My wife preached yesterday at Hill City Church and as always brought perspective to my life. She taught on the reality that God is always working and the world is not getting worse. In light of what she taught on, I thought this blog was appropriate. The Kingdom of God only knows increase, regardless of what news source you've been feasting on lately.
Matt Ridley recently said, "The generation that has experienced more peace, freedom, leisure time, education, medicine, travel, movies, mobile phones, and massages than any generation in history is lapping up gloom at every opportunity."
Hans Rosling, a Swedish statistician said, "It is easy to be aware of all the bad things happening in the world. It's harder to know about the good things: billions of improvements that are never reported."
We love bad news. We love pessimism. And both are anti-gospel!
Author J.D. King has a book titled "Why you've been duped into believing that the world is getting worse," and I'll share some of the things he addresses below...
If the world is getting worse, shouldn't there be higher rates of illiteracy, racism, and gender inequality?
War related death is lowest ever recorded.
Terrorism only accounts for .05% of annual deaths. Statistics show more Westerners die in bathtubs and staircase falls than Islamic violence.
FBI disclosed that homicides dropped nearly 50% in the last 25 years.
Poverty is at an all time low. Steve Denning writes, "Every single day since 1990, on average, there were 130,000 people fewer in extreme poverty."
91% of humanity now lives in middle and high-income nations. Thus, the notion of a divided world with majority stuck in misery and deprivation is an illusion.
Women rights is also the best they've ever been. Did you know in 1900 the only nation where a woman could vote was New Zealand? Think how much has changed in 100 years! Ivy League schools didn't even accept female students until the 1960's.
Yes, several of these issues above are still a problem as many of us deal with the pain of unexpected loss and inequality, but that does not mean statistically as a whole that the world is getting worse. The world is always improving and today is truly the best time to be alive.
Let’s not forget how amazing the world is as we read these words on our smart phone or computer devices. Let’s not forget how we brainwash ourselves watching news channels on our 65 inch flat screen tv that we purchased for less than 1K. Let’s not forget how convenient it is to drive to the grocery store as most of us have never wondered where our next meal will come from. I could go on and on but I have to make a latté and start watching online videos for my next graduate class…
But most importantly, let's not forget the Kingdom we carry within.