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It's Sunday, September 29, 2024.

Today’s edition covers new research suggesting the Bible’s value for mental health, Martin Luther’s Ninety-five Theses, the solution to racism, and more.

Note from the editor: Yesterday was another big travel day, ergo the delay in this week’s edition. Our regular Project 18:15 publishing schedule should, Lord willing, be back to normal moving forward. As always, thanks for reading!

“Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.” (Proverbs 12:1) — Don’t be stupid!

Of Christian Concern

RESEARCH FINDS THE BIBLE IS GOOD FOR MENTAL HEALTH

Photo: RDNE Stock project

Some “mental illnesses” are misdiagnosed anti-biblical worldviews, George Barna contends according to a new report. He suggests that “anxiety, depression, fear, and even suicidal thoughts” are “often symptoms of an unhealthy worldview” and may not need to be treated with “counseling, hospitalization, drugs, or other common remedies.” Instead, “the best prescription for millions of Americans is to embrace a more reliable and proven worldview...”

Using data from the annual American Worldview Inventory by Arizona Christian University’s Cultural Research Center, “Barna identified a moderately strong inverse correlation between worldview and the frequent presence of anxiety, depression, or significant fear. In fact, individuals who lack a biblical worldview are more likely to struggle with these common mental health issues.” The highest occurrence is seen in Gen Z and Millennials.

Related, American Bible Society reports in its recently released chapter of State of the Bible 2024 that Gen Z adults (ages 18-27) have, among other maladies, “more fears” and “greater anxiety” “than any older generation.”

The authors add this notable point:  “Those members of Gen Z who are Scripture Engaged—who interact regularly with the Bible and apply it to their lives—do better. In fact, on several measures of emotional health, they score just as high as any other age group.”

So, the Bible is good for you. Who knew?

Also Noteworthy

→ Fulani herdsmen killed two more Christians in Nigeria last Thursday, following the kidnapping of a pastor and 30 congregants the previous Sunday.

→ Scotland’s buffer zones around abortion mills went into effect, and a pro-life group called the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) protested outside the Scottish Parliament.

→ Catholic employers do not need to offer time off for employees to get abortions, IVF, or transgender treatments, a U.S. federal judge ruled on Monday.  

→ Russia’s lower parliament overwhelmingly advanced a measure on Wednesday to ban the adoption of Russian children to transgender-affirming countries.

→ The Biden administration will pay a $210K settlement over a lawsuit filed by Christian Employers Alliance for violating their religious rights. The World View reports, “The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission wanted to force religious employers to provide health insurance coverage for transgender surgeries, procedures, and counseling.”

Content Catch-Up

Pastors Who Will and Won’t Vote for Trump: Christianity Today reports, “Half of Pastors Plan to Vote for Trump, Nearly a Quarter Wouldn’t Say.” The article breaks down how “Pastors’ Presidential Preferences Vary by Tradition.” (Article)

Photo: MART PRODUCTION

Church History Tidbit

The Ninety-five Theses

A single page printing of Ninety-five Theses in two columns. (Public Domain)

Martin Luther (1483-1546) reportedly nailed the Ninety-five Theses to the door of the Wittenberg's Castle Church in Germany on October 31, 1517. The document, alternatively titled Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences, was a list of statements that Luther intended to defend in academic debate.

Contrary to popular imagination, his nailing of the document, if it even happened, was probably not a dramatic act of defiance, but a simple act of announcing an upcoming academic discussion he wanted to have.

Nevertheless, many historians consider this moment to be the start of the Protestant Reformation. So, its historical significance can hardly be overstated. What, then, were the Ninety-five Theses about?

The 33-year-old reverend, a regular lecturer at Wittenberg, sought to oppose the common practice of selling indulgences as a means of forgiveness of sins. This increasingly corrupt practice had become commonplace, tricking people into believing they could buy forgiveness either for themselves or their deceased relatives. Luther understood this to be unbiblical and spiritually abusive.

Read the full text here. For a humorous retelling of the subsequent events in the style of the musical Hamilton, see here.

The Bible, Briefly

The Solution to Racism (Part 1)

Photo: olia danilevich

It may seem like a bold claim, but it’s a biblical one: Christians have the solution to racism, i.e., to hostility between people groups. That solution is found in Ephesians 2 and Colossians 3.

Ephesians 2: Broken Wall of Hostility

In Ephesians 2, the apostle Paul refers to two groups, the Gentiles and the Jews. Relations between these two were not great, historically. There were misunderstandings, power struggles, and vastly different lifestyles between them, all of which led to hostility.

Most of all, Gentiles were pagans, “separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12). So, God had made covenants and promises to Israel, and had even sent them the Christ—but the Gentiles were still in the dark.

Then this happened:

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off [i.e., Gentiles] have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both [i.e., Jews and Gentiles] one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. (Ephesians 2:13-16)

So, the death of Jesus paid the price of sin for Jews and Gentiles alike, such that Gentiles were able to be included in (“grafted in,” Romans 11:17) to Israel, to likewise be recipients of God’s promises. Thus, the hostility between these groups was destroyed along with sin.

Ethnicity Is Relatively Insignificant

In a sermon on this passage, Pastor Voddie Baucham argues that the difference between Jew and Gentile was a real distinction made by God when He called out Abraham and instituted the rite of circumcision (Genesis 12, 17). By contrast, ethnic distinctions are much less significant, since every human is genetically related to every other human, and ethnicities are merely a result of physical adaptations and cultural changes that have occurred over time as people moved into different parts of the world. These continually changing differences, which God determines in His sovereignty (Acts 17:26), are not as important as the difference that God explicitly commanded by setting the Jews apart.

So, if the hostility between Jews and Gentiles has been broken down through the death of Christ, then any hostilities between other people groups have certainly also been broken down. If the real distinction is abolished, superficial distinctions are, too.

But…?

But how can that be, since it’s clear that hostilities between groups still exist? And how can we be sure that this peace and reconciliation applies beyond the Jew-Gentile distinction? That brings us to Colossians 3.

To be continued… 

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Why "18:15"? The name Project 18:15 is based on Proverbs 18:15: “An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.” The aim is for this weekly email—a Christian news briefing, a Bible study, and a Church history lesson rolled into one—to be one way you keep abreast of current events and acquire knowledge you might not acquire elsewhere.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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