Can you identify unbelievers in your church?

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

We have started a series on the exciting research findings from Teleios! Today let us explore the incidence of unbelievers a.k.a. “tares” in the church.

Christ promised in Matthew 13 that there would be tares in the church. A tare is a plant that resembles wheat but cannot be correctly identified until harvest); so, Jesus’ term means those who appear as a Christian, but really are not true believers. Christ indicated tares would be difficult to differentiate from true believers until the end times. Nonetheless, since the church includes unbelievers, we should try our best to discern their identity, so we might help them come to faith (1 John 2-4).

We investigated the potential incidence and effect of tares in the church by surveying users of the Instagram account, Instapray, often visited by young adult Christians. In total, 1526 individuals participated and 73% described themselves as evangelicals. Just over half had at least some college education and the average age was 23.

We evaluated the potential incidence of tares by asking participants how they were saved in a multiple-choice question which included no responses indicating ‘saved by grace’. To answer the question correctly the participant had to choose ‘other’ and supply the correct answer. 

The second question then asked respondents if they were ‘saved by grace through faith alone.’ After seeing this, participants could not return to the prior question and change their answer. 

Interestingly, in the first question only 25% knew the correct response was not available and supplied an answer under ‘other’. Of these, approximately 60% included some statement regarding being ‘saved by grace or faith without works’, approximately 16% of the total survey population.

In contrast, the second question, which provided the right answer as a choice, was selected by 95% of participants. These two questions created a spread of 16% - 95% (79% difference) between those who could express salvation by grace without a written prompt versus having to read the correct answer. 

This is important to pastors and lay teachers because, it suggests at a minimum, a significant percent of people identifying as church attending evangelicals do not clearly and/or confidently understand their salvation; and might be a tare. Additional survey questions found that these potential tares often demonstrated several other attributes:

• Reduced adherence to the Christian faith
• Lower levels of wellbeing
• Greater levels of guilt
• Less favorable opinions of church leadership

Why is this information important? It may explain some of the difficulties in the modern church in accomplishing efficient and effective ministry. We found through our prior surveys that a significant minority of congregants come to church with alternative agendas than a biblically based purpose which include reasons of especially power and self-seeking attention. 

If the church considers those with persistent alternative agendas, may not actually be Christian, it might help the leadership know how to help them. They need to hear the gospel! All the attention and approbation in the world will not solve their problem. 1 John 2-4 clearly states those who do not agree with the basic doctrine of Christ, do not show love or obedience, other church membership should lovingly question their salvation.

Thank you for joining me today. We'll discover more about the Tare survey results in next week's blog. Please join me then.

For questions or to view more of our research…

Email     teleiosresearch@outlook.com

Website http://teleiosresearch.com/

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Benefits of Bible Study - A Teacher's Tale

Guest Blog from Katherine, a teacher in the Teleios Bible Study Program 

This past February, I had the great joy of being a Bible study teacher with Teleios’ Bible study program. When I was first offered the chance of being a teacher, I was hesitant and a little scared. I felt unqualified and unworthy of leading someone else through the Bible. I was letting my fear and anxiety overcome the potential to change someone’s life. I had several people in my life reminding me that I was indeed capable and qualified, but like all things in my life, it took trust and peace in God that gave me the push I needed. I had to remind myself that this fear and feeling of unworthiness was not coming from my God but from the enemy. 2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” I had all the resources I needed because I have the Spirit of the Lord dwelling in me. 

Once I accepted the opportunity to be a teacher, some of the fear was still there but now I had confidence that God was going to use me for his glory, which is far bigger than my fear. Soon after, I was assigned to my student, and I got to jump right in. With the materials and guidance I received from Teleios, I felt prepared to lead my student through the scriptures. 

For the next four weeks, I spent time getting to know my student and introducing her to the four-step inductive method of studying the Bible. After each week, I saw that not only was my student learning something new, but I was as well. One of the most interesting things about studying the Bible with someone is hearing the observations they make that differ from your own. It’s a beautiful reminder that the Word of God can always teach you something new no matter how many times you read it.

