Kerby Anderson

Life expectancy for Americans continues to decline. The latest report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put the bad news in perspective. The researchers say that this is the “longest sustained decline in expected life span at birth in a century.” At the turn of the last century, American men were fighting in World War I and back home other Americans were confronting the worst flu epidemic in modern history.

Last year there were more deaths than the previous year. That partially reflects the fact that the nation is growing older and aging. But the focus of our attention should be on the younger age groups that are also dying due to such things as suicide and drug overdoses.

If you look at the top ten leading causes of death, only the cancer rate fell in 2017. There were increases in seven others: suicides, strokes, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, flu/pneumonia, chronic lower respiratory diseases, and unintentional injuries.

The greatest concerns, at least for me, are the deaths due to despair. The suicide rate has increased over the last two decades for both men and women, but the increase in suicides among men has been even more dramatic. Along with that has been the significant increase in the number of deaths due to drug overdoses. In previous commentaries, I’ve documented that more Americans die from drug overdoses each year than all the men who died during the entire Vietnam War.

Remember that these deaths of despair are taking place during peace and prosperity. We aren’t engaged in a major war. We aren’t in the midst of a recession. In fact, most Americans are doing much better economically.

I believe Christians must preach the gospel like never before and provide hope and an eternal perspective to so many Americans who may be the next death of despair statistics.