It’s good for Christians to know what’s going on in the world, and intentional efforts should be made to understand what prevelant beliefs are in secular society.
When asking people on the street the question, “What’s the biggest problem in the world?” you’re going to get a bunch of different answers.
As I mentioned in earlier posts, I’ve recently done a bit of research on this, and in honor of David Letterman I’d like to share with you the top ten biggest problems in the world according to secular society along with a brief explanation of each.
Here we go:
10. Species Extinction
Today, human activities are causing a massive extinction of species, the full implications of which are barely understood. Rising ocean temperatures reduce the ability of plankton to reproduce, thereby undermining the entire oceanic ecosystem.
Commercial fishing’s increasing size and scope threaten to empty of the ocean of fish within several decades.
Modern agricultural practices strip the Earth of its thin layer of topsoil through water and wind erosion, destroying this precious micro ecosystem that takes centuries to form and supports all life on land.
Furthermore, bee populations are plummeting, and over 70% of our food is pollinated by bees; if bee populations fall too far, our food supplies will be seriously threatened. . .
9. Radical Islam/Terrorism
The destabilization of modern civilization by terroristic attacks carried out upon civilian populations.
This modern day problem is an assault upon the ideals and expression of freedom, and has the potential to convert free societies into police states.
8. War
Civil wars in small, poor countries cause untold suffering, and half of them are renewed flare-ups of recent conflicts. A single conflict can cost $250 billion or more, takes many years to recover from and can block all other humanitarian interventions.
A large scale war in current times has the potential to destroy modern civilization as we know it.
7. Nuclear Proliferation
The acquisition or development of nuclear weapons by governments or groups intent on using them has the potential to lead to all out nuclear war thereby threatening the existence of all living things.
6. Malnutrition and Hunger
Despite significant reductions in income poverty in recent years, undernutrition remains widespread. Recent estimates from UNICEF (2006) are that “one out of every four children under five – or 146 million children in the developing world – is underweight for his or her age”, and that “each year, …undernutrition contributes to the deaths of about 5.6 million children under the age of five”.
5. Global Water Crisis
Water – the essential ingredient for life on this planet – is becoming an increasingly scarce resource. According to the World Bank and World Health Organization, 2 billion people lack access to clean water and 1 billion people do not have enough to even meet their daily needs.
Every day an increasing amount of pollution seeps into rivers and lakes making them toxic to humans, and underground aquifers – our most significant sources of water – are being depleted at an alarming rate.
If current trends continue more and more useable water will be lost while the world population continues to grow larger and larger.
4. Global Population Growth
The world is currently growing at a rate of 79,000,000 people per year – more than ever before – and as more time passes that number will rapidly increase. The world population is predicted to be over 10 billion in 40 years, and will become greater and greater as the ever-growing human species continues to breed.
Here’s a graph to illustrate current growth trends:
As this graph illustrates, the growth isn’t expected to stop. Many believe the earth’s resources will be depleted to the point that mass starvation and disease epidemics will plague mankind unless this growth is curbed.
3. Peak Oil/Energy Consumption
Petroleum powers 96% of the transportation on the planet and is the key ingredient in plastics and fertilizers. Its integral role in human civilization cannot be overestimated – without it modern life would be impossible. Over the last century, the global petroleum supply could be counted on to meet demand; today however, the situation appears to be changing.
The developing world – led by China and India – is modernizing at a blistering pace, and their appetite for oil is driving up demand all over the globe. At the same time, production is declining in all but a few countries.
For decades, scientists, government officials, and business leaders have warned of Peak Oil, the point at which global petroleum production reaches its maximum level and begins to drop.
2. Global Economic Collapse
The global economy binds together the fate of the international community and all its member nations. It precludes the possibility of a third World War, and exposes individuals all over the world to new ideas, products, and information. Today, the world economy is facing two looming crises.
The U.S., by far the world’s largest and most powerful economy, is completely in debt at the individual, institutional, and governmental levels. The Dollar is at its lowest rate in years, and the fundamental driver of the US economy – the housing market – appears to be coming undone.
