Welcome back to my blog! In recent posts we have been exploring the exciting topic of how Biblical truth enhances personal wellbeing. We’ve discussed research performed by Teleios through a series of surveys in healthy individuals and ophthalmology patients, as well as a review article regarding religion in the medically ill.

Today we explore another medical literature review we conducted regarding the effect of religion upon wellbeing in the general population. Most all the studies we reviewed evaluated members of the Christian faith. Please see the full report here.

Our review showed a positive effect on wellbeing from religion in the lives of healthy people who were: > 10 years old, both genders, and either African-American or Caucasian.

Religion improved general wellbeing and also in specific measures such as:

• sense of community
• purpose
• satisfaction
• hope
• social relationships
• ability to forgive

Even more, the findings indicated that the measures typically used to adhere and grow in religious faith also increased wellbeing including:

• fellowship with other believers
• scripture study
• prayer
• praise
• outreach in the local community

Additionally, increased adherence to one’s faith gave even greater benefits on wellbeing!

What does this mean practically? This review helps us recognize that religion, and in this case Christianity specifically, may enhance personal wellbeing generally but its benefit also extends to specific areas of life such as career satisfaction, marriage, family functioning, and socialization.

Why would Christianity provide an improved wellbeing? We don’t know of any studies about this but here’s what we speculate.

First, on a spiritual level the confidence of God’s acceptance through faith in the sacrifice of Christ helps remove guilt and insecurity about a person’s relationship with God. The importance of such confidence was indicated in several studies noting that medically ill patients who have a negative, insecure relationship with God suffer with worse wellbeing.

Second, in practical daily life the Christian scriptures provide advice on wise living in regards to family life, career, ethical choices, treatment of people in terms of mental mindset and speech (i.e., forgiveness, thankfulness, etc.). The benefits stemming from this advice can be gained by adherence to Biblical principles causing maturity (fellowship with other believers, prayer, praise, service and a Biblical learning process).

Our review demonstrated that religion, and Christianity in particular, may provide enhanced general wellbeing across various age and ethnic groups and specifically in family and social relationships as well as career. More research is needed, however, comparing wellbeing to other religions and among cultures.

A guest blog from Rod MacIlvaine…

In 1 Corinthians 6:19 Paul says, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

This would have been a very surprising statement for Paul to make to an assembly of sophisticated Greeks living in the 1^st century. The Greek view of the body suggested it was the prison house of the soul. The body was a hindrance to the freedom of the inner-self. That view caused many people in the ancient world to disrespect their bodies in many health-destroying ways.

The biblical view of the body is very different. From Genesis to Revelation the Bible asserts a unity between the physical body and the immaterial soul. What we do with our bodies affects our soul; what we do with our soul affects our body. Because we are a soul/body unity, it’s critically important that we respect our physical body as something that can impact emotions, joy and consequently many ranges of mental health.

Conversely, those disciplines that calm and center our soul on God have the potential to affect our physical health.

Specifically, in this case, Paul says, “Don’t commit acts of sexual immorality.” Why? We know today from the vantage point of modern science that these acts will create body/soul memories, imprints that often interfere with genuine long-term stable relationships, especially with those we love the most, not to mention causing estrangement in our relationship with God.

Moreover, sexually transmitted diseases are exploding today. According to the CDC, “half of the estimated 20 million STDs that occur in the United States each year are among young people.” According to RH Reality Check, the recent rise in sexually transmitted diseases continues as epidemic proportions (1).

But we can extend Paul’s principle of respecting the God-given boundaries of our bodies, to other areas as well. We live in a world where science-based studies inform us about all sorts of healthy and unhealthy behaviors. So, I think Paul would say, by application, “Look, glorify God in your bodies by maintaining good habits of mental and physical health.”

All of us know that certain habits will quickly destroy physical and mental health. Pornography is a quick way to addiction. Drug abuse is a quick way to mental instability. Abusing food is a slow path toward physical ill-health.

But the ultimate reason for maintaining habits of health is that our bodies are a portable mini-temple for the Holy Spirit. Our bodies are containers. But they are more simply disposable containers.

Our bodies are dignified and spiritual. We are a temple reserved for God the Holy Spirit to do his work.

