Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Something on which to meditate

Welcome back to my blog. Thank you for taking time to read it.

We have started a series about the exciting research findings from Teleios! Our first evidence, presented over the last several weeks, was that peer-reviewed and Teleios sponsored scientific studies support improved wellbeing with Christianity in both healthy individuals and those suffering with disease! A list of potential benefits are found on our home page of our website (www.TeleiosResearch.com).

Today let us explore meditation versus church attendance. Why do that? The world constantly tries to replace God with something they consider just as good that is consistent with their goals. Their biggest desire is to replace God with the state where everyone is individually tethered to the government for their life’s sustenance.

On a more personal level, the world often encourages the practice of meditation as a help to wellbeing. We see this in advertisements, particularly from drug companies, who wish to depict people in some pastoral setting maintaining some impossible postural stance, supposedly taking the company’s new medicine, and enjoying good wellbeing! Of course, God or prayer would never be considered in such ads.

Further, meditation is frequently used in the medical literature as a secular method to increase wellbeing for patients and at the same time avoid suggesting or endorsing religion.1 However, surveys show individuals who attend church, at least occasionally, and the vast majority believe God exists. Our culture generally does not live in fields doing slow motion exercises as depicted on drug advertising. Accordingly, we reviewed the medical literature to compare the effect of meditation to church attendance on wellbeing in physically healthy subjects.

Our review included 37 articles and showed that several types of meditation practices, and church attendance of a variety of denominations, provided improved general wellbeing among physically healthy populations (http://stage.teleiosresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/2016-06-25-Meditation-V1.pdf).  

However, such a simple solution as replacing religion with meditation has several potential problems:

·       Meditation is a religiously based practice derived from Hinduism.2 Therefore, the practice of meditation does not completely avoid religion.

·       The long-term effect of meditation over a person’s lifetime has not been well studied. In contrast, historically, people that attended church their whole lives have done so without known general detrimental clinical effects. 

·       Meditation only is practiced by approximately 9% of individuals in the United States; whereas church attendance is a foundational institution in American culture, attended by 70% (at least once monthly to yearly).3,4

·       Christian church attendance is associated with other specific findings, not associated with meditation, which might positively contribute to general wellbeing such as:

o   Community service

o   Prayer

o   Socialization

o   Praise

o   Confidence in a positive relationship with God based in a biblical definition of eternal life as a free gift through faith in Christ’s sacrifice.5-8

·       Further, improved wellbeing is associated with adherence to the Christian walk.  

o   The articles we reviewed did not differentiate the quality of Christian practice of participants, as church attendance is only one activity. Teleios has shown those who adhere more closely to their Christian faith have improved wellbeing. Accordingly, such practices might lead to improved wellbeing over what meditation would allow. A well-designed prospective study would be needed to show this.

o   In contrast, the several medical studies that have showed religion had no positive impact on wellbeing, the practice of the patients’ religion was internal (self-focused) much like meditation is by nature. Christianity at its heart is a service and love for others.

Our review of the medical literature suggests meditation and church attendance may offer a benefit to wellbeing. However, the complete practice of Christianity, which may include church attendance, generally provides better wellbeing than church attendance alone.  

Please join me again next week as we continue to explore exciting results of Teleios’ research and what it means to our lives.

WC Stewart






5.    MacIlvaine WR, et al. Association of strength of religious adherence to quality of life measures. Complement Ther Clin Pract 2013;19:251-5.

6.    van Olphen J, et al. Religious involvement, social support, and health among African-American women on the east side of Detroit. J Gen Intern Med 2003;18:549-57.

7.    Ryrie CC. Basic theology. Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 1999.

8.    MacIlvaine WR, et al. Association of strength of community service to personal wellbeing. Community Ment Health J 2014;50:577-82.                         

Response policy - The purpose of the comment section is to promote discussion that is encouraging, propels the further search of Scripture and raises interesting and thought provoking Biblically related questions. You may feel free to disagree with me in a constructive manner using appropriate language. I reserve the right to remove your comments if they are profane, pornographic, libelous or I do not consider them constructive or consistent with the policy stated above. By posting you no longer own your comments and you are granting me an unrestricted worldwide license to use your comments.

Copyright © 2016 Teleios, Inc. All rights reserved.

Thursday, June 22, 2017

Wellbeing - extended, specific helps from scripture

Welcome back to my blog. Thank you for taking time to read it.

We have just started a new series on discovering exciting research findings from Teleios! Our first evidence, presented over the last several weeks, was that peer-reviewed and Teleios sponsored scientific studies support improved wellbeing with Christianity in both healthy individuals and those suffering with disease! A list of benefits is found on our home page of our website (http://teleiosresearch.com/).

