Can you find God in a pill?

What about through a neuroscientist's electrodes? 

Or, perhaps, is God simply in our genetic makeup?

Research is being done in all these areas, believe it or not. I was reviewing an old issue I'd saved of Mental Floss magazine (alas, it has to be old, because they've stopped printing, although you can still go to the website. It's worth it.), and evidence of all three possibilities reared their heads in the article by Judy Dutton (Nov/Dec 2011).

Her article starts with the work of Dr. Michael Persinger, who created a helmet (think motorcycle or, since he's Canadian, snowmobile) that uses electrodes to stimulate different parts of your brain. Interestingly, certain types of electric stimulus of the right temporal lobe triggers what most patients called "a presence", as if they were in the presence of God. Others saw it as an "out-of-body experience", still others decided it was a ghost. Whatever they saw this second "presence" as, it was life-changing for many of the patients, and Dr. Persinger continues to research this possibility (as of four years ago) at the Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada (about 100 miles east of Michigan's Upper Peninsula), despite protest wars both for and against his research at one point.

His research now focuses on the benefits of this type of lobe stimulation for both pain relief and depression, rather than seeking God through a helmet. But ask yourself this question: wouldn't it make sense that you might have certain parts of your brain that are 'hardwired' to link up with the Creator of the Universe? When we pray, does the act of prayer trigger extra activity in a certain part of the brain, our "God-Center", perhaps? And doesn't it make sense for an intellectual activity like prayer to the Living God would take place in a frontal lobe? I have no evidence whatsoever of what I'm suggesting - I'm just making the argument that there's nothing about this that's non-Biblical. 

Similarly, behavioral biologist Roland Griffiths did quite a bit of work that touched on some traditionally taboo ingredients (psychedelic and hallucinogenic drugs) to trigger a "spiritual awakening" in patient volunteers. Like Dr. Persinger, Griffiths had some success with his methodology in more verifiable forms, in this case anxiety relief for cancer and other terminally ill patients in particular, which has allowed this research to move forward. Many claim to have had "a direct experience with God", and 89 percent reported "permanent and positive changes in their lives" after fourteen months beyond the completion of their treatments. There were patients who had "bad trips" - really adverse reactions to the psilocybin which was the base drug Griffiths administered. (My favorite quote is from David Shurtleff, then the acting director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse: "Hey, don't try this at home.") But these drugs seem to do something vaguely similar to the electrodes - they stimulate certain functions and portions of the brain, which as we said earlier may be exactly what earnest prayer does: Open up access to the inborn communication station to God. 

A third avenue of exploration which Dutton's article brings up is the possibility that there is a genetic predeliction towards belief or faith in God. The possibility that the gene in our DNA known as VMAT2 has a specific variant that only appears in people with very high levels of "religious faith" (a phrase that sounds too inclusive to me  - it implies faith for any religious belief, not just faith in the Living God Jehovah).

Needless to say, this is the one which provoked the most outrage from Christians of all sects - the idea that their experiences with God are not truly of God's doing, but simply genetic happenstance did not sit well with many. But let me make a suggestion: one of the most difficult concepts for many of us who study God's Word is the idea that there are a body of elect Christians who will be saved, and others who are not among the elect, who will NOT be saved from Hell. It gives us the impression that no matter what one does, that person cannot reach salvation, and that strikes us as patently unfair. In earlier posts, I've discussed my thoughts on what God may mean by His "elect", but consider this: is it possible that being one of His Elect is 'hardwired' into our genetic structure?

The truth is, I don't have ANY idea what's true and what's illusion when it comes to our feeble scientific attempts to communicating with God, to connecting with God, to being one of His chosen elect. But before we reject any of these possibilities out of hand, I would warn the reader that God invented science. Science should never be opposite of faith. 

As we speak (write, type, whatever),I'm writing a book called The Universe In Twelve Dimensions detailing a man's journey through every dimension: from zero - inside his own mind - to twelve - the realm of God. The primary theme of the book is simple: God wrote the Bible. God invented science. Therefore, don't you think the two of them will agree in the end on what reality is? On how the universe was formed, on where we come from, and so forth? I believe the answer is yes, and I've been working through many of the supposed conflicts by comparing what the Bible actually says, not what we assume it says, to where modern scientific research is and what its newest position is on those pivotal questions. So often, we see the scientific viewpoint coming towards the Biblical truth. (A side note here: the New Earth Creationists tend to make up plenty of "evidence" for their version of events, but that's not necessary - the true age of the earth is indeed in the five billion year range, and that does NOT contradict the Bible's actual text. If you're not sure how that could be, you can read my book when I've completed it around the end of the year.)

Can you find God in a pill? Or from electrodes, or in your genes?  Probably not - but that doesn't mean it's impossible. "All roads lead to God" is a dangerous fallacy: the Bible clearly states that Jesus is the One Way, the Only Truth. But there may be multiple ways to reach Jesus Christ, and if flipping on the communication center in your brain to do it is the best option for you? I can't tell you no based on what I know. Whatever you do, however... BE SAFE.