If we are healthy we’re going to have greater opportunities to represent the risen Christ through the power of his Spirit.

Another passage supports this as well: Romans 12:1-2 – “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” The fundamental way we steward our bodies is to present them to God each day.

And because we’re a soul/body unity, we are simultaneously presenting both body and mind.

Daily stewardship of our physical bodies is going to lead to greater long-term health and happiness.

Rod MacIlvaine – Director of Faith-Based Research
Rodman MacIlvaine, III, DMin is on the adjunct faculties of both Oklahoma Wesleyan University andDallas Theological Seminary. He is the founding senior pastor of Grace Community Churchin Northeastern, Oklahoma – a church that has worked extensively to serve educational needs in the Spanish Speaking Caribbean. A Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach, Dr. MacIlvaine works with men and women in transition, especially those who are shifting into second careers. Dr. MacIlvaine specializes in apologetics from an historical and theological perspective. His emphasis is in showing how adhering to God’s word has generated many benefits to societies, cultures and individuals.

1. http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2014/01/14/report-sexually-transmitted-disease-cases-increased-2012/

Welcome back to the Teleios blog! We have been exploring together how the Bible improves our lives practically.

Most people would agree that few topics are as important to our lives as marriage. This long-standing institution has been under attack in our culture for the past few generations! Is marriage, as traditionally defined as a legal union between a man and a woman, worth preserving for society? Is there an advantage to this form of union to individuals’ mental and physical health, and to society in general?

To analyze this question we reviewed past studies in the medical literature which evaluated the benefits and disadvantages of legally binding, heterosexual marriage. We went back as far as 1966!

The analysis showed overwhelming benefits of traditional marriage on general wellbeing and specific parameters that might affect wellbeing, including physical and mental health, sexual satisfaction, family income, and children’s outcomes. Of the 42 articles evaluated, only 3 did not describe any marriage benefits. Even more, the stronger the relationship commitment, the greater trend of enhanced wellbeing. Never married, widowed and divorced individuals suffered the lowest wellbeing.

Interestingly, individuals in a committed relationship, even unmarried, generally had improved elements of wellbeing compared to those uncommitted. But marriage relationships, which typically demonstrate the strongest legal and outward social commitment to a relationship, generally had the highest wellbeing of all relationships. Further, some evidence in diseased and depressed individuals indicated that the better quality of the marriage relationship, the better the wellbeing-related outcome.

How to explain these results? We speculated on several reasons.

• First, a committed partner helping with income, household tasks, and raising children can lessen the burden compared to a single parent.
• Second, socialization with a marriage partner provides a potential source of personal enrichment, encouragement and empathy.
• Third, the more committed the relationship, the greater confidence spouses can have in each other thus conserving time, money and emotion required to correct problems in their relationship.
• Fourth, marriage partners can help maintain good health by encouraging each other to keep medical appointments, take medicines and develop a healthy lifestyle.
• Last, the marriage commitment may facilitate sexual satisfaction by building confidence that no competing love interest is diverting the attention of their spouse.

Why would a committed marital relationship have a positive impact on children and the community? Again we speculated.

• First, the ability of a couple to help each other provides sufficient time and money resources to better raise children and serve the community.
• Second, satisfied couples who are not dealing with internal problems can more easily look outwards to helping their children and community.
• Last, committed couples who agree together how to raise their children can provide a more consistent, productive, secure and supportive home environment.

Our review suggested that traditional marriage generally provides numerous benefits to the relationship partners through enhanced measures of mental and physical wellbeing, and benefits to their children compared to other heterosexual partnership arrangements or single status.

To ponder, should the US government institute policies that encourage traditional marriage as a method to enhance societal wellbeing and economic success?

Thank you for taking time to visit my blog. I look forward to seeing you again next week.

Greetings again and welcome back to my blog! We have been exploring the exciting topic of how Biblical truth enhances personal wellbeing. Last week we discussed, based on a prospective study performed by Teleios, that when patients with glaucoma adhere to Christian principles they have greater wellbeing and easier acceptance of their disease (1).

As helpful as prospective studies are, we are fortunate that many past medical investigators already have performed a lot of work showing that Christian principles enhance wellbeing in people suffering illness. We recently compiled this information in a review (2). The vast majority of the research was performed in historically Christian countries.