Today let us continue this exciting journey of the benefits of scripture by exploring four specific markers for wellbeing in the medical literature that also are noted in scripture: forgiveness, gratitude, hope and empathy.1

This journey is important because God has given us His wisdom to life and salvation through the scriptures for which we can depend. Consequently, we have a bright light in our lives for which we can have confidence over and above what is offered from society which scoffs at us. We are right in what we believe.

Importantly, the articles in the medical literature describing these four characteristics of wellbeing do not necessarily mention religion, even while recognizing their importance to health. But this is vital information for believers because these characteristics are actually based in scripture, as part of the benefit of our Christian walk and spiritual fruit from the Spirit. Therefore, the basis of these four characteristics originate is scripture and the medical literature recognizes their importance. In contrast, these concepts are not generally emphasized in Greek, humanistic or atheistic traditions.

Accordingly, we reviewed the effect of forgiveness, gratitude, hope and empathy in the medical literature and they improve an individual’s wellbeing. These helpful effects:

·       Were found from pre-adolescent years to older adults.

·       Demonstrated as a positive influence among important societal issues including: social relationships, delinquent behavior and physical health.

Although our review focused on the effect of forgiveness, gratitude, hope and empathy on the individual themselves and not the effect on a recipient, we might speculate that any increase in wellbeing among the evaluated individuals allowed also for a greater sense of personal benefit to others.

The source of the four parameters (forgiveness, gratitude, hope and empathy) also were evaluated. The results surprised us because only two primary sources were found in the analyzed articles: training and religious faith.

·       Training - We found 3 of the 4 parameters could be taught, at least to some degree, through secular based training. Hope has not been evaluated in a such a manner to our knowledge.

·       Religious faith - A person’s individual faith or their involvement in a community of believers, appeared positively associated with these 4 measures. How the measure was derived was not always clear. Perhaps the parameters could have developed from:

o   The knowledge obtained from the scriptures

o   Through self-learning

o   Sermons

o   Through interactions with church members

o   The Holy Spirit building into us God’s character as we mature through His power based on the Bible

The religion was not typically specified in these reports; however, almost all the studies were performed in predominantly Christian countries. Therefore, we assume that most of the participants were either nominally or seriously practicing Christians.

Our review of the medical literature suggests that forgiveness, gratitude, hope and empathy may improve general wellbeing, pro-social and positive relational behavior and demonstrate positive health effects. These measures are biblical principles that are built into us when we live a faithful Christian life.

Please join me again next week as we continue to review scientific data that supports our faith and helping us to have confidence in the truth of the Bible.

WC Stewart


1.       Stewart WC, Reynolds KE, Jones LJ, Stewart JA, Nelson LA. The source and impact of specific parameters that enhance well-being in daily life. J Rel Health 2016;55:1326-1335.

Response policy - The purpose of the comment section is to promote discussion that is encouraging, propels the further search of Scripture and raises interesting and thought provoking Biblically related questions. You may feel free to disagree with me in a constructive manner using appropriate language. I reserve the right to remove your comments if they are profane, pornographic, libelous or I do not consider them constructive or consistent with the policy stated above. By posting you no longer own your comments and you are granting me an unrestricted worldwide license to use your comments.

Copyright © 2016 Teleios, Inc. All rights reserved.

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

A good marriage, God’s provision to enhance your life

Welcome back to my blog. Thank you for taking time to read it.

We just have started a new series on the exciting research findings from Teleios! Our first evidence, presented over the last several weeks, was that peer-reviewed and Teleios sponsored scientific studies support improved wellbeing with Christianity! 

Today let us continue this thrilling journey of the benefits of scripture by exploring what the medical literature states about religion and traditional man/woman based marriage. This a vital topic for our lives.

Remember, most all academic studies evaluating religion are performed in traditionally First World countries which are historically Christian. Although academic authors typically are shy to mention Christianity, the majority of subjects in these studies would have been de facto evangelical or social Christians.

Our review of the medical literature shows an overwhelming benefit of traditional marriage on both general wellbeing and specific parameters that might affect wellbeing, including: physical and mental health, sexual satisfaction, family income, and children’s outcomes. Of the numerous articles we evaluated, only three did not note a marriage benefit.

Further, although not all articles assessed the same subject groups, there is a progressive trend of enhanced wellbeing and its associated parameters, the stronger the relationship commitment; generally manifested by the following:

·       Never married, widowed and divorced individuals show the lowest wellbeing. 

·       Individuals in a committed relationship, even unmarried, have improved wellbeing compared to uncommitted couples.

·       Cohabitating couples demonstrate improved wellbeing compared to those not in a relationship.

·       Cohabitating couples who are committed enjoy greater wellbeing than uncommitted cohabitating relationships.