By the end of the 4 weeks, I had a new confidence in my worth and qualifications to teach the gospel. Throughout the process, I was reminded that there’s no amount of reading or teaching that can prepare you for the real thing. The best way to learn is through experience. And it was an amazing experience. It has encouraged me to take on a leadership role with my campus ministry as a student discipler. I am so excited to see how God will change my life and others now that I have stepped into this area of ministry. 

It’s amazing what God can do in your life if you just simply say yes!

For questions or to view more of our research…

Email     teleiosresearch@outlook.com

Website http://teleiosresearch.com/

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Something on which to meditate

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

We have been discussing the exciting research findings from Teleios! Over the past several weeks we have shown that peer-reviewed medical literature and Teleios scientific studies support improved wellbeing with Christianity in both healthy individuals and those suffering with disease! 

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, but 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 (read more details here https://teleiosresearch.com/church-attendance-meditation-wellbeing/).  

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: 
• Community service
• Prayer
• Socialization
• Praise
• 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.  

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.

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.  

1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=meditation+well-being
2. http://www.religionfacts.com/hinduism/practices   
3. https://nccih.nih.gov/research/statistics/NHIS/2012/mind-body/meditation
4. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/09/13/what-surveys-say-about-worship-attendance-and-why-some-stay-home/
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.                          

For questions or to view more of our research…

Email     teleiosresearch@outlook.com

Website http://teleiosresearch.com/

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A good marriage, God's provision to enhance your life!

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

We recently started a new 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!  

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.

For questions or to view more of our research…

Email     teleiosresearch@outlook.com

Website http://teleiosresearch.com/

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Our research showing Christianity improves wellbeing!

We have started a new series about research supporting improved wellbeing with Christianity! Last week we discussed peer-reviewed scientific studies. Today let us continue the conversation of the benefits of scripture by exploring specific studies our foundation has performed. 

Teleios’ data extends 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 2:42-47, as noted above, enjoy better wellbeing than those who do not.

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

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

• 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 in 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

For questions or to view more of our research…

Email     teleiosresearch@outlook.com

Website http://teleiosresearch.com/

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Wow, Christianity actually helps wellbeing!

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

We are starting a new series on the exciting research findings from Teleios! Last week we discussed the reasons for our passion at Teleios to explore the veracity of scripture. Today let us set off on a journey to discover the actual scientific data about how the Bible helps us. It is amazing!

Our first topic is perhaps the most vital: that Bible-based Christianity generally improves wellbeing. These data come from two main sources. 

• Teleios - We have found through surveys and prospective studies that Christianity actually helps wellbeing both generally and for specific health measures. We will discuss these findings next week.

• The medical literature – Peer-reviewed scientific studies support improved wellbeing with Christianity! As we began our research at Teleios this was a surprise to us. We found many studies indicating wellbeing was improved by the practice of religion. Importantly, almost all these medical studies were performed in historically Christian countries. This indicates that most all the patients in the studies would have been either social or believing Christians. Many of these studies can be seen in our published papers available on our website. Otherwise, you can conduct your own search of the medical literature at Pubmed.

So let’s examine the medical literature. The findings are impressive and have shown that wellbeing is improved with religion in:

• Demographics - All age groups (10 years and older), both genders, and African-American as well as Caucasian races.  

• Broad wellbeing effect - Specific wellbeing related measures such as: sense of purpose, satisfaction, hope, stronger social relationships, and ability to forgive. 

• Social measures - Vital areas of life such as the family, career, a sense of community and socialization. 

• Physical health – Healthy and patient populations.  Specific diseases include: glaucoma, rheumatoid arthritis, various cancers, chronic pain, fatigue, diabetes, diabetic eye disease, congestive heart failure, and HIV.

