Christians Have Lower Mortality Than Atheists

Here's some exciting research for ya:

Religious people tend to have lower mortality rates than non-religious people.

Yep, it's true. And from pretty much all causes too. Those who regularly attend church services, and practice private religion have:

• a decreased risk of suicide
• lower rates of cancer
• lower rates of circulatory diseases
• less digestive diseases
• less respiratory diseases
• and pretty much just a decreased risk of death all over (1, 2)

Pretty cool, huh? But why is this the case? Well, that's pretty easy when you get to thinking about it. 

Let's focus on Christians. 

 Christians believe the Bible is God's Word, that Jesus was real, and that He's the boss. They also believe in a lot of other things as well. Like how drunkenness, sexual immorality/homosexuality/pre-marital sex, and a host of other factors are a sin. 

Christians are also much less likely to get into fights, use drugs/alcohol/tobacco, engage in violent behavior, have less depression, have higher rates of self-esteem, and have a more positive outlook on life than atheists.

Now if you take a look at the root causes of different diseases and death, a lot of these go hand in hand. Don't want AIDS? Don't emulate anybody from 'How I Met Your Mother' or 'The Big Bang Theory'. Don't want liver cirrhosis? Don't drink. Don't want to die from lung or mouth cancer? Avoid tobacco. 

It's all pretty common sense, really. And if you'll notice, pretty much all of it's in the Bible. 

I don't think that God put all of those rules in the Bible just to suck the fun out of our lives. I think He did it for a reason. He knows the consequences of sinful choices, and He cares about us. Just like a good parent will never let his child play out in the street, God doesn't want us to play with sin. 

And that's something we should be able to live with.