Are Godless societies "better"?

I don't normally use this blog space to comment on current events. There are just so many crazy things going on in the world that it would be nearly impossible to decide which events were worth comment. But, I have to admit, this one really stretches anything remotely resembling credulity.

This article comes from the London Times paper. The link (just to prove I'm not making this stuff up) is:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1798944,00.html

This article claims that, according to a paper published in The Journal of Religion and Society, Godless societies fare better than those that support the notion of a Supreme Being. Well, read it for yourself. Comments will follow.

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Britain
September 27, 2005
The Times

Societies worse off 'when they have God on their side'
By Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent

RELIGIOUS belief can cause damage to a society, contributing towards high murder rates, abortion, sexual promiscuity and suicide, according to research published today.

According to the study, belief in and worship of God are not only unnecessary for a healthy society but may actually contribute to social problems. The study counters the view of believers that religion is necessary to provide the moral and ethical foundations of a healthy society.

It compares the social peformance of relatively secular countries, such as Britain, with the US, where the majority believes in a creator rather than the theory of evolution. Many conservative evangelicals in the US consider Darwinism to be a social evil, believing that it inspires atheism and amorality.

Many liberal Christians and believers of other faiths hold that religious belief is socially beneficial, believing that it helps to lower rates of violent crime, murder, suicide, sexual promiscuity and abortion. The benefits of religious belief to a society have been described as its “spiritual capital”. But the study claims that the devotion of many in the US may actually contribute to its ills.

The paper, published in the Journal of Religion and Society, a US academic journal, reports:

“Many Americans agree that their churchgoing nation is an exceptional, God-blessed, shining city on the hill that stands as an impressive example for an increasingly sceptical world." In general, higher rates of belief in and worship of a creator correlate with higher rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy and abortion in the prosperous democracies.

“The United States is almost always the most dysfunctional of the developing democracies, sometimes spectacularly so.”

Gregory Paul, the author of the study and a social scientist, used data from the International Social Survey Programme, Gallup and other research bodies to reach his conclusions. He compared social indicators such as murder rates, abortion, suicide and teenage pregnancy.

The study concluded that the US was the world’s only prosperous democracy where murder rates were still high, and that the least devout nations were the least dysfunctional. Mr Paul said that rates of gonorrhoea in adolescents in the US were up to 300 times higher than in less devout democratic countries. The US also suffered from “ uniquely high” adolescent and adult syphilis infection rates, and adolescent abortion rates, the study suggested.

Mr Paul said: “The study shows that England, despite the social ills it has, is actually performing a good deal better than the USA in most indicators, even though it is now a much less religious nation than America.”

He said that the disparity was even greater when the US was compared with other countries, including France, Japan and the Scandinavian countries. These nations had been the most successful in reducing murder rates, early mortality, sexually transmitted diseases and abortion, he added.

Mr Paul delayed releasing the study until now because of Hurricane Katrina. He said that the evidence accumulated by a number of different studies suggested that religion might actually contribute to social ills. “I suspect that Europeans are increasingly repelled by the poor societal performance of the Christian states,” he added.

He said that most Western nations would become more religious only if the theory of evolution could be overturned and the existence of God scientifically proven. Likewise, the theory of evolution would not enjoy majority support in the US unless there was a marked decline in religious belief, Mr Paul said.

“The non-religious, proevolution democracies contradict the dictum that a society cannot enjoy good conditions unless most citizens ardently believe in a moral creator. The widely held fear that a Godless citizenry must experience societal disaster is therefore refuted.”
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Oh, where do I begin?

First off, this article absolutely wallows in one of the primary logical fallacies taught in any high-school-level Logic class: Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc. In English terms, that means confusing coincidental relationships with causes. Post (after) hoc (event) ergo (therefore) propter (cause) hoc (event). Just because one thing occurs before another thing, it is fallacious to assume that the first thing caused the second thing unless you can prove a direct causal link.

Let's apply that to this article. America is a nation that was founded by predominantly Christian people who used Biblical morality to construct the nation's laws and guiding principles. Several hundred years later, America is among the most prosperous nations on the planet, but it is also rife with events that can only be considered Biblically immoral. Therefore, Christianity itself is somehow responsible for the immorality found in America.

