"You Shall Not Surely Die"

by    C. Ben Mitchell                                                                                                                              Vol. VI, No. 7, September 1993

[Ben Mitchell is director of biomedical and life issues at the SBC Christian Life Commission. This article is reprinted from the CLC's journal Light, March-April 1992.]

The picture is of a popular athlete. The headline entices you to buy the latest "dry" beer.

The ad features a caricature of a well-known beast of burden – complete with sunglasses and a cigarette sticking out of his mouth.

The scene is of two high school kids necking in a car. The headline reads something like "Sex Can Be Deadly." The ad is from a condom manufacturer.

What do each of these advertisements have in common? They all contain the most subtle of all lies – a lie as old as humanity itself. It was told first by "the father of lies" in the Garden of Eden, and it goes like this, "you shall not surely die..." (Genesis 3:4). The lie is so subtle because it promises what it can't deliver. Satan promises that sin can be enjoyed without bad consequences. But that's simply not true. Let's examine each of the promises and see if indeed they are true.

Promise 1: Alcohol is harmless.

• 20-40% of all U.S. hospital beds are occupied by persons whose health conditions are complications of alcohol abuse and alcoholism.

• Projections for 1995 suggest that 11.2 million persons will exhibit symptoms of alcohol dependence.

• In 1986 alcohol abuse in the United States was estimated to cost approximately $128.3 billion. Lost employment and reduced productivity accounted for more than half this amount. Health care for accidents and illnesses related to alcohol abuse, including alcoholism, cirrhosis of the liver, cancer, and diseases of the pancreas, was estimated to cost $16.5 billion.

• Alcohol has been implicated among the leading causes of accidental death in the United States: automobile crashes, falls, and fires and burns. Of these, auto wrecks are the leading cause of deaths, and nearly one-half are alcohol-related.

• About 40% of all teen-age deaths occur in traffic accidents.

• 20% to 36% of suicide victims have a history of alcohol abuse or were drinking shortly before their suicide. ...

In spite of these alarming statistics, the promise of alcohol advertising is still "alcohol is safe, you shall not surely die."

Promise 2: Smoking is cool.

Likewise, Old Joe Camel champions the cause of Camel cigarettes and promises that smoking is the way to be "cool." In fact, the statistics show that smoking is anything but cool.

• 33% of 3-year-olds and 91% of 6-year-olds could match Joe Camel to a photo of a cigarette.

• Six-year-olds were nearly as familiar with the character Joe Camel as they were with Mickey Mouse.

• Smoking is the largest single cause of chronic disease and premature death in our society and accounts for about 435,000 deaths per year.

• According to some estimates, as many as 3,000 children begin smoking each day.

• Smoking is related to and increases the risk of potentially deadly cancer of the lung, esophagus, pancreas, mouth and throat, larynx, bladder, kidney, and cervix.

• A reported 53,000 individuals die each year as a result of secondhand smoke.

Make no mistake about it, smoking is deadly despite the subtle lie, "you shall not surely die." Cigarette advertisers can't make good on their promises.

Promise 3: Condoms make promiscuous sex safe.

• Some experts claim that condoms fail upwards of 15% of the time, even when used properly. Most physicians will not recommend condoms as an effective method of birth control because of leakage. The AIDS virus is much smaller than the human sperm, so the possibility of leakage is much greater.

• In one survey of high school students in Georgia, 6% had sex with at least four different people in the past three months and 30% had had sex with at least four different individuals in their lifetime.

• Among sexually active teens, those who averaged five or more drinks daily were nearly three times less likely to use condoms. Among all teens who drink, 16% use condoms less often when drinking.

Clearly condoms don't answer the real problems. The "safe sex" myth is merely another form of the lie, "you shall not surely die." The only really "safe sex" is between a truly monogamous husband and a truly monogamous wife.

The lie of Satan is ancient but not outdated. Tragically, it is as subtle as it is deadly.