The world is a getting safer. For centuries, violence has been subsiding.

Really? Most people find this hard to believe.

But consider evidence presented by Stephen Pinker in his fascinating book, The Better Angels of our Nature (a Lincoln quote), published by Viking in 2011. Pinker teaches psychology at Harvard University and has won awards for his prior research.

The book is subtitled, Why Violence Has Declined. Pinker argues, “The decline of violence may be the most significant and least appreciated development in the history of our species. Its implications touch the core of our beliefs and values—for what could be more fundamental than an understanding of whether the human condition, over the course of its history, has gotten steadily better, steadily worse, or has not changed?” (692).

Pinker argues that in point of fact violence has declined over time and continues to do so.

The Evidence

Pinker takes the long view, covering many millennia. But his primary focus is the last 2000 years. He marshals a wide range of data to prove his case that as a long-term trend, human violence has dropped dramatically.

Can it be? “Wasn’t the 20th century the bloodiest in history?” Pinker asks. “Haven’t new forms of war replaced old ones? Aren’t we living in the Age of Terror?” Yes, but, he says. “[F]or all the dangers we face today, the dangers of yesterday were even worse.” Unlike the past, most people today “no longer have to worry about abduction into sexual slavery, divinely commanded genocide, lethal circuses and tournaments, punishment on the cross, rack, stake, or strappado for holding unpopular beliefs, decapitation for not bearing a son, disembowelment for having dated a royal, pistol duels to defend their honor, . . . and the prospect of a nuclear world war that would put an end to civilization or to human life itself” (30).

Such evils still exist, of course. But Pinker points to statistics. It’s true many people today—in some cases, millions—face lethal dangers like betrayal into slavery or the threat of genocide. But over centuries, and continuing today, the incidence of such horrors has been declining.

This can look like a cold, heartless analysis. Who cares about statistics when one’s six-year-old child has just been gunned down in her own classroom? And yet the very horror and immediacy of such violence can immunize us to the truth of larger trends. Or so Pinker argues.

Pinker focuses on the centuries-long decline in violence, particularly homicide, in Europe. He shows that in England murder rates have dropped dramatically since about 1200--“from the 13th century to the 20th, homicide in various parts of England plummeted by a factor of ten, fifty, and in some cases a hundred” (60). Unearthing this data, he says, “confounds every stereotype about the idyllic past and the degenerate present. When I surveyed perceptions of violence in an Internet questionnaire, people guessed that 20th-century England was about 14 percent more violent than 14th-century England. In fact it was 95 percent less violent” (61). Today Europe is the safest place in the world to live.

Violence and Human Culture

Pinker discusses violence within the larger context of culture and “the civilizing process.” As societies get organized into larger units, violence gradually comes under control—partly through government action (police or military, law codes) and partly because more civil behavior gradually becomes the cultural norm.

Drawing upon (with some qualification) the work of Norbert Elias (1897-1990), Pinker describes what happened in Europe over the past 800 years or so. “Europeans increasingly inhibited their impulses, anticipated the long-term consequences of their actions, and took other people’s thoughts and feelings into consideration. A culture of honor—the readiness to take revenge—gave way to a culture of dignity—the readiness to control one’s emotions.” This shift first took hold among “aristocrats and noblemen,” but these new values “were then absorbed into the socialization of younger and younger children until they became second nature.” The new norms also “trickled down from the upper classes to the bourgeoisie that strove to emulate them, and from them to the lower classes, eventually becoming a part of the culture as a whole” (72). More pacific values and norms got increasingly internalized.

This change brought an array of cultural benefits, Pinker argues. “Across time and space, the more peaceable societies also tend to be richer, healthier, better educated, better governed, more respectful of their women, and more likely to engage in trade” (xxiii). “Since violence is largely a male pastime,” he adds, “cultures that empower women tend to move away from the glorification of violence and are less likely to breed dangerous subcultures of rootless young men” (xxvi).

Pinker’s basic argument is that “we enjoy the peace we find today because people in past generations were appalled by the violence in their time and worked to reduce it, and so we should work to reduce the violence that remains in our time” (xxvi).

Kingdom of God Reflection

Pinker’s evidence seems pretty convincing. It is important precisely because it is so counterintuitive. It is a reminder not to take for granted, at face value, what we hear on the news. We all know that bad things make news in ways that good things don’t.

