40% of all US deaths are caused by preventable issues

Up to 40% of all deaths in America are caused by preventable issues. If we were more careful about our lives, they could be lived longer and healthier.

Go to a cemetery, look around you, 3-4 in 10 of these tombstones didn’t have to be there so early.
How do we change this?

1. Quit smoking, don’t over-consume alcohol.
2. Eat healthier, exercise more, lose some weight.
3. Wear seat-belts, drive safely, don’t be reckless.
4. See your doctor and get checkups, most cancers are treated with early detection (the 10 year survival rates for melanoma is 95% when found in the first stage and only 10% when diagnosed in the last stage)

 

If health is a gift from God, why is it correlated with naturalistic means?

If health is a gift from God given to those who pray for it, why is the health and longevity of a people directly linked to the quality of healthcare in that nation not their religion/lack of?

For example, Congo, one of the largest Christian nations, with 95% of its inhabitants identified as believers, has an average life expectancy of 49. (1, 2)

On the other hand, Northern Europe, which includes large populations of atheists (estimated upwards of 60% in some Scandinavian nations) has an average life expectancy of 81. (2, 3)

If health comes from prayer, why do the third world faithful die young, while the faithless with access to modern medicine live longer?

You are not you, but a thousand galaxies of cells

You are not you, but a thousand galaxies of living cells, all working in tandem, none able to comprehend your existence.

Indeed, there are more cells in your body than there are stars in a thousand Milky Ways. That is about 37 trillion cells for an average adult!

“if you pick volume or weight, you get drastically different numbers. Making matters worse, our bodies are not packed with cells in a uniform way, like a jar full of jellybeans. Cells come in different sizes, and they grow in different densities. Look at a beaker of blood, for example, and you’ll find that the red blood cells are packed tight. If you used their density to estimate the cells in a human body, you’d come to a staggering 724 trillion cells. Skin cells, on the other hand, are so sparse that they’d give you a paltry estimate of 35 billion cells.” (1)

If you could live forever and spend 24 hrs a day counting your cells, it would take you over a million years to finally count them.

Brain cancer cause mans immoral behavior, surgery “cures” his pedophilia

In 2000 a previously normal Virginia schoolteacher began having pedophiliac sexual urges, he tried seeking counseling help, but failed a Sexaholics Anonymous course.

The day before jail, he checked himself into the emergency room where they found a large brain tumor. The tumor was cut out and his urges went away, he easily passed the SA and became completely normal.

A year later the aberrant sexual urges returned, he went back to the hospital, and the doctors found a peice of the tumor was left behind/grew back. After a second surgery the man again lost all abnornal sexual urges and began to live a normal life.

Dr. Stuart C. Yudofsky, a psychiatrist at the Baylor College of Medicine who specializes in behavioral changes associated with brain disorders, also has seen the way brain tumors can bend a person’s behavior. “This tells us something about being human, doesn’t it?” Yudofsky said. If one’s actions are governed by how well the brain is working, “does it mean we have less free will than we think?” (1)

1. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/2003-07-28-pedophile-tumor_x.htm 

There has been a radical chance in lifespans

• In 1900, 75% of people in the United States died BEFORE they reached age 65.
• Today more than 70% percent of people die AFTER age 65.

What has changed?

Have the world become more religious?

Has the amount of prayer, Bible reading, or church attendance increased?

Have the amount of conversions to the Christian faith increased?

Nope.

We developed new technologies, medicines, surgeries, vaccines, and other forms of science. Incidentally, many of the more fundamentalist religious people who argue that health is a gift from God have strong anti-science tendencies, yet they are benefit from science.

Life expectancy changes over the last 200 years

Did you know that you are severely lucky to be living today? With the advent of (medical, sanitation, logistical, agricultural) technology humans were able radically increase life expectancy over the last few centuries.

The average life expectancy two hundred years ago was below 40, today it’s in the high 70’s. Take a look at this very short video, it might just blow your mind.