"God" is Just a Chemical Reaction in the Brain (atheist, ghost)
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What do you think is the result of the study? What conclusions did the scientists testing the subjects arrive at?
I dunno. I only skimmed it. I mean, I've heard similar stories about how Buddhist monks in deep meditation also have the blue light up in their brains.
Just because it causes a chemical reaction in the brain doesn't mean that it is ONLY a chemical reaction in the brain that's going on. It might, but do we know that for certain?
I find it more interesting that you are so obsessed with trying to persuade other people that their beliefs are bunk. I am not arguing for the beliefs, but there is something deeper going on psychologically with someone who is so laser-focused on trying to disprove God. Just don't believe. Let others believe if they feel the need to believe. That's it.
No, don't try to make it like you're trying to save people from themselves or make their lives better or society better because religion blah blah blah. Nobody's buying that. This is something to do with YOU, and maybe that's where you need to focus. Internally. Maybe you can light up your own brain with an AHA! moment of personal insight.
Hi thrill, I don't really have a problem with this: "God is nothing more than a neurochemical reaction in the brain.''
I think it's nice you think he is even that much ...chemicals in the brain.
And man, are they nice chemicals!!
That 'nothing more' part I think is wrong...'I'd say, He' is that and a bag of chips.
I dunno. I only skimmed it. I mean, I've heard similar stories about how Buddhist monks in deep meditation also have the blue light up in their brains.
Just because it causes a chemical reaction in the brain doesn't mean that it is ONLY a chemical reaction in the brain that's going on. It might, but do we know that for certain?
I find it more interesting that you are so obsessed with trying to persuade other people that their beliefs are bunk. I am not arguing for the beliefs, but there is something deeper going on psychologically with someone who is so laser-focused on trying to disprove God. Just don't believe. Let others believe if they feel the need to believe. That's it.
No, don't try to make it like you're trying to save people from themselves or make their lives better or society better because religion blah blah blah. Nobody's buying that. This is something to do with YOU, and maybe that's where you need to focus. Internally. Maybe you can light up your own brain with an AHA! moment of personal insight.
Okay, this is going to digress quite a bit--but you did ask. So
For purposes of this forum I talk as if God is a real entity. I mean I have to in order to be able to converse. But away from the forum I'm ambivalent about him. Whether he exists or not plays no part in my life like it did prior to my declaration as an atheist. Frankly for myself I couldn't care less about him.
But I AM bitter about all the decades I threw away believing in him. I could have been doing something much more productive with that time than worshiping something I don't believe exists. The absolute truth is:
I don't want the young kids who come in here reading these threads and looking for guidance about whether or not they should join Christianity--I don't want them making the same mistake I did--throwing their lives away on a belief system that has proven itself a thousand times over being a morally corrupt, dishonest nefarious religion.
These kids have a chance to make something of their lives--go into a good occupation, make good money, get married, have a beautiful home with a loving wife and kids. They don't need the Jesus millstone around their necks with this rubbish of becoming a slave for Jesus and selling their lives away to him that crackpot televangelists like John Piper are trying to persuade them to do--and probably all just for roping another gullible schnook into tithing to his multi-million dollar bank account. I will point out to them that are lurking in R&S every single lie I can uncover about Christianity so that they can at least make an informed decision about whether or not they should throw their lives away on a fantasyland man god that history says never existed. I want to warn them not to believe the lies that you and I and a dozen other active members in here KNOW that Christians are telling them when they say, "Oh yes, God answers every single prayer I pray to him. He's never failed me once!" We skeptics and atheists know from personal experience that those Christians are lying through their teeth. We know that study after study proves they are lying, but unfortunately the lurkers in here don't know that unless I and others tell them so.
As God if he really exists is my witness, that is the only reason I post threads like this, MQ.
Now let's get back to the topic:
Quote:
Just because it causes a chemical reaction in the brain doesn't mean that it is ONLY a chemical reaction in the brain that's going on. It might, but do we know that for certain?
You're starting sound like Mink now--going off into an area that has nothing to do with the topic. Whether there are other chemicals going off is not the focus of the study. Doesn't matter, The medical personnel didn't think that aspect a danger to their findings that they had to make a disclaimer about it, so why ask?
Try to stick to what the study focused on:
'The Brain Treats God Like Drugs or Sex
Spiritual fulfillment provides a "hit" of neural dopamine like other, more worldly pleasures, says lead author Michael Ferguson, a post-doctoral associate in the Department of Human Development at Cornell University."