Pinker misreads history, however, in at least one important respect. He largely ignores the role of Christian faith and ethics as a key factor in reducing violence, and more generally in “the civilizing process.” He engagingly describes the results, in other words, but misreads the causes.

My point at the moment, however, is simply that we—Christians and non-Christians alike—easily misread our own culture. All of us are caught up with the news of the day and our current concerns. Necessarily so. We simply don’t have the data nor the historical perspective to see the big picture or know how to read it.

This is a key reason why we need constantly to immerse ourselves in Scripture and keep company with the saints, not only of our time but of the ages. Aside from everything else we can say about the Bible, we can say this: It wasn’t written in the last ten or one hundred years! It’s not of our age. It breathes other ages and cultures and stories. It (so to speak) operates on different assumptions. That is its strength, not its weakness; its relevance, not its irrelevance. It teaches the way of love and shalom through Jesus Christ; the peaceable kingdom.

Plus, the Bible is the inspired, once-for-all written Word of God! We need it in order to “read” our own time and place.

The Bible of course doesn’t answer the question of whether violence is really increasing or subsiding over time. The Bible promises both that evil will increase (2 Tim. 3:1-13) and that God’s kingdom will come. His will done on earth. The Bible leaves us with that conundrum.

But really, it’s not a conundrum. It is a challenge and a call to kingdom faithfulness. The two ways. The world will get better or worse, or both at the same time. A whole lot depends on the faithfulness of God’s people in responding to God’s grace and power and being agents of God’s kingdom coming in our world today.

Meanwhile, let’s not buy into the popular pseudo-Christian myth that our world is inevitably and irredeemably going to the dogs. The gospel is more powerful than that.

This post was written by Dr Howard Snyder.  For the original post with comments, go to:  http://seedbed.com/feed/the-world-is-getting-safer/

BE HOLY.
BE A MAN.

According to a recent newspaper report, only 8% of British men attend church regularly, though 53% identify themselves as Christians. And the situation is similar in other Western nations, with more than 40% of U.S. evangelicals not attending church weekly and more than 60% of American mainline Christians not attending weekly. In short, millions who consider themselves Christians limit their church attendance largely to holidays, weddings, and funerals.

If you’re among these millions, please give church another chance.  By getting involved, you’ll discover that what you once viewed as a chore is actually a blessing. Here are 10 reasons why:

1. Gathering with a church encourages believers to love others and do good deeds (Hebrews 10:24-25).

2. A church is the main venue for using your spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12:1-31). God has given you abilities and talents intended to help other Christians. If you’re not involved in a church, others are being deprived of what you have to offer.

3. A church helps keep you from abandoning the faith. According to the author of Hebrews, the antidote to developing an “unbelieving heart” that leads you “to fall away from the living God” is to “exhort one another” (Hebrews 3:12-13)—an activity that occurs most prominently in the church.

4. A church helps you defend Christianity against those who attack it. When Jude told the early Christians to “contend for the faith” (Jude 3), he directed his instruction toward a group of believers, not a scattering of lone-ranger Christians. Answering challenges from coworkers, friends, and family members is always easier when you can ask fellow church members for help and wisdom.

5. A church is a great venue for pooling resources to support missions and benevolent works (2 Corinthians 8:1-7; 3 John 5-8). Your money combined with that of fellow church members can do a lot for Christ.

6. A church helps its members maintain correct doctrine (1 Timothy 3:15). You might begin to adopt unbiblical ideas without realizing it yourself. But you probably won’t adopt unbiblical ideas without someone at your church realizing it, and they can help you get back to the truth.

7. After your family, a church is the best group of people to meet your physical needs in an emergency (1 John 3:16-17; 1 Timothy 5:3-16).

8. A church supports you when you face persecution (Acts 4:23-31; 12:12-17). You may not be imprisoned for your Christian beliefs like the apostles were, but a church family is still a great source of comfort when you face stinging words or unfair treatment.

9. A church is where you can be baptized and take part in the Lord’s Supper (Matthew 28:18-20; 1 Corinthians 11:17-34; Ephesians 4:4-6). These two ordinances are a vital part of any believer’s walk with Jesus.

10. A church provides the setting for corporate worship (Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16). Though it’s a blessing to praise God alone, there is a unique joy that accompanies singing God’s praises with an entire congregation of Christ followers.

