The Economic Blessings of Faith
All throughout Easter week I thought on the amazing blessings that the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ brought to the world. The forgiveness Christ offers, the power that comes from His Holy Spirit, and the fruits that He produces in human lives are of inestimable value to the human race.
In the same way, his followers have greatly changed and improved the planet by taking His teachings to the nations. One of the unique aspects of the United States in particular is its founding on the biblical principles of Jesus in family life, government, and even the economic sphere.
Not long ago, some major studies came out that detailed the economic blessings of faith in America.
What they found out might surprise you.
John Stonestreet’s article begins with this question: “Guess who has the world’s 15th largest economy, right between Russia and Australia?
“American religion. Yep.”
He goes on to explain: ‘A few months ago I mentioned a Pew study that demonstrated Americans’ increasing ignorance of the vital role played by religious institutions in this country. Between 2001 and 2016, the percentage of Americans who think that religion plays a role in solving important social problems fell from 75 percent to 58 percent.”
“As I said at the time, ‘part of the problem is that the religious contribution to the common good is so woven into the fabric of American life, most people these days just take it for granted and never stop to think about how prevalent it really is.’ In fact, according to another study, half of Americans think that the government could replace religious organizations with no problems and nothing lost.”
“And now, a new study quantifies just how wrong half of Americans are.”
“Published in the Interdisciplinary Journal of Research in Religion, the study quantifies that ‘religion in the United States today contributes $1.2 trillion each year to our economy and society.’ That’s ‘trillion’ with a “tr,” or ‘more than the top ten tech companies combined—including Google, Apple, and Amazon.’
Let that sink in for a moment. We tend to think of Google, Apple and Amazon as the business heavyweights of our day.
Jonestreet continues: “Put another way, if American religion were a country, it would rank 14thor 15th among the world’s economies, just ahead of Russia and just behind Australia. Put still another way, religion accounts for a little under seven percent of our economic output.”
“Now you still think that religion can just be replaced?”
“The study conducted by Brian and Melissa Grim of Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs reminds those willing to listen that the nation’s 344,000 religious congregations aren’t just houses of worship, ‘they are also the nucleus of many communities.’ They are the ‘centers for job training, charity, child care, and social events.’”
“They employ ‘hundreds of thousands of people, creating jobs, and spend billions of dollars on goods and services, which support local businesses.’ And finally, they fund 1.5 million social programs and gather 7.5 million volunteers.”
“As Brian Grim put it, the benefits of religion aren’t intangible, nor are they limited to the members of these congregations. People of faith serve the vulnerable because of their faith.”
“A little-known example of this outreach are the 78,000 programs that help ‘people struggling with mental illness.’ That’s three times as many programs as there are Starbucks in the entire world! Yet, while people joke about how ubiquitous Starbucks are, no one takes note of how all-pervasive these programs are.”
“Without these programs, the communities that rely upon them would be far worse off. And yet an increasing number of Americans think religion can just be replaced.”
“In light of these findings, think of the recent attempts to force churches to go along with the sexual revolution in places like Iowa and Massachusetts. Both efforts assume a private/public distinction that, as the report documents, just doesn’t exist.”
“For many congregations, what it means to be the Church isn’t limited to the four walls of their sanctuaries, and their understanding of what it means to love their neighbor isn’t limited to the folks in the pews. That’s why churches form the nucleus of so many communities.”
“In effect, proposals like the ones in Iowa and Massachusetts punish people of faith for loving their neighbors as themselves. Worse than that, they’re willing to sacrifice the vulnerable among us in the furtherance of the ideological projects of the sexual revolution, a revolution that has already left millions of victims in its wake.”
“There is no area of life that Americans care about, or at least should care about, in which people of faith, motivated by their faith, are absent. And their presence is making an incredible difference. Even if people refuse to notice.”
Jonestreet is right that the multitude of blessings (including economic ones) that people of faith bring to the United States is almost uncalculable. If America ever forgets her faith, those trillions of blessings will go away.
Julie Zauzmer of the Washington Post agrees that faith in Christ, among many things, is an economic powerhouse. She writes: “Religion is big business. Just how big? A new study, published by a father-daughter researcher team, says religion is bigger than Facebook, Google and Apple — combined.”
“The article in the Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion said that the annual revenues of faith-based enterprises — not just churches but hospitals, schools, charities and even gospel musicians and halal food makers — is more than $378 billion a year. And that’s not counting the annual shopping bonanza motivated by Christmas.” (Imagine if that was included.)
“Georgetown University’s Brian Grim and the Newseum’s Melissa Grim — in a study sponsored by an organization called Faith Counts, which promotes the value of religion — produced a 31-page breakdown of all the ways religion contributes to the U.S. economy.”
