Do You Feel Secure?

How Confident Can You Be?

DID you try our test on page 3? How many affirmative answers did you have? If you answered “Yes” to one or more of those questions, then you are by no means alone in feeling insecure. The vast majority of earth’s population live in a precarious present and have a very uncertain future.

The following brief review may help you to grasp the worldwide impact of these problems.

UNEMPLOYMENT: Most of Europe is plagued by massive unemployment, which brings insecurity to millions of families. The story is no better in the United States, where more than nine million people are out of work. Regarding the continual rise in unemployment, Ivor Richard, European commissioner for social affairs, warned: “This is bound to place immense strains on the social fabric of our societies. . . . [It] could threaten the very roots of our democratic and free societies.” Can you feel secure if you are without a job?

INFLATION: Does your money buy much less than it did ten years ago? The oil crisis over the last decade guaranteed that nearly every country would suffer inflation. For example, in Great Britain goods that could be bought for £1 in 1961 now cost nearly £6. Many countries have a far worse inflation rate than that. Perhaps yours is one of them. If the purchasing power of your money is dwindling, can you feel confident about the future?

CRIME: Who does not walk in fear of being a crime victim? It is an international plague. Recent Japanese press headlines highlight that country’s problem: “Juvenile Crime Rate Has Gov’t Worried,” “Minors’ Involvement In Crime Sets Record.” Lenient judges and revolving-door justice swiftly put criminals back on the streets of many lands. One Spanish press editorial raised the anguished question, “Is there no longer a penal code?”

SUBSTANDARD HOUSING: Millions of families around the world are still living in rat-infested dwellings that crawl with cockroaches and have no running water. We are not just conjuring up the usual picture of street squatters in Bombay, India, or the cemetery dwellers of Cairo, Egypt. What about the run-down ghettos and shantytowns in many major cities of the “developed” Western nations? One report from the Cabrini-Green housing project in Chicago, USA, says: “Once in the apartment, residents confront the huge rodent and cockroach populations that infest most Cabrini-Green buildings.” For most of the poor there is no way out. The future is bleak.

HUNGER: A news source states that two thirds of the world’s hungry are in nine countries that represent 27 percent of the world population. The London Financial Times, under the heading “The poorest get poorer,” commented: “Perhaps most critical of all, Africa’s ability to feed its exploding population has long fallen short of consumption, and the gap is continually widening.” Even in developed nations income inequality and poverty generate hunger where there is apparent plenty. Is your daily bread also your daily anxiety?

DOMESTIC STRIFE: It is reported that more than 40 percent of marriages in the USA are breaking up. In the same country some twelve million children under the age of eighteen have divorced parents. In many parts of the world millions of adults living together have never even been married. There the evidence of family disintegration is in the number of abandoned common-law wives and illegitimate children. Can adults and children feel secure if the family fabric is being torn asunder?

CONCERN FOR CHILDREN: Violence in schools is a spreading malaise. In 1981 New York City for the first time deployed 420 school guards in its lower-grade schools in an effort to keep down the number of assaults against teachers and students. Schools in Britain and Japan are also suffering from a wave of violence. With such a collapse of discipline, can you feel secure about your child’s education?

DEPRESSION: Canada’s Toronto Star stated: “Millions of North Americans quietly endure a pain that costs marriages, jobs​—and lives. . . . Depression is an epidemic with an enormous social cost.” The same paper quoted psychiatrist Emmanuel Persad as saying: “Many researchers believe depression has become more widespread in recent years because of the economic slump, family disintegration, and social isolation.” Does not widespread depression indicate a confidence crisis?

DRUGS: Drug addiction is the crutch of millions. Vast resources are being wasted each day on tobacco and the abuse of alcohol and drugs. Does that indicate a sense of security?

ANOTHER MAJOR WAR​—POSSIBLE, PROBABLE OR INEVITABLE? Some world leaders are coming around to the idea that a nuclear war can be fought and won, instead of the previous stalemate based on the mutual holocaust theory. Are you sure there will not be another major war?

What does this negative panorama indicate? Can you really feel confident about your future and that of your family? Do we have any option apart from trusting in political and military leaders and the clergy comforters? Is there a sure path to security? The next articles will supply the Bible’s answer.

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Are you confident about your children’s future? Their daily bread? Their education? Their very survival?