World News and Trends- Crime and sexual freedom: a relationship?
Does male teenage promiscuity have anything to do with rising crime rates?
According to a report by the Institute of Economic Affairs in Britain, it does. Newspaper coverage in The Independent showed that "the freedom of young men to engage in sexual intercourse without being powerfully restrained by the pressure to become monogamous husbands or fathers is closely linked to crime."
A similar article in The Observer reluctantly agreed that "it is ludicrous to deny the relationship between fatherlessness and crime. The areas of high unemployment, highest lone parenthood and worst crime are coterminous."
The report's author, Norman Dennis, maintained that cultural mechanisms that once sent messages of "responsibility, striving, self-help and self-improvement" to the next generation have broken down.
American historians Will and Ariel Durant understood this principle well. "A youth boiling with hormones will wonder why he should not give full freedom to his sexual desires," they wrote; "and if he is unchecked by custom, morals or laws, he may ruin his life before he matures sufficiently to understand that sex is a river of fire that must be banked and cooled by a hundred restraints if it is not to consume in chaos both the individual and the group."
Undeniable, yet often overlooked, is the relationship between the biblical commandments against promiscuity in thought, word and deed and those forbidding the crimes of stealing and murder. The apostle James noted this connection: "For whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all" (James 4:10).
The adulterer steals affection that belongs to another. The news and entertainment media regularly bear out that sexual promiscuity can lead even to murder. Both Old and New Testaments command us to love our neighbor by refraining from these illicit acts that enslave and to diligently teach our children to follow this royal law of liberty (verse 12). (Sources: The Independent; The Observer; Will and Ariel Durant, The Lessons of History, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1968, pp. 35-36.)
Course Content
John Ross Schroeder
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
Scott Ashley
Scott Ashley was managing editor of Beyond Today magazine, United Church of God booklets and its printed Bible Study Course until his retirement in 2023. He also pastored three congregations in Colorado for 10 years from 2011-2021. He and his wife, Connie, live near Denver, Colorado.
Mr. Ashley attended Ambassador College in Big Sandy, Texas, graduating in 1976 with a theology major and minors in journalism and speech. It was there that he first became interested in publishing, an industry in which he worked for 50 years.
During his career, he has worked for several publishing companies in various capacities. He was employed by the United Church of God from 1995-2023, overseeing the planning, writing, editing, reviewing and production of Beyond Today magazine, several dozen booklets/study guides and a Bible study course covering major biblical teachings. His special interests are the Bible, archaeology, biblical culture, history and the Middle East.
