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Many Americans have been shocked to see gas prices recently shoot up to over $2 a gallon. And while this is cheaper than in many other countries (due to their heavier taxation), it's still a shock to U.S. consumers. But why has gasoline (petrol in many other countries) suddenly become so expensive?
Experts note that a combination of factors, revolving around supply and demand, have led to higher oil prices.
One cause is increased competition for fuel. China, India and other developing countries are consuming far more oil and gasoline than they did only a few years ago, increasing demand for a limited worldwide supply. Another factor is unrest in the Middle East, with Iraq struggling to increase production in the face of repeated terror attacks against its oil-production infrastructure.
We also cannot ignore the effect of government actions on oil prices. The Russian government recently in effect took over the huge private oil company Yukos, Russia's largest oil producer, hitting it with a $7 billion tax bill and sending up oil prices worldwide. The company's assets will likely be swallowed up by a new state-owned company.
In the United States, various environmental laws dictate more than a dozen different gasoline blends in three different grades. Producing those blends drives up consumer costs. Also, due to various regulations and challenges, newer, more efficient oil refineries haven't been built in the United States for more than 25 years. Legal and political challenges have also held up development of new fields to replace declining output in older, less productive fields, making Americans increasingly more dependent on volatile overseas supplies.
Another recent factor has been the repeated hurricanes striking the Gulf of Mexico, which has put a serious dent in U.S. production from offshore oil fields. Seasonal weather can also play a role, depending on how cold the coming winter is and how much oil will then go to heating homes.
Does Israel have the right to exist?
A one-state solution to the Israeli—Palestinian conflict is gaining favor in some circles. According to an editorial in the Los Angeles Times (Oct. 10), it would constitute "a single secular state in which Jews and Arabs would live in democratic harmony. This idea is percolating through the Western intelligentsia and even into left-wing circles in Israel."
The problem is that such a "new" state would not remain Jewish for long. As the article also stated, "the higher Arab birthrate would make Jews a shrinking majority." Reading between the lines, this proposal seems to be just another ostensibly more "humanitarian" way of grinding a very old axe.
The astonishing title of the Los Angeles Times editorial is: "Who Needs a Jewish State?" Although the text clearly states that "Israel must remain a Jewish state, and to do that and be a democracy as well it must always have a Jewish majority"—the title just on its own is very misleading if readers do not follow up by reading the clarifying remarks in the text itself.
Other recent sources, however, make the real issue more apparent. Consider the comments of Dr. Michael Glueck in Insight magazine: "For as long as there has been a State of Israel, there has been a temptation to believe that if Israel could somehow conveniently disappear—then the United States and the Arabs would have no major disagreements" (Oct. 4).
Also according to a report in World Net Daily, the Palestinian Authority continues to urge genocide against Israelis. One specific directive was: "Use TV broadcasts to urge killing of "brothers of the monkeys and pigs' . . ." (Sept. 16). This implies much more than mere distasteful rhetoric.
Author Shalom Freedman commented on the Iranian threat to Israel: "But the threat is such—the threat of using weapons of mass-destruction to destroy the state—that its transformation into reality would mean in effect the murder of hundreds of thousands perhaps even millions of Jews" (Israel Insider, Aug. 26). Shades of the Holocaust, or the Shoah, as the term is expressed in Hebrew.
Mr. Freedman continued: "This threat is openly made every Friday in the central mosque of Tehran where it is proclaimed that the "Zionist state' must and will be eliminated. This threat has been made frequently by various leaders of Iran, especially over the past three years" (ibid., emphasis added throughout).
In summary, noted author Conor Cruise O'Brien has asked: "Does Israel have the right to exist? The state of Israel has lived since its birth . . . under the pressure of that question and that question was preceded by another question: Do the Jews have the right to exist?" (The Siege, p. 25). That it would even be necessary to pose such absurd questions says something about our supposedly advanced, civilized world today.
You need to understand these grave issues in the Middle East and the essential biblical/historical background behind them. Please write for our free booklet The Middle East in Bible Prophecy. (Sources: Los Angeles Times, World Net Daily, Insight, Israel Insider, The Siege.)
Why Bad News in The Good News?
Speaking of the state of the world just before His return, Jesus Christ said our planet will experience "a time of great distress, such as there has never been before since the beginning of the world, and will never be again" (Matthew 24:21, Revised English Bible).
The United Church of God, whose members and supporters provide the financial backing for The Good News and other publications, proclaims the good news of the imminent return of Jesus of Nazareth. Yet we often report on the negative consequences of human behavior leading to the very conditions Jesus described.
Following Jesus' example, part of our purpose is to highlight the lessons mankind is writing in its self-centered way of living and to warn of where this way is leading. But more than that, our intention is to illustrate the need for an alternative way of life—the godly way of life Jesus revealed and personified. Beyond the bad news, we present this way of living that would eliminate all of man's problems. We also explain from Scripture that under the coming rule of Christ, God's way will become universal—and humanity will at last know true and lasting peace.
