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The Josephson Institute recently surveyed a sample of nearly 30,000 high school students and found that 64 percent of students cheated on tests in the past year. In addition, 36 percent of students used Internet sources to plagiarize an assignment and 30 percent of students had stolen from a store.
Despite these warped behaviors, 93 percent of students felt satisfied with their personal ethics (David Crary, "Students Lie, Cheat, Steal, but Say They're Good," The Christian Post, Dec. 1, 2008).
Whoa! We have a problem here! Feeling okay about it does not make breaking God's commandments okay.
God's laws stand regardless of how people feel about them. Each of us will appear before the judgment seat of Christ to give account for what we have done (2 Corinthians 5:10). So what's the best course of action? Obey God's commandments and feel good about that!
Bookmakers in Britain have shortened the odds on the existence of God from 20-1 to 4-1 based on the production of a new atom smasher that is hoped to help explain how the universe was created.
(Martin Beckford, "Paddy Power Offers Odds of 4-1 That God Exists," The Daily Telegraph, Nov. 3, 2008).
New findings show that smoking has dropped in popularity with teens. A survey done by the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan found that two thirds of teens canvassed thought choosing to smoke reflected poor judgment. Those surveyed also felt that being a smoker made a person less attractive to the opposite sex. Smoking by teens has declined sharply since 1996 when the popularity of smoking peaked among teenagers (Roni Caryn Rabin, "Teen Smoking Rates Decline," The New York Times, Dec. 15, 2008).
A positive trend like this shows the impact of many years of media efforts to depopularize smoking. Smoking is a habit that breaks God's commands to treat our bodies as a precious gift from Him (1 Corinthians 3:17; 6:19-20). We show disrespect for God and ourselves when we choose to participate in behavior that is harmful to our physical bodies, such as smoking.
What you watch on television can have an impact on your actions. A RAND Corp. study has found that among teenagers surveyed, those who frequently watched television programs with significant sexual content were twice as likely to be involved in a teen pregnancy in the following three years.
Indeed, some of the most popular viewing material, sitcoms, have the highest rate of sexual content. While there are other factors, shows featuring sex without consequences can shape the thinking of young viewers (Laura Coffey, "Study: Sex on TV Linked to Teen Pregnancies, "MSNBC.com, Nov. 3, 2008).
God's instructions are clear. Sex is permitted only in marriage (Hebrews 13:4). If the society around us lived according to this law, the pressures to break it would be less.
The conditions we live in today require each individual to carefully guard his or her mind (Proverbs 4:23; Philippians 2:5). If the content on television becomes inappropriate and glorifies the breaking of any of God's commandments, do the right thing and turn it off.
The airline industry is looking into the possibility of algae-based fuel oil. Algae are simple organisms that are easy to grow and require little food and space—just water, air and sunshine.
Researchers speculate that a blend of petroleum and algae-based fuel could be effectively produced, requiring less growing space than corn- and soybean-based biofuels need. Pure algae fuel also has potential, but blends of algae fuel and gasoline achieved a 91 octane rating—on par with traditional fuel (Les Blumenthal, "Go Green: Algae Could Be Next Hot Biofuel," The Bellingham Herald, Dec. 8, 2008).
Denial rates of PLUS loans, the kind parents take out to cover college expenses for their children, have risen 26.5 percent in the last year due to economic instability. This and other factors have increased the financial challenges of attending college for young people.
Many students are choosing to save money and attend a community college for the first two years of college, then transfer to a more specific degree program at another institution. A lot of money can be saved by living at home the first two years (Harriet Johnson Brackey, "Economy Cramps College Dreams," The Columbus Dispatch, Dec. 7, 2008).
Members of churches with strict moral codes reported better attendance and more friends in the congregation than those in churches having more lax views on sexuality, according to a Baylor Religion Survey conducted by Gallup.
(Meredith Heagney, "Poll Finds Belief in Guardian Angels," The Columbus Dispatch, Sept. 19, 2008).
Happy people make other people happy. Being around happy people increases an individual's chances of being happy, according to a study conducted by Nicholas Christakis and others at Harvard University . The study surveyed 4,700 people for 20 years to determine how emotion transfers through groups of people (Rob Stein, "Happiness Can Spread Among People Like a Contagion, Study Indicates," The Washington Post, Dec. 5, 2008).
The book of Proverbs had a nearly 3,000-year head start on this new survey. "A merry heart does good, like medicine" (Proverbs 17:22) is a nugget of wisdom that benefits humankind in any era of history.
Fifty-five percent of Americans believe a guardian angel has protected them from danger. Researchers conducting the 2007 Baylor Religion Survey were surprised by this statistic. Increasing secularism in America has ridiculed the possibility of intervention from the spirit world, so admitting such experiences would seem potentially embarrassing.
The study also found that 96 percent of those surveyed believed in the existence of God, which has been a stable statistic in the United States for some years (Meredith Heagney, "Poll Finds Belief in Guardian Angels," The Columbus Dispatch, Sept. 19, 2008).
Don't spend a lot of time watching television. So says Dr. John Robinson, professor of sociology at the University of Maryland, who recently authored a study on the subject. In comparing what happy people do with the activities of unhappy people, Dr. Robinson found that watching television was the sole activity measured that happy people spend less time doing than unhappy people.
New York health writer Roni Caryn Rabin reports: "Happy people spend a lot of time socializing, going to church and reading newspapers—but they don't spend a lot of time watching television, a new study finds. That's what unhappy people do" ("What Happy People Don't Do," The New York Times, Nov. 19, 2008).
A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States found that girls in kindergarten through fifth grade engaging in 70 to 300 minutes of physical education classes weekly scored higher on school work than those who did fewer than 35 minutes of exercise. These results have prompted concern that cutting physical education programs in schools to save money may be shortchanging students (Ann Pleshette Murphy, "Today's Topic: Health & Kids," USA Weekend, Nov. 21-23, 2008).
God designed our bodies with motion in mind. So it makes sense that people benefit from regular activity (1 Timothy 4:8). Evidence now indicates that being physically active keeps us mentally fit too.
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