Many experts believe we’re on the brink of global economic depression, and if the markets fail the infrastructure of modern civilization will collapse causing modern ways of living to drastically change.
1. Global Warming
Due to the steady stream of attention this issue has gotten in the last few years, many believe global warming is the preeminent danger to human civilization today.
- “Global warming is the most dangerous crisis we have ever faced by far …” – Al Gore
It is believed that the rising global temperature threatens to create catastrophic weather systems, crop failures, disease outbreaks, and water shortages worldwide.
Global warming advocates say emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane are trapping heat within the Earths’ atmosphere, slowly increasing the overall temperature. These emissions are the byproduct of our modern way of life, and to halt them would require a voluntary shift in the very structure of our society, a move unprecedented in human history.
Advocates also believe to take no action against global warming would be to alter the very chemical composition of our planet.
They believe life on Earth evolved over hundreds of millions of years to survive within very specific conditions, and any change in those conditions will breed a myriad of disasters.
—
So what do you think?
While most of these represent an actual problem (I’m convinced one or two aren’t problems at all), I don’t believe any represent the biggest problem in the world.
Not even close.
The Overflow 
The world is lost.
I think that would be number one on my list. So many see these different problems. Yet, refuse to see the reality of their own need for a savior. I appreciate you sharing topics that matter.
Keep up the great work you do with your blog.
I concur with the preacherman that the world is lost. The Christian Bible addresses this problem well when it outlines very well in the book of Mathew 24: 1ff that in the last day there will many great dangers. such dangers are like the ten biggest dangers and many others that are not addressed. The only way out according to my opinion is that one accepts Jesus Christ and walk with Him in everywhere in his life. Jesus is the answer to all human and nature problems- Joseph Mwilu
“Jesus is the answer to all human and nature problems” – if that is so, then lets see your “jesus” take out isis. Lets see your jesus end famine. Lets see your jesus stop shootings.
We will all die waiting to see your jesus end human and nature problems. Thats 100% gauranteed. Because jesus is not real. And even if he was real, hes now dead and cannot do anything for us. All you are living a lie. Believing an ancient story. Only created to control masses and stop them from harming each other. Good job.
It is So true what you have said!! We Tend to Focus on the Physical Problems on the world but forget the Spiritual which should not be left out’
None of those things are a problem. God is in control. God said He was going to destroy the world. It’s is mans arrogance that thinks we will.
The Biggest problem the world faces? Eternal Life without God.
It’s our job to tell the world that God sent His Son so they don’t have to be seperate from God. And it starts right next to you.
I strongly agree, it must happen for the Word of God to be fulfilled….
And surely for us to share the good news when you do not when all this will end…
Be blessed
I believe that Jesus Christ is just a something used to give people hope. In the end, God is not real. You have no real proof. Just a thought. The only thing we can do is try our best to preserve the Earth.
Johnny R, preserving the Earth is meaningless if there isn’t a God. In fact, our very existance is meaningless without a God–we’re just randomly generated matter that occurred by chance without any real purpose. Besides, if you actually study theology, you will find that there is a plethora of evidence and what many secularists often call “coincidences” where as evolution and materialism is just a bunch of theories and guesses. When “coincidences” start to add up exponentially, they are no longer just anomalies, they become evidence.
You are right about God being in control, however, He’s only in control of our daily lives if we let Him. Otherwise, Satan is in control because God gave man dominion over this earth and we’re destroying it with unwise choices—-Satan dominating.
“The biggest problem the world faces? Eternal life without God”. That’s absolutely correct and that is a personal choice for all. That’s the real problem—God giving us free-will to choose His ways or Satan’s. There’s more non-believers following Satan and destroying God’s precious world He made for us.
Spreading the good news about salvation security does not “start right next to you”. It starts in self first and continues without ceasing in hopes others’ will remove their blinders so they can see Jesus in you. That’s the problem. People will look at others through the eyes of God or through the eye of Satan. And all those PROFESSING Christians—not PRACTICING Christians would scare me to death if I didn’t love God more than life. They are the “sheep in wolves clothing and they are as dangerous as Satan because Satan is working through them. NO ANY OF THEM? God says Satan is perfect, intelligent, very handsome and can recite the Bible—deceives by posing as Jesus. I know more PROFESSING Christians who can pull that off better than the practicing ones.
