Three studies at Boston University found that atheists
acknowledge a Creator God before their conscious mind has a chance to kick in:
·
The findings "suggest that there is a
deeply rooted natural tendency to view nature as designed," writes a
research team led by Elisa Järnefelt of Newman University. They also provide
evidence that, in the researchers' words, "religious non-belief is
cognitively effortful."
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/richard-dawkins-take-heed-even-atheists-instinctively-believe-creator-says-study-1505712
How were these studies able to arrive at such surprising
findings?
·
Researchers attempted to plug into the automatic
or "default" human brain by showing subjects images of natural
landscapes and things made by human beings, then requiring lightning-fast
responses to the question on whether "any being purposefully made the
thing in the picture," notes Pacific-Standard.
·
"Religious participants' baseline tendency
to endorse nature as purposefully created was higher" than that of
atheists, the study found. But non-religious participants "increasingly
defaulted to understanding natural phenomena as purposefully made" when
"they did not have time to censor their thinking," wrote the
researchers.
·
The results suggest that "the tendency to
construe both living and non-living nature as intentionally made derives from
automatic cognitive processes, not just practiced explicit beliefs," the
report concluded. The results were similar even among subjects from Finland,
where atheism is not a controversial issue as it can be in the US.
This means that denying the existence of an intelligent
Designer requires effort, but this denial is also a denial of themselves as
well as their own intuitions. The Bible also claims that we have the truth about
God but we suppress it:
·
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their
unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to
them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely,
his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since
the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are
without excuse. (Romans 1:18-20 ESV)
In light of this, the atheist is like someone trying to
conceal an inflated ball under the water. However, it eventually pops to the
surface and must again be suppressed. This mirrors our internal struggle when
we try to suppress our awareness of God, and this has serious consequences.
When our mind is fighting itself, there can be little peace or even clarity but
an obsessive struggle - a costly auto-immune response.
Not only is the atheist at war with himself, but these
findings also represent a blow to the naturalistic theory of evolution, which
holds that our traits evolved because they confer on us a survival advantage.
This would suggest that the belief in God also confers a survival advantage.
However, atheists insist that belief in God is irrational and ruins everything.
Some even advocate outlawing religion as one form of “child abuse.”
However, these experiments suggest that, on an intuitive
level, they know better. While this is not child abuse, it might qualify as
suicide.
Why then are they so opposed to God? They intuitively know
that they are to be judged by Him:
·
Though they know God’s righteous decree that
those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give
approval to those who practice them. (Romans 1:32)
They may suppress this awareness, but it is still present,
perhaps re-emerging whenever they meet a Christian.
No comments:
Post a Comment