Our review found that religious faith is important to many patients, particularly those with a serious disease, and that patients depend on it as a positive coping mechanism. Further, many patients react positively to a physician’s spiritual interaction with them, especially with greater severity of their health problems.

Importantly, religious practices, including prayer, generally provide positive results in the patient’s life and treatment, as determined by factors such as a patient’s: knowledge about their disease, adherence to treatment, disease coping, quality of life, and overall health outcomes.

Although not completely understood, we speculate that these benefits might have resulted from religion’s general encouragement to maintain a positive attitude and be respectful of medical personnel, as well as providing a comforting hope for a potential cure and/or their eternal future. Further, perhaps, the structure of the religious practice provided the patient with the discipline to learn about their disease and adhere to treatment. In addition, our review noted that the more a patient practiced the positive aspects of their religion, the greater the benefits on how they coped with their disease and treatment.

Our review suggested that patients commonly practice religion and interact with God about their disease state. This spiritual interaction may benefit a patient by providing comfort, increasing knowledge about their disease, greater treatment adherence, and quality of life.

Many research avenues remain open regarding religion and disease, including better controlled studies relating the impact of religion on a patient’s quality of life and disease.

To ponder…Would you expect the same benefits across all religions? Between those who take their Christian faith seriously versus those who participate in Christianity on a cultural basis only?

Thank you again for visiting. Please ask questions or comment. I look forward to seeing you next week.

1. Stewart WC, Sharpe ED, Kristoffersen CJ, Nelson LA, Stewart JA. Association of strength of religious adherence to attitudes regarding glaucoma or ocular hypertension. Ophthalmic Res 2011:45:53-6.
2. Stewart WC, Adams MP, Stewart JA, Nelson LA. Review of clinical medicine and religious practice. J Relig Health 2013;52:91-106.

Hello again, welcome back! We have been exploring the exciting topic of scripture and how adherence to the Christian principles of daily living (prayer, praise, fellowship, receiving Biblical teaching and service) enhance a person’s wellbeing (Acts 2:42,47).

In prior blogs we have reported our findings in the general healthy population, but can the medically ill also improve their wellbeing through Christian living? Can the same biblical principles apply in individuals suffering the emotional distress of sickness?

We examined this question in a cross-sectional survey of patients with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension (1). We evaluated self-reported religious adherence to specific basic activities and knowledge of faith and personal comfort. This specific analysis was limited to self-professed Christians.

The survey included 248 patients from one clinical practice in Charleston, SC and showed that those who were adherent to activities intended to create religious maturity (drawing encouragement from other church members, reading Scripture or encouraging others to have faith), and had at least a basic knowledge about their faith, demonstrated greater comfort related to their illness and treatment. Specifically, comfort was manifested as: a positive attitude towards their disease, a better ability to cope with their symptoms, a belief that God was concerned about their diagnosis and helped with their treatment.

When the findings were further analyzed by assessing those subjects who were most ‘adherent’, compared to those who were least adherent, an even greater separation between groups was observed with respect to comfort. This finding may indicate that the more serious a person is about the practice of their religion, the greater sense of wellbeing they may derive from it.

This study suggested that Christian practice may assist patients in better coping with their disease and that it may possibly increase the quality of their life. This study included patients with a chronic ocular disease. Would the same principles also apply in patients with acute or systemic disease?

Thanks for visiting. I hope you will return next week for further discussion about the practical use of the Bible in daily life. 

• Stewart WC, Sharpe ED, Kristoffersen CJ, Nelson LA, Stewart JA. Association of strength of religious adherence to attitudes regarding glaucoma or ocular hypertension. Ophthalmic Res 2011:45:53-6.

Today let’s examine ways in which the Bible helps us with our daily life and wellbeing. Last week we explored how adherence to basic Christian principles of daily living such as prayer, praise, fellowship, receiving Biblical teaching and outreach (Acts 2:42,47) can be a tool we use to enhance personal wellbeing.

Now let’s focus on one aspect of these principles, personal service. Teleios recently evaluated the effect of personal service on wellbeing at Grace Community Church (1). We surveyed 309 adults in two services on one Sunday.