Consequently, God, through my Holy Spirit, is doing a mighty work in my life that I didn’t see coming. He’s answering my prayers to put practicing Christians in my life and without warning took the professing ones out teaching me another definition of being evenly yoked.
First of all, how is Eternal Life without God a problem the world faces? Wouldn’t this be a problem of the spiritual realm? The problems listed above are very real problems we face in our physical world during our short time here in this universe.
I know Christians and religious minded people alike often clash with atheists/agnostics on what one should focus on in his life but being a person of faith shouldn’t mean that you ignore all legitimate problems on Earth and simply proclaim that God will take care of it or that God means for it to be so. God helps those who help themselves. Those of you who ignore these issues, that are in fact created by men, are ignorant and lazy. It’s not man’s arrogance that thinks we have the ability to destroy our world, evidence has made it quite clear that we definitely can and probably are. Don’t use your religion as a convenient and poor excuse not to act. Understanding that we are creating these problems and also have the abilities to solve them is far more empowering than chalking everything up to your deity. I believe God has far more respect for those who choose to use their mind and body to recognize and clean up messes as opposed to those who lazily declare they have no role to play because it is all in “God’s will.”
Wake up and realize that today’s problems are not those depicted in a text written thousands of years ago.
I believe you are stupid. Amen.
Stupid because he isn’t open minded? What God creates his world only to destroy it? If God has the ability to stop evil and he really cares for us, why doesn’t he? If God wants to save all of his children, why can’t he? He can, yes, but only though a metaphysical acceptance that can’t even be proved. According to the Bible, written by mortal men, we are all going to Hell. God will not help us with the problems for many reasons; one, if he could have he already would have, and two, if he is real, he’s already abandoned us. He could reveal himself to the world and make it a better place, but he chooses not to. Instead, he punishes you, just for not loving and following him, bu eternally burning you in a lake of Fire.
how can God have a son? By definition God is totally opposite to all created things. God is infinite where created things including human are finite. God is self sufficient, we are needy. Didn’t jesus eat & drink, wasn’t he needy, finite? If God had a ‘son’ who would be his wife then? The sonship of God as christianity preaches has got nothing to do with Jesus’s original teaching. He never preached trinity either. It was Paul influenced by Greek and Roman paganism who created this idea of viewing jesus as ‘son of God’. What modern christiniaty follows is merely pauline christianity, far far away from Jesus’s teaching.
[…] a series discussing the biggest problem in the world today. Here the discussion was started, here I looked at what secular society says the biggest problem in the world is, and here I looked at […]
I have a question. I know people will probably laugh at me, but…how did we know that there were only a billion people on earth in 1750?
We know because each country’s religion kept note on marriages and how many people were christianed by years(in christian societes, anyway…). An approximate number was taken from each civilization, and we have aproximately come up we the population number in 1750 of a billion inhabiatnts
We live in a tiny little radioactive world we call earth. We blossom in this ancient world like little mayflies trying to bend it to our silly purposes. Oh the quibbles and narrow minded acts from the hobgoblins of little minds causes nearly all the above problems. The real root problem is that we don’t have harmony together. If we all got along together we could build harmony and along the way achieve amazing things like eliminate war, disease, crime, etc..
according to me biggest problem for the world is greed present inside human.greed of being richest,greatest etc.it is the main cause due to which problem like terrorism,hunger etc are happening.
[…] 4_ https://outoftheoverflow.com/2008/10/06/the-top-ten-biggest-problems-on-earth-according-to-secular-so… […]
i think the biggest problem on earth is man not having empathy anymore. that’s my opinion.
