Good News for a Lonely World: The Message of Exodus 21-40
A recent headline from an article by Dr. Keith Ablow declared, “Loneliness is Now More Deadly than Obesity. And We Don’t Have a Plan to Reduce it.”[1] He cites findings presented at the recent American Psychological Association conference asserting that, “social isolation, loneliness or living alone was each a significant factor contributing to premature death.”
We live in a paradoxical time in which we are surrounded by others and inundated nearly every moment with so-called “social” media, yet recent studies show that people feel more isolated and lonely than ever before, and it’s killing us. One only needs to observe a sea of people checking their smartphones in a crowded restaurant to know that we bring many of our feelings of loneliness upon ourselves, but the reality is that the solution may be deeper than simply downgrading to an old-school flip phone. This is but a symptom to a deeper problem.