“The largest chunk of that $378 billion tally comes from faith-based health-care systems. Religious groups run many of the hospitals in the United States; Catholic health systems alone reportedly account for 1 in 6 hospital beds in the country.”
“Then there are churches and congregations themselves. Based on prior censuses of U.S. bodies of worship, the Grims looked at 344,894 congregations, from 236 different religious denominations (217 of them Christian). Collectively, those congregations count about half the American population as members. The average annual income for a congregation, the study said, is $242,910.”
“Most of that income comes from members’ donations and dues, meaning Americans give $74.5 billion to their congregations per year, the study said.”
“Religious charities also contribute to the economy. By far the largest faith-based charity, according to the study, is Lutheran Services of America, with an annual operating revenue of about $21 billion. The study counted 17 more faith-based charities, all among Forbes’s 50 biggest charities in America, with revenues ranging from $300 million (Cross International) to $6.6 billion (YMCA USA).”
“Almost all the charities are Christian, except for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, with an annual operating revenue of $400 million.”
“Religious revenues also include faith-based colleges and universities, where 2 million students pay more than $46.7 billion in tuition annually, the study said. The tally includes tuition revenues for religious elementary through high schools as well, plus the Christian book industry, sales of Christian music, the Christian cable networks EWTN and CBN.”
“The study suggested all sorts of other ways one could count the contribution of religion to the U.S. economy — the revenues of faith-linked businesses such as Hobby Lobby and Chick-fil-A, the box office profits of religious blockbuster movies such as ‘Heaven Is for Real,’ even the household income of millions of Americans who run their financial lives guided by their faiths.”
“But sticking just to the direct profits of faith, religion comes out as highly lucrative — a larger chunk of the country’s $16 trillion GDP, the Grims pointed out, than many giant corporations.”
Because Jesus Christ changes lives and his followers, in turn, live out their faith in the world, then myriads of blessings–financial, social, and spiritual–are brought to whole nations that bask in the light of Christ’s wisdom and love.
Hey, America (and other faith-based nations): Don’t knock or try to explain away your Christian roots.
“Count your blessings”–including financial ones that flow from Calvary and the Empty Tomb.
“Name them one by one.”
“Count your many blessings, see what God has done.”
Why the Resurrection Matters
I have believed for many years that the most important week in world history is Holy Week–the seven day period when Jesus of Nazareth arrived to fanfare in Jerusalem, died on a Roman cross of torture, and three days later was raised to life.
Of those seven days, Good Friday stands as the centerpiece–the day God substituted the death of His own Son in the place of humanity’s sin to bring forgiveness to all who believe. Good Friday was a day of atonement–a “covering” of our rebellion by the agonizing love of God.
Recently I’ve been thinking more about the Resurrection. It wasn’t the day of redemption. It didn’t have anything to do forgiving our sins.
But the Resurrection matters.
Deeply.
Here’s why.
The two most widely read articles I’ve written over the past few years describe the uniqueness of Jesus Christ and his unparalleled impact on world history. If you want some inspirational thoughts this week, here’s where you can find them.
The Uniqueness of Jesus Christ.
How Easter Changed the World–and Can Do It Again.
Yet, the Resurrection of Jesus confused me for a while because I kept finding Scriptures that indicated that Jesus was the first to rise from the dead (Acts 26:23). The idea was that because he was first, then the rest of us would follow. He was the first-fruits of a general resurrection of both the redeemed and unredeemed (1 Corinthians 15:20).
But I also knew that, in one sense, Jesus was not the first person to come back to life. Elijah performed that miracle on a young boy in the Old Testament (1 Kings 17:17-24) and his prophetic heir, Elisha, did the same thing (2 Kings 4:18-37).
I assume there were others.
In the New Testament, we have at least two stories of Jesus Himself resurrecting people. First was the young man in Nain who got up off his burial bed when Jesus gave the command (Luke 7:11-17). Even more impressive was the resurrection of Lazarus (John 11:1-44). He’d been in a tomb for four days and it was presumed that he was well rotted and the stench would be terrible (John 11:39).
But Jesus shouted for Lazarus to “Come Forth” out of the tomb (John 11:43). Apparently, whatever had been decayed was made whole, his spirit returned, and he walked out of the cave still wrapped in grave clothers.
So it’s pretty clear from both Old and New Testaments that, in the sense of those stories, Jesus was definitely not the first human being to be brought back to life (resusitated or resurrected).
So what makes his resurrection on Easter Sunday “first” or important?
Let’s go a little deeper.
Jesus was the first resurrected person that never had to die again. His resurrection was permanent, eternal. All others who experienced resurrection ended up dying once more. The young boy in Nain lived out his life and then died gain. Lazarus enjoyed more years with Mary and Martha, but then passed away a second time.