For me there are two things that bring out the worst in people and they can be linked to the 10 problems you mention on here. They are money and religion.
what you say has some truth, but then can we live without the two? when a huge tsunami hits you, i m sure atleast 99 out of 100 thinks of God. they either shout at him or love him for his power. Tell me how we can overcome money? this is so confusing.
Protestantism / reformation is the biggest problem. You might notice most of these problems didn’t exist before that.
I agree what is wrong with the governments brain these days
You are all ignorant, psuedominds who turn to myth and legend in order to attempt to understand the world. Get an A level in any science and you will see that there is no denying the things humans do can effect the earth.
We could so easily end life on earth. There are so many nuclear weapons, ozone depleting chemicals, and intelligent enough minds to end this world.
How can you believe that not enough people sharing your faith, which you have no rational reason for, is the biggest problem facing earth? People die everyday because they don’t have clean water or food. You are so ignorant and poorly educated.
If there is a hell. Scum like you will occupy it.
Peace out.
The solution of any problem is hidden in the problem,so all try to solve the problems.
I believe this should change many peoples perspectives on what we do in our every day lives to damage earth. But the sad thing is people will read this and say, “Oh, that’s awful”, then go on eating their dinners. People know what is going on but they choose to sit there and do nothing. And I believe if people don’t wake up life will cease to exist on earth. If people actually cared and did something about this maybe we might find a solution. I appreciate you posting this. But, whatever happens on Earth I am not afraid because I know God is with me. May I meantion in Revelation in the bible it says that in the last days there will be wars and rumors of wars. People are spreading rumors of a world war 3. We must be ready for the coming of our savior. I agree with preacherman the world is lost.
Even in the prehistoric times the earth suffered enormous amount of catastrophes, in my humble opinion it has nothing to do with religious belief or the existence of hell. why dinosaurs are completely wiped out in his world is simply they can’t cope up with the abrupt change then. There is no such thing as permanent in this world, even the greatest kingdom collapses in the crores of time. Problems are imminent but solutions are at hand what we are lacking is true wisdom and not just crude science. True spirituality for understanding the mysteries embedded in your so called problems of the earth.
I believe you should revise #9 on the list to Radical Extremist which include many more groups than Islam.
I disagree with all the above 10 points. In my view,the world greatest problem is”man”because all the above are caused by man,
being war, terrorism,and even global warming is increased by man’s activities.
Looking into it broadly,I also see that the solution is man himself.
I disagree with with all the people saying god will do everything. If God is real he wouldn’t want us to see everything onto him we have to change no one will do it for us. We can not look to god to solve all of our problems and well to say so myself I love life and I will do anything in my power to make the world a better place for my kid. I am open minded with religion but you can’t just say well god is going to wipe us out so let us not even try to survive and make the world a better place for anyone else. I agree with the top ten problems in the world but there should be an eleventh problem well us as humans we are the only species to wipe another off the face of the earth.
Some how i think none of are capable of understanding the reason God does things. Its like wrecking ones brains to figure out “What happens after death?” etc. no one knows for sure. no one will ever know. the dead don’t comeback.
1. Global Warming!!
and who are the biggest culprits of this? The rich developed nations. They bully the poor and ruin the world.
People it’s not like we don’t have a god to make it the worlds greatest issue. Some of those problems can be solved very easily if people cooperate with each other(e.g. war, terrorism, nuclear proliferation, and hunger). But others like global warming and global population growth might require us to leave our planet the Earth which is a very dangerous step to accomplish. We may not have time to solve those two because we don’t have enough ships to carry us, humans, and food resources.
What about the direct and indirect effects of illicit drugs. Wonder where that would rank?!?
