50 Good Reasons to Sleep Longer

In an article headlined The Arrogance of Ignoring Our Need for Sleep leading scientists have warned of the supreme arrogance of trying to do without sufficient sleep.  We are sleeping between one and two hours less per night than people did 60 or so years ago and it’s having a devastating impact upon every part of our lives.

Over the last few months I’ve been collecting research about the dangers of too little sleep, which I’ve summarized below. Once you’ve read that, you’ll probably want to pre-order Adrian Reynolds’ much-needed new book: And So to Bed: A Biblical View of Sleep (might be the best $6 you’ve spent this year!).   Continue at David Murray

10 Scientifically Proven Ways to Increase Happiness

In 10 Scientifically Proven Ways to Increase Happiness, Beth Belle Cooper wrote:

I would love to be happier, as I’m sure most people would, so I thought it would be interesting to find some ways to become a happier person that are actually backed up by science. Here are ten of the best ones I found.

In summary:

1. Exercise more: 7 minutes might be enough
2. Sleep more: You’ll be less sensitive to negative emotions
3. Move closer to work: A short commute is worth more than a big house
4. Spend time with friends and family: Your relationships are worth more than $100,000    Continue at David Murray

Studies show HIV Infection Rates still Rising Among Gay Men

From left-leaning Time magazine.

Excerpt:

As the world’s leading AIDS researchers gather for the International AIDS Conference in Washington, D.C., scientists report that despite gains in controlling the spread of HIV, the disease has continued to spread at an alarming rate in the very population in which it first appeared — gay men.

In a series of papers in the Lancet dedicated to the dynamics of HIV among gay men — a group epidemiologists define as men who have sex with men (MSM) — scientists say that the continued burden of AIDS in this group is due to a combination of lifestyle and biological factors that put these men at higher risk. Rates are rising in all countries around the world.

In one study, led by Chris Beyrer, of the Center for Public Health and Human Rights at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, researchers analyzed surveillance reports and studies of HIV among MSM, including data that were part of routine United Nations reporting from member nations. Rates of HIV among gay men ranged from 3% in the Middle East to 25% in the Caribbean. In all reporting nations, rates were on the rise, even in developed nations like the U.S., Australia and the U.K. where HIV is declining overall.   Continue at WintryKnight

Obesity, Christianity, & the Gospel

Is it ok for a Christian to be overweight? I’d seen that question before, and I always turned away because I didn’t want to know the answer. As an obese person and a follower of Christ, I knew the answer but didn’t want to face up to it.

 

Avoidance doesn’t make the question any less valid. We can pluck verses from the Bible to support different views. How about “…do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” from 1 Corinthians 6. That one is used quite a bit in support of being fit and healthy.

If you think that focusing too much on physical fitness is a problem, then you may lean toward 1 Timothy 4: “For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.”

I always found myself in the bodily-exercise-profits-a-little camp. Why? Because I didn’t like exercise, I wanted to be obese, and the less I thought about it the better. But once again, avoidance doesn’t mean the removal of the problem.

About a year ago, the opportunity opened up for a brother to speak to me regarding my weight. He told me plainly, yet lovingly, that being obese was a hindrance to my testimony. I knew it was true. I had known it all along. Now, I had to face up to it.

Here are the hard facts: obesity, in the majority of cases, is a result of gluttony. Gluttony is a lack of self-control. A lack of self-control is not fruit of the Spirit that now resides in me. It is a fruit of the flesh. I do know there are some who are overweight due to medical issues, but those cases are few and far between. For most of us in America, the problem is an abundance of food mixed with fleshly, out of control appetites.   Continue at JT Crawford

Ten Questions to Diagnose the Evangelistic Health of Your Church

Any good physician will make certain your physical exam includes at least three components. First, the doctor will want you to have thorough lab work. Second, all exams include a comprehensive look at your physical body. Third, the physician will ask you a series of questions that would lead him or her to know more about your overall physical and emotional health.

In my work with churches across America, I often ask a series of questions that help me assist the church to become more evangelistically focused. Recently, I took time to write down the questions I ask most often. Look at these ten questions to get at least some hints of the evangelistic health of your own church.

1. Are members more concerned about the lost than their own preferences and comfort? Listen to how church members talk to understand what their true priorities are.
2. Is the church led to pray for lost persons? Most churches are pretty good about praying for those who have physical needs. But do they pray for those who have the greatest spiritual need, a relationship with Jesus Christ?
3. Are the members of the church open to reaching people who don’t look or act like them? The gospel breaks all racial, ethnic, and language barriers. Do the members seek to reach others? Do they rejoice when these people become a part of the church?
4. Do conflicts and critics zap the evangelistic energy of the church? An evangelistic church is a united church. A divided church is rarely evangelistic.
5. Do small groups and Sunday school classes seek to reach lost persons within their groups? Sunday school was once one of the most effective evangelistic tools in the church. Are the groups in your church evangelistic?   Continue at Thom Rainer

Comparing the Relative Safety of Abortion and Childbirth

Earlier this week a new study was released on abortion safety. The Reuters Health headline reads: "Abortion safer than giving birth." According to the study, one woman dies in childbirth for every 11,000 births in the United States, while one woman dies from abortion for every 167,000 abortions. These numbers led the researchers to declare that a woman is 14 times more likely to die giving birth than she is to die during an abortion. 

There are a number of ways to respond to a story like this. The first is to remind people that even if abortion is safer for the mother, it is certainly not safer for the child. Maternal, abortion-related deaths may be a rarity, but fetal, abortion-related deaths are not. We could just as easily say that for every 167,000 abortions in the United States, there are 167,001 abortion-related deaths. The headline of the MedicineNet article was a much more honest one: "Abortion Safer for Women Than Childbirth, Study Claims." 

The second thing to note is the sources of the datasets used in this study. While accurate birth data is available from the federal government, accurate abortion data is not. As such, abortion data must be obtained from the Guttmacher Institute, a research group founded by Planned Parenthood and named after their former president, Alan Guttmacher. The Guttmacher Institute openly advocates abortion and seeks to normalize its use around the world. 

Speaking to this issue, Dr. Donna Harrison, director of research and public policy at the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, says, "Abortion mortality is not systematically collected. What Dr. Grimes' paper most clearly illustrates is the immediate need for reporting requirements for abortion deaths in all 50 states." Continue at Abort73