The survey showed that individuals who routinely participated in a community or church-based service program, compared to those who did not, had better wellbeing scores in contentment, peace, joy, purpose and community acceptance. Wow! Who wouldn’t want that? Additionally, people who served had a better global wellbeing score (average of seven questions together) than those who did not serve.

Interestingly, the study showed the benefit of service might occur with as little as just one hour a week helping others! The benefit was even greater when people served up to 6 hours per week. In addition, the perceived benefit of the service did not depend on the type of service, whether in the church or in non-church sponsored community service.

That leads us to ask why personal service would help wellbeing. We don’t know this answer for certain but there are several potentials:

• Serving others provides us with a sense of purpose.
• Serving provides a comfort that our lives are useful.
• When we serve we realize we are being obedient and living consistently with God’s desires.
• Serving takes our eyes off ourselves so we don’t focus just on our problems but also on assisting others.

To ponder…do all types of community service impact wellbeing equally?  In other words, does spiritual service have as much impact as service that is purely social?

Thanks for visiting. I look forward to seeing you again next week.

1. MacIlvaine WR, Nelson LA, Stewart JA, Stewart WC. Association of strength of community service to personal wellbeing. Community Ment Health J 2014;50:577-582.

Do you have personal peace – peace with God, peace with family and friends, peace of mind? Peace is one of the great quests of mankind! For those who know God through faith, personal peace is mentioned as one of the fruits of the spirit (Galatians 5:22) that he desires us to have.

Is it true? Can somebody who is a Christian have personal peace? We explored this topic in a study performed in Bartlesville, OK at Grace Community Church (1). On one Sunday, at two services, we asked the adult population to complete a questionnaire regarding different aspects of their wellbeing including peace as well as their adherence to the practice of their faith.

How did we define adherence to faith? From the Bible we delineated the following as ‘adherence to faith’ if: they proclaimed to be a Christian through personal faith in Jesus Christ and His sacrifice on the cross as a free gift of salvation; they were secure in their salvation; and they frequently utilized the five tools to maturity in their lives (prayer, praise, faith, reaching out and growing in knowledge of scripture) (Acts 2:42,47; Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 3:23-26; 1 Peter 1:4-5; John 10:27-30).

The results of the survey showed on a visual analog scale of 0-6 the average level of peace was 1.8 for the entire congregation (0 being most and 6 being least) – not bad! However, when we separated the congregation into groups based on adherence to faith there was a highly significant difference between groups with the more adherent group having greater peace!

What explains the finding? Well we don’t know for certain, but four potential reasons come to mind.

• First, the practice of Christianity causes us to focus on a higher being that has purposes higher than our own. This focus may make help take our mind away from our own anxious thoughts.
• Second, the adherence to the practice of Christianity provides for prayer to an accepting great high priest, Jesus Christ, who cares for our every time and need.
• Third, we know knowledge is power. Christianity furnishes an excellent text, the Bible, which teaches us the truths about God so we know how to think of ourselves correctly and do not believe lies about God.
• Lastly, Christianity urges us to reach out and touch others within our faith and to provide community service. Consequently, this helps us not to concentrate on our own anxieties and issues (2).

How can I get peace? Make sure you are a Christian and know that your sins have been forgiven freely by faith in Christ. You then should realize that God accepts you and this great salvation cannot be taken away. Practicing your faith balanced between the five tools of maturity mentioned above will help build the mindset and practices which the Spirit can use to build peace. It takes time and commitment, but you can do it. The fruits are there and blessings beyond measure.

1. MacIlvaine WR, Nelson LA, Stewart JA, Stewart WC. Association of strength of religious adherence to quality of life measures. Complement Ther Clin Pract 2013;19:251-255.
2. MacIlvaine WR, Nelson LA, Stewart JA, Stewart WC. Association of strength of community service to personal wellbeing. Community Ment Health J 2014;50:577-582.

Thank you for reading my blog. It is a privilege to write this blog. I hope you find the information useful.

The purpose of the Teleios Foundation is to provide science-based information on the truth of scripture, its positive impact in our lives and to educate on these results.

