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A recent study says church-going extends life by five months. That’s nice. Forgiveness of sins, entry into heaven, escape from hell, and eternal life with my Creator—that’s love realized! Thank you, Jesus!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4876666.stm

Edited by prisonchaplain
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What really set me off about this article is that Church is being justified because of perceived longevity, sociological, and psychological benefits.  Since when did we have to justify our religious practice and affiliation?  "Well, we don't...not really," you might answer.  It's coming, though.  After all, we are stuck in an antiquated and bigoted moral system, according to many.  So, we may be tempted to take this bit of ammunition, and say, "See, our people live longer and happier."

It's a Trojan horse.  What happens when "evidence-based" psychology says we are harmful?  We produce guilt and shame.  We "brain wash" children who are not cognitively developed enough to make the kind of metaphysical decisions, and some of us still spank our kids.  When we embrace their praise as evidence we empower them to evaluate and find us wanting.

In chapel today, I told participants that chaplains and psychologists may overlap in what we do, but that our purposes are different.  They work to bring focus, and a measure of peace and happiness to our current state, and we are driving them towards the straight, narrow, upward, rocky path that leads to eternal reward.  It's fine to accept a little temporal comfort, but it is essential to keep our eyes on the King and his Kingdom.

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I see your point but this type of research can be helpful. I worked with a group of abused women and the counsellors regularly recommended that the women reconnect with their churches. This advice was in part based on research indicating that a faith community offers valuable social support.

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I didn't really get "justification" as the article's message.  The thing is that part of LDS theology says that we cannot completely separate physical and spiritual things.  And we cannot completely separate temporal from eternal things.  They tend to feed on each other.

So, what I got is that there is a connection between being close to God and having some health benefits (even if you don't follow the word of wisdom).;)

 

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On 6/5/2016 at 8:21 PM, prisonchaplain said:

A recent study says church-going extends life by five months. That’s nice. Forgiveness of sins, entry into heaven, escape from hell, and eternal life with my Creator—that’s love realized! Thank you, Jesus!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4876666.stm

 

This reminded me of a cartoon called "Li' Abner" by Al Cap - when he said "Married men don't live longer - it just seems like it.

 

The Traveler

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