Bible News Prophecy with Dr Bob Thiel Continuing Church of God 66 Why Marriage, Faith, and Biblical Wisdom Beat the Modern Happiness Crash Dr. Bob Thiel and announcer Steve Dupuis examine new research on a modern "happiness crash" among young adults, then argue from Institute for Family Studies data and scripture that marriage, faith, and obedience to God's law, not money or career, are what truly bring happiness. Questioning Whether People Are Happier Today Steve Dupuis opens the Bible News Prophecy program by asking Dr. Bob Thiel whether modern conveniences have actually made people happier today. Thiel answers that in many ways they have not, citing an Institute for Family Studies article titled The Happiness Crash, which reports that young adult happiness has been dropping even as two groups continue to thrive. He references Brigham Young University psychologist Julianne Holt-Lunstad, whose research found that social isolation raises the risk of early death by twenty-nine percent, loneliness raises it by twenty-six percent, and living alone raises it by thirty-two percent. When Dupuis asks how she arrived at these figures, Thiel explains that researchers have effectively been running an uncontrolled experiment on young adults who grew up immersed in smartphones, social media, gaming, pornography, and AI chatbots, technologies that have crowded out ordinary face-to-face conversation, socializing, and community life. The Digital Revolution's Happiness Toll Thiel continues that socializing among young men and women has fallen more than fifty percent, from twelve hours a week to five, while they now spend roughly three hours a day interacting in the virtual world through social media. He cautions against mistaking this screen time for real socializing, noting that posting selfies and commenting on strangers' posts does not meet the deep human need for genuine relationships. Researchers have documented that the fruits of this shift include rising anxiety, depression, and antisocial behavior, especially among young people, producing what one scholar calls a happiness crash hitting young adults hardest. Thiel notes that since the year two thousand, reports of unhappiness have more than doubled for men and women between twenty and thirty-five. He adds a hopeful note, however, saying the news is not all bad, since some young men and women are far more likely than their peers to escape this digitally driven happiness crash altogether. Marriage and Faith as Protection Asked how young people manage to escape the happiness crash, Thiel points to an Institute for Family Studies finding that two forms of community protect people from the isolating currents of modern life: strong marriages and regular religious practice. He quotes the report calling both institutions signal sources of social solidarity that safeguard members' physical and emotional well-being by connecting men and women to real relationships with real people, adding that faith and family may be especially valuable now that society has grown more technologically distracted. Thiel cites survey data showing that fifty percent of married, religious Americans aged twenty to thirty-five describe themselves as very happy, compared with just sixteen percent of unmarried, secular peers, and thirty-seven percent of married, secular young adults. He notes other studies suggesting aspects of feminism and liberal parenting decrease happiness, while staying married tends to increase it. Scripture's Case for Marriage When Dupuis asks what the Bible says about marriage and happiness, Thiel turns to Genesis 2:18, where God says it is not good for man to be alone and promises to make a helper comparable to him. He reads Proverbs 18:22, which says he who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord, and Ecclesiastes 9:9, which instructs readers to live joyfully with the wife they love all the days of their life. Thiel concludes that marriage is clearly something God advocates for the happiness of most people, though he notes the New Testament teaches that for some it is better not to marry. Asked about other happiness studies, Thiel cites what he calls the world's longest-term study on happiness, which concludes that caring for others and staying married outperforms the emptiness of a self-focused career, and warns that short-term indulgences tend to produce long-term misery. Careers, Myths, and Meg Whitman's Warning Thiel unpacks more of the longest-term happiness study, noting that while people often assume more money will make them happier, evidence shows this holds only up to a point, and that modern society wrongly expects careers to supply all the fulfillment that friends and family once provided. He criticizes public policy that forgives college debt for graduates entering low-paying white-collar jobs while removing work requirements for lower-income people, arguing that having responsibilities, whether coal mining or raising children, gives life meaning that pure self-fulfillment cannot. Thiel notes the study found little distinction made between marriage and cohabitation or between single-parent and two-parent homes, though he insists research clearly favors two-parent households. He then recounts former eBay and Hewlett-Packard chief executive Meg Whitman telling a women's conference that the most important career decision anyone makes is who they marry, a line Thiel says silenced the room because it named something everyone already knew. True Happiness Found in God's Word Thiel insists that the most important decision anyone can make, regardless of gender, is to follow God and keep right priorities, citing Jesus's words in Matthew 6:31 and 33 not to worry but to seek first the kingdom of God, and John 10:10's promise of abundant life. When Dupuis asks who the Bible says is truly happy, Thiel reads Psalm 146:5 and Psalm 144:15, declaring happy those who have the God of Jacob as their help, and Proverbs 3:13, which calls happy the man who finds wisdom. Asked how to gain that wisdom, Thiel answers that obedience to God's law would end war, broken families, divorce, and crime, quoting Romans 7:12 that the law is holy, just, and good, and Psalm 37's call to trust the Lord, delight in Him, and commit one's way to Him. He closes by reading Psalm 34, urging listeners to depart from evil, do good, and pursue peace, before Dupuis signs off directing listeners to biblenewsprophecy.net.
