There is an article in a magazine called "New Scientist" that was published in February about belief in God. The article says gods, mythology, afterlife, etc., but I'm going to say God. Here's a quote from the article. "Based on these and other experiments, Bering considers a belief in some form of life apart from that experienced in the body to be the default setting of the human brain. Education and experience teach us to override it, but it never truly leaves us, he says." So, some scientists believe that it is an innate and natural part of being a human being to belief in God, but we shouldn't give in to that natural "impulse"? This really rankles me, especially as people who believe this probably also believe that one should give in to natural impulses instead of repressing them, i.e. sexuality. Why would we have an innate desire for the eternal, for something greater than and outside of ourselves and this temporal realm if it wasn't true? That is such a cruel idea, and it would be the world's greatest delusion if it were true, but it's not. There is more to this world than what we can see, touch, taste, etc, and I am looking forward to the day when my sinfulness and limitations are removed and I can truly experience God and finally come alive.
Also, I am reading "The Pursuit of God" by A.W. Tozer, and I really like this quote.
"The stiff and wooden quality about our religious lives is a result of our lack of holy desire. Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth. Acute desire must be present or there will be no manifestation of Christ to His people. He waits to be wanted. Too bad that with many of us He waits so long, so very long, in vain." So many times we focus on doing for God, when we should be focusing on being for God. Just "to be" in Him.
2 comments:
Ooooh...should we follow natural impulses? That's a good one.
For instance: Loving your enemies goes completely against our instinct. We want to hate them, and yet Jesus commands us to love them.
I'm not trying to say that I agree with the article, I'm just trying to make you think.
This made me think of Francis Collins and Denis Lamoureux, both biologists and devout Christians. I wonder what they (and other Christian scientists) would say to this; perhaps that this is just further evidence for the existence of God. Although our desires were corrupted in the fall they still remain and can be manifested in negative or positive ways, including our sexuality (the negative AND positive aspects of it) and our desire for A god or A mythology or A something versus our desire for THE God.
And complacency rears its ugly head again!
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