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| Section: Walking In The Faith |
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| Category: Biblical Teaching / Lesson |
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| WHAT ARE THE ODDS?! |
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I’m just going to throw this one out to you and let you decide. I generally like to fully research any numbers or statistics before launching, but I am just going to round off at the nearest zero so that the point is made regardless of how hair-splitting it may become. It is my desire to give general examples that relate to the title so that a balanced perspective will emerge. So, here it goes:
I was thinking recently about the number of soldiers in Iraq and how many deaths have resulted from the war thus far. It seemed to me, upon reading the latest headline of another soldier dead due to a roadside bombs, we were being exposed to a huge injustice. After all, there are well over 150,000 troops in a country of 25 or 26 million people. We have been at war in Iraq over four years now and the total death count is less than 4,000. This comes to less than 1,000 lives lost per year. Saying this, I want it known that every life is precious. That is not my point. I just want to put it in perspective, that’s all. Let’s look at some other stats:
In this country each year approximately 36,000 people die from influenza. That is an average of 3,000 lives lost each month. About 45,000 lives are lost each year on our nation’s highways in automobile accidents. This amounts to nearly 4,000 lives lost each month. There are numerous other stats that could be mentioned here, not the least of which is the number of deaths in hospitals each year due to anything from staph infection to surgical mistakes. This arguably exceeds 100,000 lives a year! If this is accurate, that comes to more than 8,000 lives lost each month! Where is the public outrage to these examples of death? Why do we not see the headlines decrying these needless deaths?!
I watch with amazement the number of people that play the lottery these days. The larger the jackpot, the more tickets people will buy. Sadly, it is a known fact that most of the people who can least afford to buy tickets are the ones most likely to do so. Let’s say the jackpot is worth $30,000,000. What are the odds of picking the winning numbers? No doubt the majority doesn’t care; they just hope to win. Well, let’s do the math. If you purchase 30 tickets, your odds of winning are 1 in 1,000,000! I think I read somewhere that you have a much better chance of getting hit by lightning or drowning in your bathtub!! Instead of public concern for the devastation gambling causes, we see and hear ads espousing how “the lottery does good things”. Really?
We are so driven by numbers, stats and odds that we often don’t stop to even think about it. We have been so completely inundated with figures that it is getting hard to figure it all out. Maybe what we need to do is just relax. After all, it is a safe bet we will sooner or later win THE lottery: death itself. Being a Christian, why stress over how it will happen? No matter what we do to avoid it, we can’t avoid it. Let’s take the advice the Bible gives: Regarding the “here and now”, Jesus said He has brought us life abundantly (John 10:10) and also says not to worry (Matthew 6:25 - 34). Let us resolve to take Him at His word. Regarding the “hereafter”, He has done what no one else can do: He beat the odds by rising from the dead! That is our hope and we can safely win the real Jackpot of eternal life by placing our bet on Him. Can you say “BINGO!!!”? |
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| Date of Submission: 2007-09-29 11:09:51 |
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