For many people, believing in God comes down to a gut feeling that a benevolent deity is out there. A study now finds that gut feelings may be very important in determining who goes to church every Sunday and who avoids the pews.People who are generally more intuitive in the way they think and make decisions are more likely to believe in God than those who ruminate over their choices, the researchers found. The findings suggest that basic differences in thinking style can influence religious belief.
"Some say we believe in God because our intuitions about how and why things happen lead us to see a divine purpose behind ordinary events that don't have obvious human causes," study researcher Amitai Shenhav of Harvard University said in a statement. "This led us to ask whether the strength of an individual's beliefs is influenced by how much they trust their natural intuitions versus stopping to reflect on those first instincts." Shenhav and his colleagues investigated that question in a series of studies. In the first, 882 American adults answered online surveys about their belief in God. Next, the participants took a three-question math test with questions such as, "A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?" The intuitive answer to that question is 10 cents, since most people's first impulse is to knock $1 off the total. But people who use "reflective" reasoning to question their first impulse are more likely to get the correct answer: 5 cents.
Okay. That's the story. Here's the confession. I don't have any idea whatsoever how they get 5 cents as the correct answer. Given the answer, I can't come up with the answer. That, according to the research, makes me impulsive rather than reflective. It means, according to the research, I'm much more likely to believe in God.
Except, most of my life I didn't. I thought through everything. I damaged everything in my thoroughness of thought. I damaged everything I contacted. Then I came to a point where I couldn't go on and God saved me, changed me, made me who I am. Why? Because I was worth more than 5 cents to Him.
Studies will never figure out who believes in God and who doesn't. There are rich who do. There are poor who do. There are white, black and inhuman. By inhuman I mean the scriptures say the demons believe in God so there is no real adventure in who believes in God. When it comes down to it, most do. If a person doesn't, I wouldn't give them a plug nickel's chance of heaven.
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