Maude, the TV sitcom character. sometimes told her husband, “God’s going to get you for that.” I also heard of a mother who put signs on her son’s wall like “God doesn’t like little boys who don’t make their beds and clean their rooms.”.
A Christian psychiatrist writes in his The God-shaped Brain: In 2006 a national survey was taken to evaluate how people viewed God. They found that only 23% of people viewed him as benevolent or loving, while 32% saw the Almighty as authoritarian, 16% as critical, and 24% as distant. and 5% claimed to be atheist. (Maybe it’s the same here?)
“Does it matter which God-concept we hold to? Brain research by Dr. Newberg at the University of Pennsylvania documented that all forms of contemplative meditation were associated with positive brain changes—but the greatest improvements occurred when participants meditated specifically on a God of love. Such meditation was associated with growth in the prefrontal cortex (the part of the brain right behind our forehead where we reason, make judgments and experience Godlike love) and subsequent increased capacity for empathy, sympathy, compassion and altruism.
“But here’s the most astonishing part. Not only does other-centered love increase when we worship a God of love, but sharp thinking and memory improve as well. In other words, worshiping a God of love actually stimulates the brain to heal and grow. ² However, when we worship a god other than one of love—a being who is punitive, authoritarian, critical or distant—(like Allah in Islam, I’d add) fear circuits are activated and, if not calmed, will result in chronic inflammation and damage to both brain and body. As we bow before authoritarian gods, our characters are slowly changed to be less like Jesus. But by beholding Him we are changed, not only in character, but our neural circuitry as well ³ (2 Cor 3:18).”
How we view God profoundly affects how we relate to him—whether we pray, go to church, read the Bible, and how we relate to others. If we see God as a big Judge, who is always finding fault with things in our life, we will not love him very much, even though Scripture tells us to love God with our whole being, i.e., to trust and obey Him and to “love your neighbor as yourself.”
Some people’s views of God are colored by their bad experiences in life, things ranging from being molested or abandoned by a parent in childhood, to losing everything in a typhoon, to getting diabetes or cancer, etc. They will blame God: Why did you let this happen, or do this, to me? I even heard of a pastor who was driving towards Aurora after a heavy rain when a tree crashed down and broke his windshield. He complained, Why me, Lord? I’m trying to serve you! Even my late (Filipino) wife said that if a home invader came to the door to rob you, God should reach down and knock the gun out of the criminal’s hand. Which would be crazy!
If we don’t blame God for bad stuff, making it hard to relate to Him on a personal basis, we might blame ourselves, seeing ourselves as unworthy, as not good enough to relate to and serve the Lord. Whereas the Gospel says, Of course you’re unworthy; your justification flows from the Cross, and it and your goodness derive from that and Jesus’ resurrection–a GIFT! (Ephesians 2: 8) And the bad stuff? God has already taken the blame for it, on the Cross! God is Love!
The psychiatrist writes, We were all born dead in trespasses and sin—a terminal condition of selfishness (Ps 51:5; Eph 2:1). But when we see the truth about God, we enter at conversion into a trust relationship with Jesus Christ and accept his treatment for our lives; we leave the path of death and enter into eternal life. It is in this saving relationship that God’s healing power begins working in our lives. However, until Christ returns, the healing of our minds, the transformation of our characters, the rewiring of our brains is an ongoing battle as old neural circuits are degraded and healthy pathways are formed. Romans 7: So, I find this reality at work: When I want to do good, old selfish habits and residual feelings of fear are right there with me. For in my prefrontal cortex I rejoice in God’s methods and principles; but I recognize I remain damaged from years of being infected with distrust and practicing Satan’s methods, so that even though the infection of distrust has been removed, the old habits of fear and self-promotion tempt me from within. What a damaged and corrupt man I am! Who will deliver and heal me from a brain and body so diseased and de- formed?
Praise be to God—for he has provided the healing solution through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I find that in my prefrontal cortex I am now renewed with trust for God and love of his methods, but my entire brain and body remain damaged by years of self-indulgent behavior. At long last, I could see it so clearly: lies believed break the circle of love and trust. Without love and trust, fear and selfishness consume the mind. Our brains are damaged and filled with every kind of twisted and distorted idea about God, frantically seeking relief, but only sinking into deeper confusion. It is only when the good news about God removes the distorted and twisted views of him that our minds can heal.
He tells the story of a formerly very happy teen ager who’d become withdrawn, unhappy, depressed. . . She admitted to giving into social pressure–fear from the limbic system, which prevented her thinking part (pre-frontal cortex) from saying NO—to having sex, therefore feeling God was mad at her. First he made clear that God loved her and wasn’t mad at her, even though conscience and guilt were good things, like learning not to touch a hot stove after being burned.
I continued, “Do you remember the story of the woman caught in adultery?” She nodded, “After Jesus had dispatched the crowd and only he and this woman remained, notice what he said regarding her accusers. ‘Where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ [Jn 8:10]. He was saying, ‘Hey, I am not the one condemning you. I know everything about you. I know what you were just involved in and you don’t hear accusations coming from me. I love you! I’m here to save and heal you.’ And just so there is no mistaking our understanding of this encounter, Jesus explicitly stated, ‘Neither do I condemn you.’ Then he added, ‘Leave here renewed, live a life victorious over sin’” (Jn 8:11, paraphrased).
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. Ps. 23:1 I am the good shepherd, who lays down his life for the sheep. . . . My sheep hear my voice….John 10