these are all some big problems but also don’t forget a bout the violence and prostitution
You are right
JESUS WOULD NOT HELP OUR WORLD AT ALL. If Jesus came NOW, every other religion in the world would suddenly be fake. How would you feel is Buddha or something like that came back? To realize your entire life, and faith was just one big lie. To realize… You were just talking to a brick wall all that time, you whole life wasted. People would be furious. If you think Islam terrorists are bad now, imagine what they would do then! I am an athiest. Who would really want eternal life? ETERNAL. Meaning you are living in “Heaven” FOREVER AND EVER. That’s like eating at the same restaurant every day for your whole life, but you eat at the restaurant not for 100 years, for 100,000,000,000,000 BILLION years. AND EVEN MORE. Sounds fun right? The biggest problem now is weakness. Literally bullying now is “Hey your dumbo” “Boohoo I’m gonna kill myself” I MEAN COME ON…. Also ignorance is a problem. Josef Mengele, a famous Nazi, said that 90% of humans would die of stupidity. I ask: “Where do we get this weakness and ignorance from?” Religion. The main reason Christianity has so many people is because of its views on equality and stuff. When Africans were taken into slavery in the USA, they think of themselves as nothing. But these Christians say: “No! You blacks are equal to us white people!”
Sir, I am a catholic and do, though I am not proud of it, stray away from the church from time to time. You say that God would not help us and what would we do if it was all a lie that we believe. What harm can it do to believe. If you believe in Jesus Christ, or any God for that matter, would it not be worth it if you know that you can achieve life everlasting. If it is all a lie then darn I guess I lived a good life for nothing. Are you going to look back and say I should have been more selfish since there is no God. I do not know you but I would hope not. If we die and there’s no afterlife then we’re just dead. To have a source of hope is essential in life for all and having a god provides that no matter what religion you are. A god is to people what Sampson’s hair was to Sampson. Also, Heaven is a place of eternal happiness. If you achieve getting to heaven you would be upset or bored ever. And even if this was the case (which it’s not) would you rather be in an intense never-ending burning. I cannot refute what the end of your post said but you sound like an angry, pretentious, sad man. God be with you and I hope you find love in this world.
Best answer ever. Us athiests know our shit.
The sad news is that the majority of the World has just missed the Second coming of the Messiah. He came to change the blood lineage of human beings from Satan’s to true God’s lineage. He came for the 7 billion children of God in the world to remove the fallen nature of selfishness and restore all mankind to God’s lineage. If all of us had met Him, while He was on earth, we could have transformed the selfish world to an un-selfish, God-centered world in 7 to 10 generations. All the leaders of the world would have come from unselfish, sons and daughters of God. All the world’s problems could have been solved in 7-10 generations ( in 200 years ).
The good news is that there are 144,000 faithful and pure people who have met Him and received the Blessing of the Messiah ( while He was on earth ) and they will keep growing to cover the earth one day.
He had lived for 92 years, started ministry 8/16/1945 ( right after the World War II ), worked for His mission for 67 years and He had ascended one year ago ( 9/ 2012 ). He tried His best to reach out to every corner of the world in reaching out religious world, political world, Media world, Academic world, College age young people and millions of families through conferences, rallies, speaking tours, Sports Festivals, Service projects in all over the world, Blessing ceremonies, sending missionaries to all over the world and so many more. . . .
He had lived for the service to the Peaceful world with utmost sincerity without any sleep throughout His entire life.
But the world basically ignored Him like they did to Jesus 2,000 years ago.
Most of these problems are a result of modern technology. those that are not the result of modern technology are only known about because of modern technology.
The world has been around and continuously changing for a very long time and mankind has only been apart of it for a relatively short period of that time. If we stop trying to be the masters of the planet and start to live in harmony with the planet we may last a little longer but either way the world will still be here and changing when we are just dust in the wind.
Terrorism isnt a problem we just like to blow shit up
Everyone having to read this is now more stupid than before, having read these comments the are irrelevant and illegitimate to the statements attested in the article.
I think how ignorant the government, large corporations, and medical centers can be should also be on this list. Please see my article at http://brandonjchai.com/index/social_ignorance/ for more information regarding this matter!
