelity. Hmmm, could be a news story.
We will suggest one more headline, “God and Happiness – Is There a Connection?” People tend to associate happiness with sin and worldly pursuits. If I can just get a prettier girlfriend, then I will be happy. If I can just get that new car, then I will be happy. The truth of the matter, which this article could share with the dumbfounded world, is that “more and better” is not synonymous with happiness. There is a correlation between happiness/contentment and godliness. People who are seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness tend to be happier regardless of their predicament.
Despite what the editors of periodicals like Newsweek may think, this is not new news. It is, however, the Good News.
Have a great week!
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