The Human Brain: Hardwired to Sin

[Paul the Human]

Gluttony: The reward circuitry in our brains also lights up when we eat. “We find these things rewarding because of the evolutionary logic – you want organisms to reproduce, you want them to eat.” But eating itself isn’t a bad thing. It’s only a problem when sustenance turns to gluttony. And even here it seems that we have nature to blame. “In the environment that we evolved in, food was more scarce – there were no cheesecakes and no hamburgers,” says Safron. “Throughout most of our history, life was very difficult and these were the conditions that shaped our brains – set the dials for how much we want these things or how rewarding we find them.”

Full Article Here.

That's a part of one example that this article gives. It goes through each of the 'Seven Deadly Sins' and shows how each is hardwired into our brains. I found it interesting and thought I'd share.

[darkwolf176]

Thanks, interesting article

[Zen Badger]

No surprises there, we are the products of our evolution.

Ever wondered about your involuntary impulse to throw up when you see someone else vomiting?

Think back to pre-tribal times when a family group or similar would be feeding.

In most cases they would be eating from the same source( fruit tree, carcass etc).

If one member started to vomit it would be in the best interests of the rest of the group to do the same.

The ones who didn't would be in grave danger of not passing on their genes.

[darkwolf176]

No surprises there, we are the products of our evolution.

Ever wondered about your involuntary impulse to throw up when you see someone else vomiting?

Think back to pre-tribal times when a family group or similar would be feeding.

In most cases they would be eating from the same source( fruit tree, carcass etc).

If one member started to vomit it would be in the best interests of the rest of the group to do the same.

The ones who didn't would be in grave danger of not passing on their genes.

Nice, good point!

[Dotard]

Ha! I knew all my 'sinfullness' was not the fault of my own and could be blamed on someone/thing else!

Yay! Thanks PtH!

[Welsh cake]

To commit a "sin" is basically to violate any law of God or commit a transgression of God's will.

Since "God" in the Bible is a colossal evil monster, then it stands to reason the more sinful you are, the more positively moral your character is. Only megalomaniac people like Hitler can ever be considered 'God-like'.

So instead of giving people with intelligent or witty responses "Kudos" on this forum we should really be handing out "Sinful" awards, it's far more meaningful as a compliment; I'd be flattered to be called 'a sinner' any day. ^___^

[Caecilian]

First of all, thanks to PTH for posting the link. A very interesting article.

But maybe more than just interesting. It seems to me that its the sort of work that can be used as ammunition against a particular theist counter-argument. I'll explain what I mean.

Most (maybe all) of us will be familiar with the 'problem of evil' argument against the existence of God. It runs something like this:

God is alleged to be both omnipotent and infinitely/ perfectly good. And yet we see evil all around us in the world- genocide, child abuse, torture etc. How can God allow these horrors to occur? Surely this implies that the Christian God is conceptually incoherent- He is either omnipotent or infinitely good. He can't be both.

One of the stock theist replies goes as follows:

Ah, but God has given humans free will. The horrors that you refer to are the consequences of freely chosen human actions. They don't in any way impinge upon the infinite goodness of God.

Now this theist counter-argument has plenty wrong with it. It doesn't touch the issue of horrors that aren't due to human action (like malaria, or the Haiti earthquake). And it relies on a libertarian account of free will (not to be confused with political libertarianism!), which is itself highly suspect and open to attack.

But what if we were hardwired to sin? It seems to me that this is a very strong objection to the theist position. If God has designed us in such a way that we have an inherent, biologically-based bias towards certain sinful types of action, then the 'problem of evil' can't be just down to our free will. It must also be a design issue, and thus at least partly down to God, pointing towards the incoherence of the whole 'God' concept.

I'd be very interested in getting some feedback on this, especially feedback from theists.

[Cal]

First of all, thanks to PTH for posting the link. A very interesting article.

But maybe more than just interesting. It seems to me that its the sort of work that can be used as ammunition against a particular theist counter-argument. I'll explain what I mean.

Most (maybe all) of us will be familiar with the 'problem of evil' argument against the existence of God. It runs something like this:

God is alleged to be both omnipotent and infinitely/ perfectly good. And yet we see evil all around us in the world- genocide, child abuse, torture etc. How can God allow these horrors to occur? Surely this implies that the Christian God is conceptually incoherent- He is either omnipotent or infinitely good. He can't be both.

One of the stock theist replies goes as follows:

Ah, but God has given humans free will. The horrors that you refer to are the consequences of freely chosen human actions. They don't in any way impinge upon the infinite goodness of God.

Now this theist counter-argument has plenty wrong with it. It doesn't touch the issue of horrors that aren't due to human action (like malaria, or the Haiti earthquake). And it relies on a libertarian account of free will (not to be confused with political libertarianism!), which is itself highly suspect and open to attack.

But what if we were hardwired to sin? It seems to me that this is a very strong objection to the theist position. If God has designed us in such a way that we have an inherent, biologically-based bias towards certain sinful types of action, then the 'problem of evil' can't be just down to our free will. It must also be a design issue, and thus at least partly down to God, pointing towards the incoherence of the whole 'God' concept.

I'd be very interested in getting some feedback on this, especially feedback from theists.

Hi there,

I came across this forum while looking at different articles, and read through some of the comments. I read yours and thought I'd respond, as you desired.

Your conclusions that if we are indeed 'hardwired to sin' then this is surely a 'very strong objection to the theist position' is actually false. If we are indeed hardwired to sin, as the original Focus article suggests, then this only confirms what is actually taught in the Bible. You mistake our current condition with our original condition. It is not a 'design issue' as you put it, as according to the Bible, man was created without sin. I suppose you could consider it more a user issue, rather than a design issue. It was not God who wrote sin into our DNA, so to speak, but man himself. The account in Genesis covers this, and the teaching throughout the Bible also covers that since the 'Fall' man has been in a depraved condition, passing sin down each generation.

So the term 'Hardwired to Sin' confirms what the Bible teaches - that we are born in sin because of our forefather Adam.

If you wish to converse further on this subject, or others, then do PM me. I realise by stating that I am a Christian, I am open to all sorts of slander or whatever. I only hope that we can have some mature and decent discussion. There are already too many theists and atheists engaged in immature and unreasonable petty arguments.

Thanks,
Cal

[Minimalist]

You're free to hope.

[Jackalope]

You're free to hope.

....and necropost 4 year old threads. Don't do that.