DAWN Fridayfax 2000 #20

USA

Marriage is the better solution

"Unmarried cohabiting couples are less happy than married couples, and are much more likely to separate," according to a series of secular studies published in the USA. "Even though a growing number of couples decide to cohabit instead of marry, the statistics show that their extramarital relationship is much more likely to fail than a marriage," says pastor Don Weston, who has published a hotly-discussed homepage on the subject. "If you examine the data, it is very hard not to conclude that marriage is the better way," said sociologist Pamela Smock in the newspaper USA Today. According to her research, cohabiting couples reach a decision point after around 18 months: they marry, or separate. Only one couple in six is still together after 3 years, and only one couple in ten after 5 years. Smock's statistics also show that cohabiting couples are less happy than married couples, less faithful sexually and financially worse off. Those who decide to marry after a period of cohabiting are also more likely to end up with a divorce. In her recent book "The Case for Marriage", University of Chicago sociologist Linda Waite shows how cohabitation can undermine marriage, because it encourages individualistic behaviour instead of relationship.
Source: Don Weston's homepage, members.aol.com/cohabiting and Charisma Magazine

China

Evangelism via toilet paper

Hundreds of prisoners become Christians

"The younger of two Chinese brothers needed money to marry," reports Neil Anderson of Hong Kong's 'The Sowers Ministry'. "His elder brother lent him the money. One day, the younger brother saw a blank check at his workplace, and could not resist the temptation to use it to pay his brother back. The crime was discovered, and the younger brother sentenced to death. Anguished, the elder brother went to a Christian friend to ask for advice, and as a result, came to believe in Jesus. He immediately went to visit his brother in jail, to tell him about Jesus too. Lacking any other material, he wrote on a piece of toilet paper, which he gave to his brother, pleading with him to become a Christian. The younger brother was also saved, and started to preach in the prison, with the result that hundreds of inmates have turned to Christ," reports Anderson. In the meantime, other Christians prayed that the younger brother's sentence would be reduced, which then happened: it was reduced from death to probation, apparently an absolute miracle in the Chinese justice system. The elder brother now leads a house church, which prays for the release of more prisoners.
Source: The Sowers Ministry, sowers@netvigator.com, www.sowers.org

USA

84% of all Americans believe in miracles

"84 percent of Americans believe in miracles," according to a survey by Newsweek magazine. The survey also revealed that 48 percent had experienced a miracle themselves, or witnessed someone else experience a miracle. 84 percent believed that God performed the miracles, and 79 percent that the Biblical miracles actually occurred. Even though most religions report of miracles, 90 percent of those who believe in them in the USA are Christians. Only 46 percent of non-Christians believe in miracles, and 98 percent of evangelicals. Newsweek editor Kenneth Woodward reported about 15-year-old Tyler Clarensau, who suffered from deformed knee joints which could not be operatively corrected. Last year, he went forward for prayer in the Park Crest Assemblies of God church in Springfield, MO, where forty teenagers prayed for him for an hour. He then stood up and started to bend his knees, which he had not been able to do for years. Today, he can run, though slowly.
Source: Andy Butcher, Charisma Magazine, USA

Canada

Praying politicians are better behaved

"Christians have the duty to forgive and Jesus did," says pastor Dale Lang (Taber, Alberta), the father of 17-year-old John Lang, who was shot in school last year. During Lang's speech at the National Prayer Breakfast in Ottawa, officials and 'hard-headed politicians' wept, according to a National Post report. Lang told them that Christians should not seek revenge. Every Wednesday, around 30 Canadian Members of Parliament put aside their political differences to pray and read the Bible together, according to the National Post report (24 April 2000). "Politicians who pray together are better behaved in Parliament, and it is more likely that they will seek a consensus based on principle," said Secretary of State David Kilgour.
Source: National Post, Canada, www.nationalpost.com

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