One person did try to answer this issue. He said, "Why shoudn't God light up sex and drug reward centers of the brain? He's God, he can do anything." Which I thought was an incredibly inane response. I asked, "Why not look at it from the point of view of what the article is implying--that praying to God and feeling the Holy Spirit is just a neurochemical reaction in the brain that produces "reward" chemicals that makes a person feel good. In other words, God is just a drug.
If God was real wouldn't the Holy Spirit indwelling, being a spiritual experience, not light up any regions of the brain at all? Doesn't that make infinitely more sense for an all-powerful God to do who wants us to believe in him??????
Karl Marx had it right when he said God is just an opiate. He didn't need a 10-million dollar study to determine that. He knew that 150 years before this study came along just from observing religious people with his own eyes.
Last edited by thrillobyte; 03-14-2023 at 08:22 PM..
Leaving the different religious etc. aside for a moment…
The argument that God must not exist because the same chemicals released in the brain while ‘receiving’ the Holy Spirit/Ghost are the same as those released by drugs or sex etc., does not quite work for disproving the existence of God.
Why? What you are describing is a reaction by the brain to something.
If I feel all warm and fuzzy inside after looking at my cute kittens, that part of my brain may light up. It doesn’t mean the kittens don’t exist though— just that that was my physiological reaction to the kittens.
Now if I’m hallucinating that I saw kittens, my brain will still likely light up. However, I know what kittens are, have had experience with kittens— kittens do exist. I’m reacting to something real.
I’m not trying to prove or disprove the existence of God in this post—- just analyzing the argument
God is nothing more than a neurochemical reaction in the brain.
Science has proven it.
What Christians think is the inflowing of the Holy Spirit when they pray and commune with God/Jesus is nothing more than neurotransmitters called dopamine and endorphins--what medicine calls "feel-good" chemicals--flooding the body to warm and relax it--the exact same chemicals the body makes when a person engages in pleasurable sex, experiences the thrill of a big win at the Roulette wheel, and takes a hit of cocaine.
These brain areas actually light up on an MRI when "reward centers" in the brain are tickled by sex, drugs, gambling and yes, praying to Jesus.
Notice that the areas of the brain that light up during sex and taking drugs like in this photo
are the exact same areas of the brain that light up when a person feels what he believes is the inflowing of the Holy Spirit as he prays to Jesus
So when a Christian kneels and prays or reads the verse John 16:27, “The Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and believed that I came from God” and he feel his spirit being flooded with the love of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, just know that it isn't God or the Holy Spirit that is producing these pleasurable sensations of feeling loved by God. It's neurochemicals that the Christian is stimulating his brain to produce which in turns gives him these pleasurable sensations which he attributes to the love of God and the power of the Holy Spirit.
Simple formula:
Pleasurable sensations from reading Bible/praying = stimulation of pituitary/hypothalamus glands = production of endorphins/dopamine = pleasurable feelings of joy and contentment.
Now all this begs the question:
Why would God choose to stimulate the EXACT SAME areas of the brain AS the areas that are stimulated when a person engages in sex and takes drugs? It doesn't make a bit of sense--
Unless "God" is just an imaginary being and that the need to commune with a higher power we call God is something that evolved over millions of years of evolution--as this scientific article in Discover magazine demonstrates:
"The Human Brain Evolved to Believe in Gods
How belief in the supernatural makes sense in light of evolution."
This pretty much prove that God is nothing more than a neurotransmitter reaction.
Unless a Christian can give a reasonably believable answer to why God would decide to tickle the same areas of the brain as sex, drugs and gambling.
Interesting.
So if we analyze the world’s population in the light of your OP, can we conclude that Atheists are a small portion of world’s population who have this brain abnormality for not having this chemical reaction in their brains?
Should there be more research to find a cure to treat this brain disorder so that the minority group of Atheists can start feeling normal like the rest of the world population?
I agree that God is probably some morphology in our brain that evolved. It's a positive adaptation.
Look up the psychology of internal locus of control. Thinking you have control over your life has positive side effects, even if you don't. Or alternatively, thinking you can appeal to a higher power when it's obvious something is out of your control.
Atheists are people who see through the delusion. I would classify them into three groups: those who see through the delusion but don't appreciate the implications of cosmic nihilism, those who do appreciate the implications of cosmic nihilism and become passive and despondent, and those who find some other motivation despite their knowledge of the void. This last group is Sisyphus, imagined happy.