Make sense? Of course not. But that is exactly what the first sentence of this article asserts: "religious belief can cause damage to a society, contributing towards high murder rates, abortion, sexual promiscuity and suicide." The only thing glaringly missing is proof of a direct causal link between religious belief and murder, promiscuity and suicide.

This article also boasts: "the study claims that the devotion of many in the US may actually contribute to its ills." Ummm .... and your evidence is? In what way exactly does devotion to God contribute to the nation's ills? That's not said anywhere.

The methodology employed seems to be: lay one thing next to another thing and then assume (without logical evidence) that the first thing is directly responsible for the second thing. If we follow this line of reasoning, we can create all sorts of errant theories. For instance, there were gambling boats on the Mississippi River when Hurricane Katrina struck. By comparison, there are no gambling boats on any river in Wyoming. Wyoming was also not struck by Katrina. Therefore, gambling boats cause hurricanes.

So, Mr. Paul asserts: “The United States is almost always the most dysfunctional of the developing democracies, sometimes spectacularly so.”

So, is there any possibility that it is this social dysfunction that lays at the root of America's moral problems? Or, is he implying that it is America's assumed religious faith that caused the overwhelming dysfunction? If that's his point (at the risk of being redundant), where's the proof?

Mr. Paul would have us believe "that most Western nations would become more religious only if the theory of evolution could be overturned and the existence of God scientifically proven."

His bias is showing. Nonetheless, Christianity is based on emperical, historic evidence and the church of Jesus Christ came into existance when the apostle Peter declared facts (not theories nor conjecture) to the people of Jerusalem who had first-hand knowledge of the very events he was listing. The insistence that faith in God requires scientific proof, when the skeptics have yet to irrefutably prove the "big bang," or show us even one example of any species evolving (eventually or cataclysmically) into a wholly different species, is more than a bit disingenuous.

But, more to the point, I'm afraid this article is written by a person who has observed modern Christendom and is reacting to what he sees. The current emphasis on what God can do for us "here and now" has near-completely overshadowed the Biblical emphasis on faith in Christ resulting in "a better resurrection" and "life eternal." Historic, Pauline, Christian faith promised us adequate provision, peace, and joy in this lifetime, but it never once claimed that any society which contained Christians would be cured of all its ills here and now. This article would have us believe that religion's failure to perfect society is proof of either the inherent powerlessness of religion or the hypocrisy of those who profess faith. But that conclusion operates on the assumption that it is religion's goal and purpose to achieve such perfection.

Christianity is a one-on-one relationship with God; who calls certain people, indwells them with His Spirit, and guarantees their reward in the world to come. But, even during the earliest Israelite history, as they were operating as a Theocracy, it was necessary for God to lay out rules, laws and prohibitions because the heart of mankind is inherently corrupt. And that corruption has not changed.

Societies come and go. Kingdoms rise and fall. Some societies fare better than others by comparison. But, all societies are peopled by sinners. Consequently, sinful things occur in every corner of the world. In wealthy nations, sin may take on a different tone or appearance than in more impoverished areas. But, all mankind remains under the just, holy wrath of a God who knows the darkness that dwells in every person.

So, when we get right down to it, comparing the relative ills of one society with another is a losing proposition. And, blaming Christianity and faith in God for the ills of a society only proves how genuinely depraved we've become.

Fortunately, Christianity offers hope in a sin-sick world. And when Christ returns we will finally witness a society that operates harmoniously. But, we won't see it one second prior.

At that moment it will become inarguably clear that God is the solution --- not the problem.

Doctrine according to Pink

I was recently reflecting on the ministry of GCA. I regularly receive an outpouring of support and encouragement from our listeners and readers. But I also receive the occasional criticism ... or the hateful venting of someone violently opposed to what we teach. Oddly, the most common criticism leveled at GCA is that we teach too much, too deeply, or place undue emphasis on "doctrine." They claim that doctrine is divisive and that it puts a damper on evangelism by making the Bible too complicated. They would prefer that I just said simple, attractive, approachable things about God and then begged people to come accept Him.

But, if we know anything at all from Scripture, it's that we are not merely instructed to speak about God. We must also make certain that we tell the truth about God. Certainly, the conversation between Eve and the Serpent ought to be sufficient to prove that point. Satan is not afraid to speak about God. He's perfectly willing to ask "Has God not said ...?" The problem is that he is also willing to speak lies about God. And that proclevity to speak lies about God continues to permeate much of what is called Christianity.