We recently performed a survey on the Instagram account, InstaPray, asking participants about their Bible study habits and discipleship beliefs. We had 822 participants of whom 25% were <18 years of age and 55% between 18 and 30. Half resided outside the United States, 80% described themselves as evangelical and 85% as saved by grace. Full findings here.

We noted several interesting findings.

External Bible learning resources – Participants most often depended on their pastor’s sermons as their primary external resource for biblical education (75%). Also important were other small groups within the church (50%). The highest extra-church resources were online searches and websites (47%). Books about scripture were about 33%.

Comment: These data continue to show the importance of the local church in biblical education. However, they also demonstrate the importance of the emergence of online resources.

As wonderful as the internet is, we urge our students to be careful of Bible themed online resources. Investigate the author’s biography if possible and their doctrinal statement on the site. Make sure they believe in biblical authority, Jesus as Christ, God, man, salvation by grace, and other essential biblical themes.

Personal Bible study techniques – Participants noted overwhelming that their personal Bible study was to read scripture (83%). Following this, just over a third said they sought information as they needed it, listened to a sermon podcast or meditated on scripture. About 30% noted they did a verse by verse study themselves and 22% in a Bible study group.

Comment: We emphasize to our own students the importance of verse-by-verse study to add to the vital knowledge gained form their pastor’s sermons. Verse-by-verse study discovers the most interesting and complete information from scripture to know Christ and to gain its benefits in our lives. A good resource to learn the technique Joy of Discovery, at Amazon.

Bible study definition – When participants were asked how they define Bible study their answers differed from what they practiced. Most all believed that reading the Bible was proper technique (82%) but 60% confessed that verse-by-verse study also was important as well as meditating on scripture. Videos ranked at 40% while seeking out information as needed fell to 37%.

These data show an inconsistency by the participants between their beliefs about Bible study versus their actions in that commonly they seek out information when needed. However, they recognized that verse-by-verse Bible study is important but actually do this method less often than they believe they should, either individually or in a group.

Comment: At Teleios we believe it’s vital to study scripture not only verse-by-verse to gain all that scripture offers, as noted above, but also to study prospectively and not just when the need arises.

Obviously, we do not know all the reasons people seek information online, however, when we seek God in advance before troubles arise we can perceive nasty life entanglements more clearly regarding which people or situations to avoid and keep ourselves from problems. It is better to see that rock on the trail before you trip than to look back, having fallen flat, and say “Oh yeah, I should not have done that!” Scripture is the light that helps us avoid mistakes.

Thank you for reading my blog. Please join us again next week as we discuss the immense the participant’s views on discipleship.

Thank you for visiting my blog. Continuing our discussion from last week, we recently surveyed a mostly evangelical group of adolescents and millennials on the Instagram account, godsholyscriptures, regarding what the Bible teaches about marriage. There were 321 participants.

The key question in the survey was the main purpose of Christian marriage, demonstrating the relationship between Christ and the church, for which about 40% of participants correctly identified. We also asked about other biblical aspects of marriage applied to Christians. Please see all the fascinating survey results on our website.

Today let’s discover the main biblical points on Christian marriage which are discussed primarily in the in the marvelous passage, Ephesians 5:21-33.

• Prelude V.15-20 – These verses indicate Christians generally should live their lives with the knowledge, mentality and speech of a believer. We should do this in a careful and thoughtful fashion, seeking God prospectively to avoid problems and to live a holy life. This passage could be applied nicely to the marriage passage that follows. From these verses we learn we can prepare ourselves for marriage by:
  • Becoming the quality partner that a Christian person would want to marry.
  • Seeking yourself a person with these qualities.
  • Practicing the Christian life so these principles can be easily applied in your future marital relationship.
• Both husband and wife submit to the word of God and to each other V.21 – This important verse indicates that each marriage partner should love God so much that they will gladly submit to the other person through God’s word. Indeed, from my own experience it is joy for me and my wife to perceive life correctly together from God’s word.
• Wife submits to the husband V.22-24 – This is a key portion of the passage and has at least two important purposes:
  • It reflects the church’s submission to Christ to unbelievers and is part of the evangelical purpose of marriage.
  • It provides order as both marriage partners also submit to God, allowing the gospel to more easily advance in our culture.
  • The husband is responsible overall for the conduct of the marriage before God. I picture biblical submission in marriage much like a CEO directing their company. A good CEO is responsible for the company so helps it succeed by not suppressing their employees and manage all their tasks, but he empowers them and frees them to become the best they can be.
• Husband loves wife as Christ loves the church V.25 – The husband should be totally devoted to a giving selfless (i.e., Gr. agape) love to his wife as Christ loved the church.
• Husband nurtures his wife V.26-27 – He gives his all to his wife to present her holy before Christ, otherwise, to be the best she can be in this life.
• Husband loves himself when he loves his wife V.28-30 – This is an amazing truth. I can affirm from experience that as I love my wife she gives more back to me that I ever could have given to her.
• Leave and cleave V.31 – The husband leaves his mother and cleaves to his wife. The marriage couple is a new family with priorities primarily for God and themselves as a couple. In other words, they should show devotion to themselves and God and not be managed by their extended families or friends, which might cause jealousy or demonstrate a lack of commitment to each other.
• Summary V.32-33 – Marriage reflects the relationship between Christ and the church and demonstrates to the world His love and the results of his marvelous salvation that others might be drawn to Him.