Religion has shown very few negative effects on wellbeing. Most commonly these have been related to the limited expression of one's faith to either internal or external religious activities alone or to those who have an adversarial relationship with God. The latter type of person might be one who does not understand grace as a means to salvation, instead working to try to satisfy God.

Indeed, it is striking to see that so many researchers have found, through scientific studies, the benefit of religion on wellbeing in Christian countries. These data are extensive and consistent enough that perhaps no other proof is needed from a scientific standpoint. We have a great God who has benefited us with salvation through Christ by grace and provided scripture that through the power of the Holy Spirit we can live useful and joyful lives. 

Join us again next week as we look at evidence from Teleios’ efforts demonstrating Christianity can improve wellbeing.

For questions or to view more of our research…

Email     teleiosresearch@outlook.com

Website http://teleiosresearch.com/

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What drives us at Teleios?

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

We will soon start new series about exciting research findings from Teleios! However, before we begin this vital series I want to review briefly what pushes us at Teleios to explore the veracity of scripture.

My wonderful wife, Jeanette, and I have had the privilege over many years to teach the scriptures to college-age students and young adults. Interestingly, what we observed during these studies motivated us to demonstrate the exciting practical value of scripture. Below, I summarize our observations from these fun studies. I will discuss the research findings supporting many of the statements in subsequent blogs.

Our observations, in general!

• Young Christians almost always say they believe in the truth of scripture (yay!)
• Upon further discussion, they need to know more (we all do and therefore, we study the Bible!)
• Consequently, they usually base their decision-making upon precepts learned in: church or college groups, social Christian settings, or from their church denomination
• Accordingly, they lack confidence in the direct knowledge of God's word
• They then do not test God’s word in their lives resulting in a failure to build confidence in His precepts
• Further, they suffer with a nagging doubt, that if they really faced a crisis, their scriptural knowledge could not supply an answer. This crisis appears usually in two forms: 
• An emotional crisis with themselves or a friend
• A conversation with a non-believer about the Gospel.
• Consequently, the temptation exists, because of their insecurities about scripture, to avoid confronting internal or external spiritual conflicts and to simply survive within the social church setting
• And of course, there is the minority (16-20%) that want to do what they want to do, regardless of God’s Word!

It is like a security guard at the local shopping mall who might enjoy the comfortable job among the nice orderly shoppers. However, he knows deep inside he should learn how to fight in case a crisis ever occurred at the mall, such as armed robbers or an Islamic Jihadist attack. But he doesn’t, knowing that he could run away if a crisis ever came. Consequently, he has no opportunity to ever gain confidence in fighting techniques or his own abilities.

So, it is with many Christians in what I call the ‘cycle of failure’ (please see figure below). They enjoy the social Christian setting and do not learn God's word. Therefore, they really never gain confidence in their biblical knowledge. Accordingly, they never test themselves and obtain a deep confidence in the Bible’s value for daily life. 

The figure describes the ‘Cycle of Failure’ of those who do not learn or test God’s word, not building the confidence to act based on its precepts. Consequently, they never knowing its full power. 

God has granted us a sure and quality Bible text upon which we can base not only our great salvation but the guidance for our lives! The Bible tells us to test God‘s Word to build confidence (Romans 12:2; Greek word ‘dokimazo’) and utilize its power to live our lives with surety and maturity (Ephesians 6:17; Hebrews 5:14).

Therefore, the name of our foundation is Teleios…

Original Word: τέλειος, α, ον
Part of Speech: Adjective
Transliteration: teleios
Phonetic Spelling: (tel'-i-os)
Definition: having reached its end, complete, perfect
Usage: perfect, (a) complete in all its parts, (b) full grown, of full age, (c) specially of the completeness of Christian character

Let us help you reach your spiritual maturity!

Thanks for reading my blog.  Please join us as we explore in the next few weeks the compelling findings from Teleios’ research that demonstrates the overwhelming power of the Bible to salvation and living a fruitful life.

For questions or to view more of our research…

Email     teleiosresearch@outlook.com

Website http://teleiosresearch.com/

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