It's vitally necessary that we use proper discernment when listening to someone speak of God; or worse, claim to speak for God. Everything must be held up to the Bible -- the original source material -- and examined in that light. And the only way we can truly know the value of any person's speech concerning God is to have a firm foundation in Biblical doctrine.

Anyway, I said all that to say that recently a friend sent me a couple of quotes he thought I'd like and I thought I'd pass along this pericope from Arthur W. Pink:

"Of course it is true that doctrine, like anything else in Scripture, may be studied from a merely cold intellectual viewpoint. And thus approached, doctrinal teaching and doctrinal study will leave the heart untouched, and will naturally be dry and profitless. But doctrine, properly received, doctrine studied with an exercised heart, will ever lead into a deeper knowledge of God and of the unsearchable riches of Christ." A.W. Pink

It's true that people can go the rest of their lives avoiding opportunities to dig deeply and urgently into God's word and think that they have some sense of who He is or how He acts. But, that's a false security. The great themes of the Bible, properly explored and expounded, lead us to a grander, fuller realization and appreciation of the One who ever-loved us and who redeemed us "according to the good pleasure of His will."

I will spend the rest of my days on Earth attempting to mine the inexhaustable riches of the revelation God has graciously given His people. And I'm certain I will die feeling that I barely scratched the surface. But to search, to dig, to long for a greater understanding, should be the goal of every Christian. And doctrine -- the plain, brilliant, eternally-consequential teaching found in God's word -- ought to be the hallmark of every Christian church.

Two New Messages

Thanks for your patience. The Sunday morning message - "Unity and Eternal Security" - is now available for streaming and downloading. BUT (as if that weren't enough) there is ALSO a new Romans message avaible. It's R38 Romans 9:30 - 10:17

A few people have asked if the baptism service was recorded. It was not. The facility we were blessed to use did not have any recording capability. On the other hand, a couple of people did video it and, depending on the quality of the end product, DVD's may be available for anyone who'd like to have a keepsake of the evening or view it from afar.

As well, this outreach via the Internet continues to astound me. In the last two days I have received correspondence from both Poland and Belize, Central America. As I've said repeatedly, I never cease to be amazed at how wide an outreach this little church in Smyrna has.

God has been exceeding, abundantly gracious.

Sunday's activities

 
Last night we held a baptismal service up at Sovereign Grace Baptist Church in Nashville, where my good friend Don Tindle is pastor (pictured here). With all of the activity surrounding the morning and evening services, I haven't had time to upload the morning message. I'm hoping to get to that this afternoon, after catching up on several other immediate obligations. So, be patient. It should be accessible sometime Tuesday morning. 

Just One More Service

Along with all the goodies in the chocolate bag, and the "essentials" in the survival kit, I also received a cake that looked like a graveyard, with several magnetic figures (which are now residing on my refrigerator) with titles like "Old Goat" and "Old Croaker." I am also the proud owner of a "spring chicken," who looks like he's nearing death's door. And speaking of death, I was also given a figure of the Grim Reaper (from the Monty Python line of products). All very funny stuff.

Wednesday evening I was presented with a T-shirt emblazoned with the phrase shown here.

Do you think they're trying to tell me something?

This was the Survival Kit I was given at the Sunday lunch in my honor. As you puruse the assortment of products specifically chosen for me, see if you can figure out the underlying message. Yes, that's right. It's "Man, are you old!"

The worst part is, I actually picked several of these things from the bag and thought, "Oh, I can use this."

Anyway, it was my original intention to string several pictures together in a single post to build the humor, but Blogger is being stubborn and Picasa only allows one picture per upload. So, I'll have to post several messages with a picture-a-piece.

The Half Century Mark

Well, it's official. On Wednesday I successfully reached "over-the-hill" status. And, inasmuch as I'm a part of the "never trust anyone over 40" generation, I thought 50 would be fairly traumatic. But, the truth is that I'm pretty comfortable with it. So many things that have eluded me in my younger years are finally becoming clear. And, I figure if Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney can keep touring and recording well into their 60's, I've got plenty to look forward to.

Now, I have a deep, abiding love for the members of GCA, both locally and over the Internet. And I'm grateful for all the fuss they made over my birthday. And I did receive a nice offering and enough chocolate to supply the kids and me for the whole winter. But, that's not to say that the loving, respectful congregation at GCA did not make sure that I was well aware of my age.