God takes marriage very seriously and when lived according to scripture it should produce much fruit and joy.

Thank you for joining me today. Visit us next time for more about the truth of scripture and the impact on our wellbeing.

Thank you for visiting my blog. We at Teleios love scripture. The purpose of this blog is to convey the truth of scripture and its benefit to our lives.

Recently we surveyed a mostly evangelical group of adolescents and millennials on the Instagram account, godsholyscriptures, regarding what the Bible teaches about marriage. There were 321 participants.

The main question in the survey was the Christian purpose of marriage and participants almost equally identified the main purpose of marriage as demonstrating the relationship between Christ and the church or the love between a man and a woman (about 40% each). Other answers, < 5% each, were: sex, a wonderful marriage ceremony, producing children or continuing the human race.

Marriage is a foundational institution in our society as it continues the race to maintain the country and our freedoms. It also represents an important social unit for the function of society in providing order and helping the weak in society; the poor, children and the elderly. Marriage also helps the participants. Numerous studies have shown the benefit of marriage on personal wellbeing, health, longevity, and finances.

Marriage additionally represents an important entry into society for married couples. Emotionally, marriage provides love, acceptance intimacy and children.

As important as these attributes are regarding marriage, spiritually it is even more important. The Bible describes the main purpose of Christian marriage as demonstrating to society the precious relationship between Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:21-33). Stated another way it is a primarily an evangelical tool!

Wow! Why is this, considering all the other important reasons of marriage? Please consider the following:

• God’s goals – God’s plans are greater than our own and His plan is to sum all history up in Christ (Ephesians 1:10-11). Consequently, viewing marriage and its purpose within the overall goal of God’s plans is important and appropriate. God wants all people to come to know Him and so marriage is primarily evangelical as we demonstrate Christ’s loving relationship and to the church.
• Importance to us – Considering marriage as a witness to society is also vital to our own marriage relationships as it reminds us that we were married for God’s purposes and not primarily for our own desires such as: sex, a wonderful marriage ceremony, and having children (as wonderful as they are).
• Remembering God’s goal in marriage also minimizes whatever expectations for marriage we might possess such as: how the kitchen is arranged, who mows the lawn and who pays the bills.
• Defines the relationship – In knowing that the purpose of marriage is to reflect Christ and the church reminds us that as we primarily serve our spouse. Otherwise, we leave our prior families and our priorities are clearly our beloved marriage partner and God (Ephesians 5:31-32) before extended family members or those outside the family.

How then does marriage reflect the relationship between Christ and the church?

• The love between a man and a woman reflects the love that Christ and the church.
• The love of the husband, and his complete devotion to his wife, reflects the love and devotion of Christ and the church.
• The submission of the wife for the husband reflects the submission of church to Christ.
• This combination of order, love and devotion should provide a productive caring picture to society of what Christ does for the church.

Marriage is a wonderful Institution that God has ordained and provides marvelous benefits to the church, society and individuals. However, it at its highest purpose is an evangelical tool that God uses to attract people to the gospel.

Please join us again next week as we continue to discuss what the Bible says about marriage and the beliefs of young Christians regarding this institution.