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World News and Trends, Nov/Dec 1998
Pornographic films outsell regular movies: a civil war in American values
New and disturbing communiqués concerning Western morality are cause for
concern. According to Christopher Goodwin, reporting for The Sunday Times from
Los Angeles: "America has become addicted to porn. Encouraged by the liberal atmosphere
of the Clinton era, adult entertainment has grown into a $10 billion-a-year business.
As much as $4.2 billion is generated by videos alone . . . Americans spend
more on hard-core porn, telephone sex and strip clubs than they do at the (regular)
cinemas."
In a separate report for The Independent on Sunday, John Carlin writes about
"a revolution under way in America . . . It's about the birds and the bees.
Reading the newspapers these days, watching TV, listening in on conversations in
bars, in lifts (elevators), what you get is a steady diet of sex, sex and more sex."
At the same time, some surveys show that nearly 80 percent of Americans still believe
adultery is always wrong. Apparently many citizens in this land of liberty and opportunity
still believe in biblical standards.
Still, there is no denying that marketing illicit sex is a growth industry. So what
we are seeing is an approaching civil war in values. There can be no compromise between
these two basic ways of life. Obedience to the Seventh Commandment makes true happiness
possible in our families; disobedience leads to suffering and misery.
The United Church of God has published a booklet, The Ten Commandments, that
explains why adultery and other forms of illicit sex are always wrong. Be sure to
request your free copy. (Sources: The Sunday Times (London), The Independent
on Sunday (London), The Washington Times.)
Pope to visit Holy Land
A trip to Jerusalem in 2000 is one of the remaining unfulfilled ambitions of
Pope John Paul II. Considerable progress in the necessary arrangements for such a
trip comes in the wake of the Vatican's apology for not doing enough to prevent the
Holocaust during World War II. Such a trip would be a crowning journey to a long
series of trips taken by John Paul to many nations since 1978.
Reports Richard Owen from Rome and Christopher Walker in Jerusalem: "The Pope has
said he would like to climb Mount Sinai with Jewish and Muslim leaders in the year
2,000 to 'mark the reconciliation of the world's three great monotheistic faiths.' "
Progress towards religious unity has long been one of the primary goals of the Roman
Catholic Church. But Bible prophecy shows that a great religious figure shall join
forces with a secular ruler of 10 nations to produce an alliance that will shake
and astonish the world. After this last-gasp attempt at world rule by a dictator
will be the second coming of Christ and the beginning of His utopian reign of peace
on earth. (Sources: The Times (London), The Independent on Sunday (London).)
The dangers of binge drinking
We try to fool ourselves. We may think we drink little alcohol. But the
truth is that more and more people are indulging in occasional binge drinking--consuming
large amounts of alcohol in one bout--with potentially disastrous effects.
Alcohol has enjoyed a positive press in recent years, which has misled people into
thinking that the occasional binge will not harm their health. Nothing could be further
from the truth. Consider a Finnish study published in the British Medical Journal.
"It discovered that men who binge on beer (defined as six or more bottles in a session)
have a much higher risk of early death regardless of their total average consumption.
Other risks are also increased."
Generally speaking, most people can benefit from a moderate amount of wine as a complement
to ameal. We read in several passages in the Bible that under the right conditions
alcohol can be beneficial to our health and general mental well-being. For instance,
the apostle Paul told Timothy to drink a little wine to aid his digestion and ameliorate
his frequent illnesses.
Yet Scripture also warns against drunkenness. That same apostle also said not to
overindulge in wine, and several proverbs warn against the debilitating effects of
overdrinking and alcoholism. Binge drinking fits the latter category. (Sources: The
Independent (London), 1Timothy 5:23; Ephesians 5:18.)
Arafat on Palestinian statehood
Without any forward movement in the Middle Eastern peace process, some
commentators think Yassar Arafat will proclaim the existence of a Palestinian state
in early 1999. Although any such unilateral declaration would clearly violate the
Oslo Accords, Mr. Arafat is reported to be ready to gamble.
If he makes such a declaration, Israel would be pressured to protect its Jewish settlements
in the Gaza Strip and other areas of the West Bank. Speculation has it that the Israeli
government would then be tempted to annex certain territories not under Mr. Arafat's
full control. The subsequent troop movements and the potential for violence are potentially
disastrous for peace prospects.
Any Middle Eastern peace settlement seems far away. The Bible predicts anything but
peace in this historically troubled area for our time. In fact, it will dominate
the news as the center of world conflict just before to the second coming of Jesus
Christ. (Source: The New York Times.)
How bad is the Russian economy?
Russia has devalued the rubble at a time of apocalyptic predictions about the
state of the Russian economy. Some observers are warning that the Russian financial
crisis "could spin out of control as banks collapse."
The European's evaluation is worse: "Thinking that a rise in fiscal receipts
and a trimming of public spending will solve Russia's problems, as the IMF (International
Monetary Fund) does, is to miss the self-evident point that the Russian economy is
bust, plain and simple. All the statistics about economic activity are probably hokum.
The foundation stones of a market economy--a legal structure to enforce mutual obligations,
corporate responsibility and transparent accounting--are non-existent."
More than economics is at stake here. The world has a heavy interest in Russian economic
stability. The country still has too many nuclear weapons for comfort, and any temptation
to sell weapon technology to unstable dictatorships for badly needed cash frightens
Western leaders.
In terms of Russian economic well-being, too much was expected too soon. A nation
pays a heavy price for 70 years of communism, and the attempted conversion to a free-market
economy and a full free-enterprise system has rocked the nation's social fabric.
(Sources: The Sunday Times (London), The European.)
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Keywords: pornography drinking, binge alcohol alcohol abuse Arafat Russia
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