Jesus rose never to die again. It even appears that He was given a different body that could pass through walls (Luke 24:36), appeared different to the disciples (Luke 24:16), and ascended into heaven (Luke 24:51). His resurrection body seemed to be made from “different stuff” (1 Corinthians 15:42-44).
That resurrection–the first of its kind–signaled a change in the eternal order of things. From now on, those who put their trust in God’s atonement and were born again by his Spirit would join his permanent resurrection when they passed from this life.
Those who believed in Him “would never die” (John 11:25). Just like Jesus, we will be raised to a permanent resurrection.
But there’s one more reason for the greatness of the Resurrection:
It was the final PROOF that Jesus was God, not man, and that His promises are true.
Other people have sacrificed their lives. Some people have claimed to know God or be the way to God. But only ONE backed up that claim by rising from the dead.
Jesus Christ.
There is no other.
Let the remarkable words of Scripture speak for themselves:
“Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.”
“But the angel answered and said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he is risen as he said. Come see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead, and indeed he is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold I have told you.’”
“So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring his disciples word. And as they went to tell his disciples, behold Jesus met them saying, ‘Rejoice!’ So they came and held him by the feet and worshipped Him. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. God and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me.’”
“Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. When they saw him, they worshipped Him; but some doubted.”
“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and makes disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’”
(Matthew 28:1-10, 6-20).
Jesus Christ, the wondrously unique God/man, died for the sins for the world and rose from the dead to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt he was more than a human being. Resurrection served as the final witness in his trial for credibility.
Josh McDowell devotes eighty-five pages of his classic work, Evidence That Demands a Verdict, to the historical, logical and literary proofs for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. His risen life remains one of the most provable events of ancient times.
He points out that human beings living since the death and resurrection of Jesus are faced with only three choices relating to the Son of God. Either he was a lunatic who made crazy claims—a liar who has deceived billions—or the Lord of life that he claimed to be.
Number three is the most logical choice.
G.B. Hardy exclaims: “Here is the record. Confucius tomb – occupied. Buddha’s tomb – occupied. Mohammed’s tomb – occupied. Jesus’ tomb — EMPTY. The decision is yours to make; the evidence speaks for itself. It says very clearly—Christ is risen indeed!”
The proof is in. Once for all sacrifice for sin. Permanent first resurrection. Those who believe follow.
Happy Easter.
Rejoice!
Neil Gorsuch and the Spirit of Lawlessness
This month in my morning devotions I finished reading the book of Deuteronomy. Eugene Peterson calls it the world’s longest sermon by the world’s oldest preacher.
I love Deuteronomy because it clearly lays out the landscape of the moral world. This fifth book of Moses is really an “Instruction Manual for Wise Living” from ancient times. The main idea is still relevant. When we love God and obey his commands, great blessings flow. But when we turn away from God’s blueprints for living, all hell can break loose because right and wrong have consequences.
By Friday the US Senate will confirm Neil Gorsuch as an associate justice on the United States Supreme Court. Gorsuch probably shares my opinion on Deuteronomy. It was the most widely quoted book during the Constitutional Convention.
Neil Gorsuch is a Constitutionalist.
Will God use his appointment to help stop the tide of lawlessness in our nation?
The Bible is pretty clear that in the last days, (prior to Christ’s Return), lawlessness will increase. People won’t obey God’s laws for living and will cut themselves loose from his commands.
Notice the Apostle Paul’s prophetic words in two New Testament passages:
“But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power” (2 Timothy 3:1-5).
“For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved” (2 Thessalonians 2:7-10).
To highlight a few items:
- The first list of “bad behavior” comes from loving self and pleasure instead of loving God i.e. turning away from his standards.
- This involves a breakdown of “self control” including family disintegration.
- All these ugly and selfish actions come from a spirit of lawlessness.
- The ultimate immoral mind behind the lawless one (Anti-Christ) is Satan.
- Many folks will be deceived by the lawless spirit and reject God’s truth and salvation.
Sounds pretty bad to me. Lawlessness brings disobedience, godlessness and chaos. This philosophy comes from the pit of hell where Satan and his demons try to add human beings to their rebellion.
They operate out of a spirit (mind-set) of lawlessness.
On the other side, godly people love the order and beauty of law (Psalm 119). They know that societies that love, respect, and keep good laws are more peaceful and blessed.
Which brings us to the present. Have you noticed the growth of lawlessness in the Western World (Judeo-Christian based culture) in the past six decades? Do you lament the acceleration of that spirit of lawlessness in the past few years?
