We think that we live in violent times, and of course, to some extent, we do. The evening news regularly carries stories and images of war, terror, or murder. But the big question is whether violence is going up or down. Because if violence is not going up, how can we be in the end times?
Stephen Pinker, author of the 2012 book The Better Angels of our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined has studied the trend of violence in history and his data shows, surprisingly to many, that violence is going down!
According to Pinker, whether we believe it or not, we may be living in the most peaceful time in human history. People who think violence is going up don't realize how much violence there was in the past.
The bible does not say that we are in the end times now; it does not give a date. It only gives us signs to look for. One of the major signs is that of violence. ("You will hear of wars and rumours of wars"—Matt 24:6). The Churches of God have been telling us that violence has been going up. Herbert Armstrong lived during the time of two major conflicts: World Wars I and II. In such a time it was easy to conclude that violence was going up, and for those few years, it was. But we need to look at the whole picture (we were always told to "get the big picture" in any situation) and do the math. We must not assume. The second world war ended a long time ago (69 years ago, in 1945). Since that time violence has gone down, not up. We might now be living in the most peaceful time in history! This comes as a great surprise to people who live by impressions and short-sighted data rather than by historical trends. People rely too much on sensationalist daily news, which focuses on current events and other short-term trends. Some people will refuse to believe that violence is in decline. They will not look at the actual data. The two world wars of the early 20 century were temporary "blips". They did not lead to the end, and they were not signs of the end. And there are no conflicts in the world today even close to that scale.
The biography of Pinker (pictured below) on amazon.com says "Steven Pinker is one of the world's leading authorities on language and the mind. His popular and highly praised books include The Stuff of Thought, The Blank Slate, Words and Rules, How the Mind Works, and The Language Instinct. The recipient of several major awards for his teaching, books, and scientific research, Pinker is Harvard College Professor and Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. He also writes frequently for The New York Times, Time, The New Republic, and other magazines." (June 23, 2014).
So apparently, Pinker has a reputation to keep. Therefore, I doubt if he made up the data in his book. Presumably, he has the facts. Has anyone refuted him? Despite many years in the COGs I never heard them look at the facts about violence from the long trend of history. They just told scary stories, talked about any bad news they could tie in with prophecy, and shouted dire warnings from the pulpit. Pinker's book stands as a challenge to these churches. Can they prove him wrong? Can they refute his data? If not, then how can we be in the end times?
Ministers who mislead people into thinking that we are now in the end times seem to be ignoring the facts—the actual numbers—the big picture. They are misguided. They are the blind are leading the blind. Perhaps they are evil: "But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived." (2 Tim 3:13)
Want to see the data? Watch the video below (also available on youtube) to hear Pinker talk about violence.
Note 1: More About Pinker
Once again, from amazon.com: "Steven Pinker is the Harvard College Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. A two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and the winner of many awards for his research, teaching, and books, he has been named one of Time's 100 Most Influential People in the World Today and Foreign Policy's 100 Global Thinkers." (June 23, 2014)
Note 2: A Pinker Video
Listen to Pinker talk about his book, The Better Angels of our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined.
This video worked fine for me using Chrome. If it does not work, try switching to a different browser.
Note 3: More Information
Readers who found the above material helpful might be interested in the following link as well.