The Difference That Lasts Forever, "Christ In You"

"A Mystery Among The Gentiles"

"To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." Col.1:27.

When Jim Pound and I (and the members of Temple Baptist Church) founded North Florida Christian Schools, in three seperate Florida counties, our published claim and refrain was, "The difference that lasts forever". Before he died, Jim founded a fourth, school on his own, in a fourth county, with the same mantra, "The difference that lasts forever". (Temple, in Tallahassee, is now North Florida Baptist Church).

Here is the latest in a long list of legitimate studies, by secular groups such as the one below, which was made by Harvard University's C. H. Chan School of Public Health. Though Harvard was founded by Christians it has long since turned totally secular and non-religious. So their study, being done for worldly, "Public Health", understanding of the positive effects, upon children, of early "spiritual" exposure, is from a non- Christian, public health view-point. Their interpretation of the results are also from a secular view, though it is an honest analysis ... as if to say, "What do these 'religious' people have that makes them different from everybody else?" What the studiers do not reveal is that most of the children studied were from 'Christian' families. So in most of the cases, the difference is "Christ". In the others, religion and prayer still showed a positive improvement in children. It is unusual to see an article like this in a Business News Magazine ... but you won't see it in any of the major news outlets.

From FORBES News Magazine

Raising Kids With Religion Or Spirituality May Protect Their Mental Health: Study

A new study from Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health finds that kids and teens who are raised with religious or spiritual practices tend to have better health and mental health as they age. But not to worry if you’re not a service-attender. The research, published last week in the American Journal of Epidemiology, finds that people who prayed or meditated on their own time also reaped similar benefits, including lower risk of substance abuse and depression later on.

The team looked at data from 5,000 people taking part in the long-term Nurses' Health Study II and its next generation Growing Up Today Study (GUTS). They were interested in whether the frequency with which a child/teen attended religious services with their parents or prayed/meditated on their own was correlated with their health and mental health as they grew into their 20s. The young people were followed for anywhere from eight to 14 years.

It turned out that those who attended religious services at least once a week as children or teens were about 18% more likely to report being happier in their 20s than those who never attended services. They were also almost 30% more likely to do volunteer work and 33% less likely to use drugs in their 20s as well.