These kids have a chance to make something of their lives--go into a good occupation, make good money, get married, have a beautiful home with a loving wife and kids. They don't need the Jesus millstone around their necks
you think believing in God means you won't be successful in life. You must know of the multitude of successful people who believe in God. May I share few with you?
Strive Masiyiwa, founder of Econet Wireless. He's a telecom communications leader and the richest man in Zimbabwae. And also a Christian. Not only has he built a multi-billion dollar company, he co-runs a charity that provides food, education and healthcare for over 28K children. Very big on philanthropy and generosity to the less fortunate.
Then there's Cher Wang. CEO of HTC Corp. She earned her masters degree in economics and founded HTC in '97, a company that built the first notebook. She and her partners later switched to cellphones because she saw their future potential.
Her Christian faith was a significant factor in her personal and business life, declaring that "Jesus tells us you have to work hard."
Another Christian woman and self-made millionaire is Madam C J Walker. First woman to design a line of hair care products specifically for African American women. This was in 1909 when women, especially women of color weren't well received in business or in live. A truly remarkable woman, a devout Christian and a member of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Her company, Walker Manufacturing was quite successful during the early part of the 20th century and then later shut its doors in 1980.
Of course, you remember John D. Rockefeller. Not much to say about this man that hasn't been said or written. His name is synonymous with success and wealth. He was also a devout Christian and another who lived a life of philanthropy. By the time he died, he had given away over 500 million dollars of his wealth to those in need.
So I don't quite understand why you think believing in God or being a person of faith inhibits you from becoming successful in life or in some way holds you back. Maybe I misinterpreted your meaning and if so, I'm terribly sorry. The thing I find most peculiar however is why, now that you decided God doesn't exist and He's nothing more than a chemical reaction in one's brain, you feel the need to spend so much time extrapolating that belief in a religion/spirituality forum.
If I had shaken loose of something that was burdening me for so long and was finally set free, I'd be doing a lot of other things more enjoyable and where I didn't think about it any longer. You like Karl Marx. Maybe studying more about the man and his mission. Of course, it's your choice to do so, it just makes me wonder why. What's the purpose?
you think believing in God means you won't be successful in life. You must know of the multitude of successful people who believe in God. May I share few with you?
Strive Masiyiwa, founder of Econet Wireless. He's a telecom communications leader and the richest man in Zimbabwae. And also a Christian. Not only has he built a multi-billion dollar company, he co-runs a charity that provides food, education and healthcare for over 28K children. Very big on philanthropy and generosity to the less fortunate.
Then there's Cher Wang. CEO of HTC Corp. She earned her masters degree in economics and founded HTC in '97, a company that built the first notebook. She and her partners later switched to cellphones because she saw their future potential.
Her Christian faith was a significant factor in her personal and business life, declaring that "Jesus tells us you have to work hard."
Another Christian woman and self-made millionaire is Madam C J Walker. First woman to design a line of hair care products specifically for African American women. This was in 1909 when women, especially women of color weren't well received in business or in live. A truly remarkable woman, a devout Christian and a member of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Her company, Walker Manufacturing was quite successful during the early part of the 20th century and then later shut its doors in 1980.
Of course, you remember John D. Rockefeller. Not much to say about this man that hasn't been said or written. His name is synonymous with success and wealth. He was also a devout Christian and another who lived a life of philanthropy. By the time he died, he had given away over 500 million dollars of his wealth to those in need.
So I don't quite understand why you think believing in God or being a person of faith inhibits you from becoming successful in life or in some way holds you back. Maybe I misinterpreted your meaning and if so, I'm terribly sorry. The thing I find most peculiar however is why, now that you decided God doesn't exist and He's nothing more than a chemical reaction in one's brain, you feel the need to spend so much time extrapolating that belief in a religion/spirituality forum.
If I had shaken loose of something that was burdening me for so long and was finally set free, I'd be doing a lot of other things more enjoyable and where I didn't think about it any longer. You like Karl Marx. Maybe studying more about the man and his mission. Of course, it's your choice to do so, it just makes me wonder why. What's the purpose?
And what about all the millions of people who are religious...and in poverty?
AAhhh!...Then that explains those halos around the heads of all those saints. It's their dopamine & endorphin areas lighting up!
Marx may have said that religion is the opiate of the masses, but some people do have pain and need opiates. This proves he was right.
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