Here’s a brief overview of the growth in lawlessness (20th century):
1. The 1960s saw a wholesale revulsion of God’s precepts when millions of teenagers rejected their parents’ authority and moral standards and began to rebel, smoke dope, and sleep around. I know because I was there. It was a time of casting off inner restraints (self control) for pleasure -oriented hedonism.
2. In subsequent decades we tossed the Bible and prayer out of the public schools and even decided we would re-define murder to exclude killing your own baby (abortion). Lawless people changed God’s laws to cover up their rebellion and sin.
3. During this same period, we threw away God’s laws on debt and sound money–running up a staggering twenty trillion dollars in government IOUs (plus trillions more in personal debt). I noticed reading Deuteronomy that when you obey God’s principles, you become the lender, not the borrower (Deuteronomy 15:6). In two generations the United States went from being the world’s largest lender (think the Marshall Plan), to become the world’s greatest debtor. Tragic.
4. An incredible breakdown of the American family highlights the past few decades of lawlessness. The American two-parent home was once the bedrock of our society. Today, nearly 40% of American children have been ripped away from father or mother, and in some cities, single-parent homes are up to 70%. We’ve forgotten the good laws make families stable and great.
5. Did you notice that from 1960 to today we lost most of our wars–Korean, Vietnam, and now conflicts in the Middle East? Deuteronomy details that consequence of lawlessness: “The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven, and you will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms on earth” (Deuteronomy 28:25).
Now let’s examine the 21st century acceleration of the lawless spirit:
1. The Obama Administration greatly advanced the rejection of biblical laws and mores by re-defining marriage, promoting gender confusion, and using the US presidency to govern by fiat. In eight years, the US Congress passed no budgets (a Harry Reed tactic). They simply operated by Continuing Resolutions that bypassed Congress and doubled the national debt in eight years.
7. Groups like Black Lives Matter, emboldened by the Justice Department, started a lawless war against police in large American cities. Dozens of cops have been mowed down during this season of anarchy. Occupy Wall Street made violent protest normal across the land.
8. Both in Europe and America, politicians laughed at sovereignty laws and proclaimed lawless “Open Borders” for many immigrants. Some European cities are powder kegs of rape and Muslim terrorism. In the United States, millions of illegal criminals are welcome in “Sanctuary Cities” in direct violation of federal law. We even changed the wording from “illegal aliens” to “undocumented workers.” Clever and lawless. Signs at many rallies say that “No One is Illegal.” Really?
9. A large scandal envelops our national security agencies as documents leak, intelligence laws loosen, and recent evidence points to one administration using the powers of government to collect information on their political opponents. This is unheard of lawlessness in American high places.
10. The Democratic Party knows it can’t win with its ideas at the ballot box (losing 1200 seats nationwide in eight years), so it resorts to pushing its agenda through the courts. Harry Reid changed 200 years of Senate protocol in 2013 by eliminating a 60 vote norm for approving federal justices. He did so to allow the Obama administration to pack the federal courts with lawless judges–those who do not respect the Constitution. They want to force a lawless secular agenda upon the people of the US.
We arrived at the 2016 election with a lawless spirit exploding on many fronts. Though Donald Trump was an unusual candidate, millions of Americans realized he needed their vote to help reverse the tide of lawlessness.
A major battlefield? The US Supreme Court.
Constitutionalist (lover of law) Antonin Scalia had died suddenly. The Court was grid-locked with four anti-law justices (Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan) along with four generally law-respecting jurists (Kennedy, Thomas, Alito and Roberts).
The American people realized that generations of lawlessness–and maybe disaster–could sweep the United States if Hillary Clinton won and nominated another lawless judge. And then another. And maybe another.
America might not survive a lawlessly tilted Supreme Court.
So people turned out en masse to vote. One of the goals was to elect a president who would appoint a law-loving judge who could put his finger in the crumbling dike of American law and culture and help stop the explosion.
Donald Trump did the right thing and appointed Neil Gorsuch.
The Democrats are now screaming against an eminently qualified judge while threatening to filibuster a US Supreme Court nominee for the first time in history. They know that the only way governmental lawlessness can continue unabated is through SCOTUS overriding the will of the people.
But they won’t prevail on this one. Neil Gorsuch will win confirmation.
Here’s Gorsuch’s view of the law:
“I respect, too, the fact that in our legal order it is for Congress and not the courts to write new laws. It is the role of judges to apply, not alter, the work of the people’s representatives.”
“Standing here in a house of history, and acutely aware of my own imperfections, I pledge that if I am confirmed I will do all my powers permit to be a faithful servant of the Constitution and laws of this great country.”
I believe Neil Gorsuch will do his part.
Will you do yours to combat the spirit of lawlessness?