We can’t all be ‘Einsteins’ of course but whatever our IQ score we are encouraged to love God with our minds as well as our hearts.

It makes sense to do so too and for the very good reason that God created us and knows what is best for us. Jesus summed it up nicely when He declared that He had come to earth to show us how we can discover a completely satisfying life.

I am a Christian because I think the evidence that Jesus rose from the dead is compelling, and that led me to the conclusion that He knew what He was talking about when He said He could show us how to get the most out of life. But that obviously means that I must try to live His way. (Interestingly the early church was known as The Way.)

Given this then, you will understand why I was delighted to read an article recently that announced that academic research backs Christian family values.

The author is clearly aware that ‘there are lies, damn lies and statistics’ but she is as clear as she is counter cultural. She claims for example, that studies have consistently shown that sex before marriage has negative effects and is ‘associated with depressive symptoms in young people, as well as other psychiatric difficulties and substance use’. Sex before marriage it would appear, makes divorce more likely too.

On the other hand, she continues, marriage is the source of many blessings not least the fact that married people tend to live longer and say they are less depressed (although I wonder if my wife would agree with that, given the quality of my jokes). The evidence is certainly thought provoking though because it would seem that a study of over 100,000 people found that married people showed fewer depressive symptoms than people who are not.

She was willing to raise the ugly issue of pornography pointing out that a study conducted in 2017 found that the more someone uses porn the more likely they are to feel lonely. The reverse is also true it would appear because the lonelier someone feels the more likely they are to turn to porn.

It was a fascinating article, and it had a twofold impact on me. Firstly, it challenged me to do a little more research to test the thesis that Christian family values can be supported by the best contemporary research. Thankfully, I can do so knowing that God loves to help those who are seeking wisdom.

But it has also prompted me to share these thoughts with you in the hope that you might do the same, even if you find the subject and/or the results challenging. After all, we have nothing to lose if Jesus was being honest when He told His friends that He is the way, the truth and the life.