I've been trying - with limited success - for two days to post pictures here on "blogger" to demonstrate the sort of gifts I received. Let's just say that the presents conveyed a certain ... ummm ... message.

So, I downloaded Google's new Picasa 2 software to organize all the photos on my hard drive and it has an automatic link to posting pictures on a blog. That's how I finally managed to get this picture to appear. So, today I will post various examples of the sort of love ---- nothin' but love, man --- and respect I get from the folk at GCA. :-)

Thank you, thank you all, for making my 50th birthday so .... ummm ... memorable. :-) 

A Bit of Pertinent History

Last night (Wednesday, Sept. 14), we took another look at the Bible Answer Man's theory concerning the great tribulation and held it up against history and the Bible. There are two items that will help you when listening to that message. The first is:

Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, whose name was later changed to Nero Claudius Caesar, ruled in Rome from AD 54 to 68. Those dates are important when considering the martyrdom of the apostles and authors of the New Testament. Keep it in mind when you're listening to the message, since I neglected to spell it out.

Secondly, while reading from Foxe's Book of Martyrs, I breezed over the section concerning the apostle Paul, assuming his death at Rome to be common knowledge. But, inasmuch as he is the only Biblical figure to have any direct historical connection with Nero (the tradition concerning Peter being tenuous at best), some might accuse me of having skipped over that account in order to bolster my own argument. So, just for the record, here is what was written:
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X. Paul

Paul, the apostle, who before was called Saul, after his great travail and unspeakable labors in promoting the Gospel of Christ, suffered also in this first persecution under Nero. Abdias, declareth that under his execution Nero sent two of his esquires, Ferega and Parthemius, to bring him word of his death. They, coming to Paul instructing the people, desired him to pray for them, that they might believe; who told them that shortly after they should believe and be baptised at His sepulcher. This done, the soldiers came and led him out of the city to the place of execution, where he, after his prayers made, gave his neck to the sword.

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What will be instantly obvious by comparing the dates of Nero's rule and the history of the apostles is that the theory that the great tribulation occurred during his reign, based on the supposed quality of the people who fell under his hand, is a position that it impossible to defend beyond mere conjecture.

I just wanted to add those details to help our listeners follow our line of reasoning.

Help for a friend

GCA doesn't raise money for projects or causes, as a rule. I've never told people that they had to send money or we were going to go under. I believe that God is our supply and He has faithfully met every need we've ever had. Consequently, I've never appealed to our congregation - local or widespread - for money.

We have a listener, a sister-in-Christ who has become a dear friend, who hails from Metarie, LA, just outside of New Orleans. When the hurricane was coming, she fled with her mother and sister, heading for her brother's house in Shreveport. He serves in the US military as a Captain. Assuming they'd be able to return home before too long, they took what they needed and left. Now, everything is gone. Their home, their jobs, their schools ... everything. Currently, there are 14 people living in that one house, as cousins and extended family have arrived, all wiped out entirely.

I wish that we had the money, power, or ability to help the thousands of displaced people who are victims of this disaster. But, while we cannot reach everyone, we can certainly reach the ones we know. God has given us an opportunity to shed some light in a dark situation; to demonstrate Christ's love to a family in need.

They need the basics - clothes, shoes, food. They did not come to me looking for a handout. Rather, they told me of God's grace and their trust in Him. They told me that God is good and that He looks after His own. I immediately committed myself to showing some of that grace we talk so openly about.

GCA is sending them some financial help immediately, but I am asking you all to see what you can do. While you're reading this from the comfort of your home, what can you do to help your Christian brethren who have lost every creature comfort in their lives?

I'm not going to post their private info here, obviously. But, you can send your donations to GCA (and those gifts are tax deductable). Write on the check, or drop a note, telling us that your gift is for "hurricane relief" and we will pass it on.

As I told the folk on Sovereign Grace Place this evening, one thing this young woman told me today was that GCA is her church, even though she only knows us via the Internet. Then she said, "And because you're always on the Internet, the only thing I didn't lose was my church."

How cool is that?

That's why we do what we do.

Now, it's time to do it again.

Gifts and contributions can be sent to:

Grace Christian Assembly
P.O. Box 1707
Smyrna, TN. 37167

I know that every little bit will make a huge difference in their lives. Thank you all for what I am confident will be a great outpouring of God's love and kindness.