The list could go on, but you get the idea. It’s worth it to start attending church.

This post was written by David Roach.  the original post with comments can be found at:  http://www.biblemesh.com/blog/2013/01/21/10-reasons-to-be-involved-in-a-church/

BE HOLY.
BE A MAN.

20 Christmases ago, when our boys were young, we had a missionary assignment in Quito, Ecuador.  One Christmas in Ecuador was especially memorable.  

What do you want when you are living in a foreign country away from extended family and the comforts of home?   Well, you miss American things.  

Around the corner from our home was the Carolina Market.  There you could get just about anything that you wanted, especially if you asked ahead.  One time, I went in there searching for Dr Pepper and there was one lone can sitting in the corner of a vendor's booth.  He wanted over 5,000 Sucres for it!  (This was before the American Dollar became the currency of Ecuador)  So that was well over $5.  Did I miss America and Dr Pepper that much?  Was I willing to spend that much money for it?  Nope...

There was a short-term volunteer missionary team that was coming to Ecuador from the United States that was going to be in Ecuador for about a week.  They had heard about us and contacted us ahead of time, wanting to know if there was anything that they could bring us for Christmas.  So, what do you think we asked for?  Yep, you guessed it.  Dr Pepper.

Also, we wanted Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch, the boys favorite cereal.  They hadn't had this cereal for well over six months and occasionally would ask about it.  We tried to to find it at the Carolina Market to no avail.  We also searched other Ecuadorian grocery stores but did not find anything that resembled their favorite cereal.  

So, we decided to make the trek to the city that the team was going to.  It was a good 5-hour (one-way) bus ride to get there.  It was a beautiful ride, thru the Andes mountains.  There were chickens and goats on the bus with us as well.  Our destination city was also the only city in Ecuador to have a Burger King.  So, we were looking forward to having a Whopper as part of our trip.  As we got off the bus and made our way to Burger King, we were sorely disappointed.  The "whopper machine" was broken.  I didn't know there was such a thing as a "whopper machine"  So, we ended up not having it our way but rather got chicken sandwiches.  They were good but they weren't Whoppers.  

The meeting with this team was special.  These were people we didn't know.  Nor did the know us.  Yet, they traveled from afar to bring us gifts.  We talked about Ecuador, they told us where they were from and there were some connections made.  These gifts that they brought us felt as valuable as gold.  We were extremely grateful.  They brought other gifts but the DP and the Cap'n Crunch stand out as the most memorable.  You just couldn't get those in Ecuador.

You can imagine our excitement!   The four of us packed up our gifts and placed them in a suitcase to take back on the bus.  We talked about it all the way home (another 5 hours) and were very tempted to open some before we got home.  Nevertheless, we were able to wait.  Now Christmas was still a couple of weeks away.  But wanting to be good parents, we opened one box and one can and had that for our supper when we got home.  The rest were packed away for Christmas.  

Christmas was special that year.  The boys knew that they were going to get Cap'n Crunch and I knew that I was going to get Dr Pepper.  We talked about it every day leading up to Christmas with Karyn teasing us that Santa may not make it to Quito.  But we knew better.  

The excitement mounted so that even though we knew what we were getting for Christmas, it was still a wonderful event:  Having hot chocolate, opening presents, eating Cap'n Crunch and drinking Dr Pepper.  

It's a Christmas I will never forget.  

So, this Christmas, you know what Jesus is going to get.  Gold, frankincense and myrrh.  Have you waited with excited anticipation as Jesus opened these gifts?  Did you see the joy in His eyes as He enjoyed what was given to Him?  

Do you approach this Christmas with excited anticipation?  

You know what you're going to get.  

The greatest gift of all time is given today.  

Are you going to open it and enjoy it?  

Jesus offers Himself.  

He wants to see you enjoy Him.  He wants you to enjoy Him as a little baby.  He wants you to enjoy Him as a young teen in the Temple.  He wants you to enjoy Him at the Wedding in Cana. He wants you to enjoy fishing with Him, learning from Him, becoming more like Him.  

He also wants you to follow Him.... All the way to the cross.  

If you haven't accepted the Savior of the World into your life, this is a great time to do it.

Make it a Christmas you will never forget.

BE HOLY.
BE A MAN.