To all you non-believers out there,there are many types of you. Some, I believe you give up on hoping for a savior because of what you see around you. All the wars, killings, rape and other hell on earth. BUT somewhere deep down in side you still long for someone or something to protect you, that’s why we rely on policemen, firefighters, ect. But there is nothing to protect you from the pain on the inside, What I mean by that is, you can’t call 911 when you feel depressed can you? So you build up on pain and hurt then you here how God is love and will never leave you nor forsake you. But by then you’ve already been taught the ways of “science” so it sounds like crap to you. So you end up discriminating against everyone who does believe because you fell like there is no hope for you. That’s what is different from Christians and atheists we Christians no how to endure, and if there wasn’t a God (which I believe there is) at least we made a way out of no way, having something to smile about while we stared in the face of pain while the rest of you scream, and weep at the face of death every time it appears. God has never steered me in the wrong direction and I am proud to say I believe. Oh and p.s. I have had my prayers answered many times he hasn’t abandoned you he is just coming when you need him not when you want him and human don’t always no the difference. I pray he helps you All. Amen Hallelujah
God doesn’t cause bad things he allows them, only to make you stronger but if your not careful it can cause you to lose faith. God has not abandoned you he just works when you need him and humans don’t always know the difference. Even the devil knows theres a God after all he was once an angel but now he is envious so he wants nothing for us but destruction because he knows there is nothing but destruction for him so he makes sinning in the eyes of God as his trick to bring us to him, but the Bible says “greater is he that lives in me, than he that lives in the world” so you can overcome the devil’s tricks only if you turn your life over to God. And believe it or not the devil cannot make a move in our lives unless he consults with God first,so all those scary movies don’t always believe them. Jesus told demons to kill themselves and they had to so even demons that many believe in but don’t believe in God, have to bow before him they just don’t want us to know.
We humans came to earth from heaven we had to leave heaven because we were unclean and that was around the time God had decreed that no evil will be allowed into heaven the reason why we were unclean was because Adam and Eve ate the fruit and they were the first humans and we descended from them (considering that the Bible says our ancestors actions live on in us) but as I was saying when we came here to earth we had no memory of heaven but when Jesus came he did get to remember. Then we have those people/”scientists” who try to tell everyone what they think is true when there humans too so to me its like the blind leading the blind. Why look to people who were born sinners just as me, the same who kill, steal, rape, and more.
Why people were not understanding the problem
Where is Fuckushima?
All Gods should listen and work to solve Earth Problems, as well to maintain friendship with other planets. To tell them help.
Earth Well wisher Team,
Madurai, Tamilnadu.
S. India.
Presently Earth working Team, Lord Sivan, Lord Jesus, Lord Krishna, Iraivan Allah, Lord Narayanan, Lord Tirumal with my God Muthanatha Yogeeswar.
Earth Well Wisher Team,
Madurai. Tamilnadu. S. India.
When you say “all gods” you are actually referring to gods made by men. There can only be one God. Its more like all human should listen to and work together to solve earth problem. We human must take the responsibilities of our own actions.
I see no cure for war , not this week , decade or millenium . To speak the truth , i see war as the cure to some issues , issues like overpopulation . If i see this at a dark prespective please help me see it otherwise
I find it quite ridiculous that global warming is considered the most severe issue on our planet when it is nothing more than a poorly supported theory, with more evidence against it than for it, while there are plenty of other severe issues out there that we know to be true which end up being ignored because everyone is so afraid of global warming.
Let me just be clear about 1 solid thing.
Global Warming will not kill us and is NOT the biggest world problem.
The reason behind this is the earth was designed in such a way that if our planet heats up too much, it will produce a tsunami (very ensuring, huh?). Due to the earth constantly changing it’s position, the tidal force will have a different momentum. As soon as the crash of the tsunami takes place, the whole earth will shift back. This will lead to global cooling.
In short: Global warming–>Increasing chances of tsunami–>change in the earths position—> GLOBAL COOLING (leading to equalization)
The entire torah is bunk, no Adam, no Eve, no Abel or Caine, no Noah or Ham or any of the other fictitious family members mentioned, global warming is nonsense as well, extricate your heads from your large intestine you completely delusional and in a total state of denial fools.
Just remember folks that Al Gore the squinty eyed ecological doom saying whore and Alexandria “Bug Eyes, Rabid Dog” Ocasio-Cortez insist that the planet at best will only survive another 12 years.