The Analyst

The Analyst
Being Brainy for God

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Hard Wired for God!

Me ~ Did you hear/read that the human mind is really... as in 'actually' hard wired to believe?

John ~ Yes, I read about that but then no one had to tell me. Once you are born again, there is no turning back, there is no man made trick or equation or technology that could change one's/my mind. Does that mean I was hard wired for God since birth or re-birth? I think that the wiring process is life long but there definitely are the basic threads/wires right from the very beginning, in the seed. In being born again, is that wiring process over or finished? No, but it has moved up to the next level, like a computer chip with layered integrating systems.

Me ~ I agree. But for our readers, what can you say about being hard wired for God?

John ~ Everybody these days is into science; as if 'science' is outside the mind, outside of God and His Social Imagination. Science is a tool given to man (by God) for understanding His (God's) creation which 'we' man lives in. God informs us on a need to know basis. His information is the same today as it was yesterday and will be tomorrow. As far as I know, man's science is always changing depending on which men/women are in charge or making the observation of what he/she thinks. 

Me ~ Why is that? Isn't it because science could be evil?

John ~ You are right. That is why we must be as discerning as possible and that is only possible being in relationship with the Holy Spirit God the Father and Son through His Word the Bible. Yet, I can offer in His - God's defense, an interesting 'scientific' discovery that can only be from Him. 

According to Pascal Boyer of Washington University in St. Louis, research suggests our cognitive systems evolved in a way that makes believing easy. One can find a 2008 essay for the journal Nature in which Boyer wrote that several features of the human brain predispose us to religious belief. Among the psychological tendencies complemented or satiated by religious beliefs are the abilities to relate to unreal or unseen figures, (note the word 'relate'; yes we can and do relate to figures who are now unseen, such as past presidents, scientists, teachers, and parents/grandparents) a desire to avoid danger and the ability to be a part of and maintain massive social structures. Boyer’s research also suggests “that people best remember stories that include a combination of counterintuitive physical feats and plausibly human psychological features."

Boyer contends that there is not one part of the brain solely responsible for religious belief, but rather that the particular overlap of several cognitive systems renders religious beliefs desirable to, and easily accepted by, the human mind. This also means that if/when we opt for atheism, we are going against the grain so to speak forcing the brain/mind to work hard in fact to battle against what our minds are generally inclined and well-equipped to do ~ believe!

*Stand up for God the Creator of all things seen and unseen. FYI- Einstein wasn't an atheist.

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