The world of today is indeed filled with bad news. Yet the future holds incredible promise: Christ's return to establish the Kingdom of God (Daniel 7:13-14; Revelation 11:15), ushering in a wonderful world of peace, prosperity and plenty during which all people will at last learn to live God's way of life. This truly is good news on which you can stake your future!
"Hooking up" endangers sexual health of young adults, teens
In reporting from New York City for The Sunday Times Oct. 10, Sarah Baxter identifies a "new" trend among young adults and teenagers. It's called "hooking up." It involves a range of illicit sexual activities including heavy petting, oral intimacy and outright intercourse. This damaging practice has already spread to many schools and campuses.
The article describes this so-called "new" phenomenon in the following terms. "You hook up with them, nothing more. You are free to string them along or hook up with somebody else at the same time. It is important not to "catch feelings' or fool yourself that you are in love." This practice obviously contemplates divorcing sex from love.
A new book about it titled The Happy Hook-Up: A Single Girl's Guide to Casual Sex, has recently been published in America. Apparently 3,000 women were interviewed and fully one quarter agreed that they could indulge in one-night stands without becoming emotionally attached to their partners.
"Hooking up" is viewed as a way for young women to focus on their careers and still indulge in sexual intimacy. One famous actress, now divorced, even said that one-night stands "give her time to be a mother."
Other new names have emerged for similar behavior. "Friends with benefits," "bed buddies" and "hookup buddies" are now the popular terms for young men and women who are acquaintances or friends, but whose relationship also includes casual sexual relations with no commitment, no strings attached and no expectations. Sexual activity between the two is purely for self-gratification, nothing more.
The fruits of this destructive lifestyle are amply illustrated by what is now happening in Britain. Said the Daily Mail (Sept. 30): "Teenage promiscuity has led to a record number of girls being infected with sexually transmitted diseases which can destroy fertility. Shocking statistics show that one in eight girls aged 16 to 19 are carrying chlamydia, which often has no symptoms."
Single motherhood and abortions as a form of birth control also emerge as even more negative results of old-fashioned casual sex, dressed up a little differently to make it more attractive to its unsuspecting victims. And, as might be expected, the emotional toll is proving to be devastating in the long run, as some are discovering.
If you would like to know how God views these lifestyles, please request the free booklets The Ten Commandments and . The publishers of The Good News also publish a free magazine for teens and young adults called Vertical Thought. (Sources: The Sunday Times, Daily Mail [both London].)
Displaying the Ten Commandments: enigma solved
Nothing seems so perplexing to both the U.S. Supreme Court and the American public than whether a display of the Ten Commandments on government property is legal and/or moral. In recent history, Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore was removed from office for refusing to remove a stone monument of the Ten Commandments from the rotunda of the Alabama Supreme Court building.
Supreme Court justices have refused to revisit issues raised by their 1980 decision that banned the posting of the Ten Commandments in public schools. Recently, however, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to take up the constitutionality of Ten Commandments displays on government land and buildings.
Enter irony: There's a large relief of Moses with the Ten Commandments inside the Supreme Court's courtroom, an imposing sculpture of Moses with the Ten Commandments in the center of the frieze on the rear facade of the Supreme Court building and a statue of Moses bearing the Ten Commandments in the rotunda of the Library of Congress next door.
God, in Psalm 119:19, provides a solution for this enigma: "Do not hide Your commandments from me."
Ignorance of the Ten Commandments abounds in Britain
A recent survey in Britain revealed that "almost one youngster in 10 has never heard of the Ten Commandments." In addition, "nearly half of the youngsters can't recall a single one" even if they have heard the term sometime in their lives (Daily Mail, Sept. 4).
This poll also disclosed that very few indeed understand that observing the Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments.
These are the inevitable fruits of a basically secular society that doesn't generally acknowledge God or the Bible in its everyday activities. Even religious education has marginalized Christianity. Every reader needs to request our free, 80-page booklet titled along with the companion publication . (Sources: Daily Mail, The Times [both London].)
Will this world ever see peace?
The 17th-century philosopher Baruch Spinoza said, "Peace is not an absence of war" (1670). The 20th century certainly proved his point. World War I was termed "the war to end all wars"; at least 10 million were killed with another 20 million wounded. Yet within 20 years, rumblings of a second world war were beginning to shake Europe.
Follow World War II with the Korean War, Vietnam, the first Gulf War, Sept. 11, Afghanistan and Iraq. Now we have North Korea and Iran, one with nuclear weapons and the other eagerly pursing them, to worry about. Meanwhile, terrorist acts continue above the din of nuclear threats.
Jesus Christ said that the end of this age would be marked by "wars and rumors of wars" (Matthew 24:6). In spite of mankind's best efforts, the world remains a very dangerous place. Yet this tired, battered old world will one day see lasting peace (Isaiah 2:4). God promised it; you can count on it.
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Keywords: oil prices Israel teen sex
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