·       Married couples show the highest wellbeing ratings compared to other commitment levels and singles.

Why would traditional marriage relationships provide the strongest associated wellbeing with levels decreasing with less committed relationships? The answer is not completely clear, but we speculate marriage may:

·       Help with income, reducing costs, household tasks, and raising children.  

·       Provide needed socialization and a potential source of personal enrichment, encouragement and empathy.

·       Allow confidence and trust in a spouse in discussing sensitive issues and reaching personal as well as professional goals.

·       Assist the marriage partner in maintaining good health such as in keeping medical appointments, taking medicines and achieving a healthy lifestyle

·       Facilitate sexual satisfaction by eliminating competing love interests.

·       Build a healthy spiritual relationship by encouraging mutual adherence to the Christian faith and in studying God’s word. One past study indicated that marriage increased the probability for attending religious services. However, a cohabitation alone reduced the probability of attending church.

Our review suggests 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.

We have a great God who has instituted marriage out of His wisdom and for our good.  It works best in a committed, encouraging relationship which promotes many aspects of wellbeing including our Christian lifestyle, which as we've seen in recent past blogs, has its own positive impact on wellbeing.

Please join us again next week as we continue through exploring Teleios research that can help our daily lives.

WC Stewart


Response policy - The purpose of the comment section is to promote discussion that is encouraging, propels the further search of Scripture and raises interesting and thought provoking Biblically related questions. You may feel free to disagree with me in a constructive manner using appropriate language. I reserve the right to remove your comments if they are profane, pornographic, libelous or I do not consider them constructive or consistent with the policy stated above. By posting you no longer own your comments and you are granting me an unrestricted worldwide license to use your comments.

Copyright © 2016 Teleios, Inc. All rights reserved.

Tuesday, June 6, 2017

Wow, Practicing Christianity Helps Wellbeing!

Welcome back to my blog. Thank you for taking time to read it.

We are starting a new series on the exciting research findings from Teleios! Our first evidence was that peer-reviewed scientific studies support improved wellbeing with Christianity!  

Today let us continue this journey through the benefits of scripture by exploring scientific findings found at Teleios. Our data are important because they extend the information on Christianity and wellbeing found in the medical literature and might help you with your own life and Christian walk. Please consider the following results from Teleios:

·       General good wellbeing – Both college students and adult Christians note high ratings for wellbeing. However, our data are more specific to evangelicals1 whereas the medical literature would include social Christians as well.

·       Evangelicals – This group has better wellbeing than social Christians2 or Christians Seekers3.

·       Evangelical and saved by grace - College students who self-describe as evangelical, but also saved by grace, profess better wellbeing than evangelicals alone.

·       Evangelical, saved by grace and adherent - Evangelicals who indicate they are saved by grace, and adhere to their Christian faith (i.e., practice the 5 tools to maturity: prayer, praise, fellowship, Bible study and teaching others [Acts 2:42,47]) have even better wellbeing. In one of our college surveys, not a single student who was characterized by being evangelical, saved by grace and adherent, suffered poor wellbeing.

·       Practicing the faith – In separate research, Teleios demonstrated those who practice the Christian faith according to Acts 2:32, 37, as noted above, enjoy better wellbeing than those who do not.

o   Just a little helps - Even the practice of one to two of the measures in Acts provides better wellbeing

o   More is better - Further, the more a person adheres to the five tools to maturity, the better generally is their wellbeing.

o   Looking outward - Those learning and teaching the Bible directly (verse by verse), and those serving in their church or community also possess enhanced wellbeing.

·       Eternal security - Those who are confident in their salvation also note better wellbeing.

So how can we summarize the exciting information we have learned the past two weeks? Christians generally have better wellbeing. Further, those who identify as evangelicals, especially if they also indicate they are saved by grace, confident and their salvation and practice the Christian faith, possess even better wellbeing! Wow, great information for our lives.

We have such a wonderful God who cares and loves us, and has given us such wise literature to help us navigate our time on earth. Join us again next week as we continue to investigate scientifically based findings from Teleios.

1Evangelical Christian = An individual saved by grace having been forgiven their sins through faith in Christ
2Social Christian = An individual who identifies mostly with Christian culture or society while not being overly religious
3Christian Seeker = An individual seeking to know the truth about Christianity

WC Stewart


Response policy - The purpose of the comment section is to promote discussion that is encouraging, propels the further search of Scripture and raises interesting and thought provoking Biblically related questions. You may feel free to disagree with me in a constructive manner using appropriate language. I reserve the right to remove your comments if they are profane, pornographic, libelous or I do not consider them constructive or consistent with the policy stated above. By posting you no longer own your comments and you are granting me an unrestricted worldwide license to use your comments.

Copyright © 2016 Teleios, Inc. All rights reserved.