[Pearls Ep 129: Answering atheism Tuesday.]
As we finish looking at Jesus’ directive to “ask, seek, and knock” we note that this harkens to our free will (as does the totality of scripture).
On Friday we reflected on the fact that we don’t actually change God’s mind with our asking, seeking and knocking – but that He knows what we will freely choose to do and ask for, and He takes that into account in His plan of salvation.
Christian anthropology (consistent Greek metaphysics) recognizes that our free will is a faculty of our spiritual soul. Atheist scientists are not fans of the concept of an immaterial soul. In their world view we are nothing more than our physical brains – ganglions and neurotransmitters and such. When you “fall in love” with someone, it’s really just your ganglions having a positive response to their ganglions – “I don’t think I can live without your ganglions.” Toss in some wine, candles, and Barry Manilow, and what could be more romantic?
Enter neuroscientist Benjamin Libet. In 1983 he conducted several experiments that will really stir your ganglions. He was inspired to investigate the correlation in time between conscious thought and brain activity. He asked his subjects to press a button whenever they decided to. He also had them hooked up to an array of electrical sensors to monitor brain activity.
The startling result was that there was brain activity at least a quarter of a second before the subject was consciously aware of deciding to press the button. Libet named this time lag, “readiness potential” – the difference in time between brain activity and our conscious awareness.
A-ha! claimed the materialist scientists – there’s your proof that we not only don’t have a soul, but we also don’t have free will! Your ganglions and neurotransmitters are making decisions before your even know it – you’re just along for the ride!
But Libet wasn’t finished. His ganglions were inspired to conduct a follow-up test. He now instructed his subjects to again press the button whenever they decided to, but to sometimes consciously change their mind and decide not to push the button.
The result? For the instances when the subjects went ahead and pressed the button, the same readiness potential was observed. But, in the instances when the subjects then changed their mind and did not press the button, there was no observable brain activity prior to the change of mind. There was no apparent readiness potential for deciding not to do something.
Libet’s conclusion from these experiments was that while they didn’t necessarily demonstrate free will, they did demonstrate “free won’t” (a term he coined). He also maintained that the experiments demonstrated that our mind is more than our material brain; there was some immaterial aspect of our mind that couldn’t be experimentally observed.
To this day neuroscientists and philosophers have all manner of things to say about Libet’s first experiment and whether it disproves free will. But they steer clear of his follow-up experiment. Even the heroically pompous Daniel Dennett (who categorically denies the existence of a soul) has nothing to say about Libet’s “free won’t”.
For Christians the “free won’t” comes as no surprise. We’re assaulted with a thousand impulses a day. Many float up from memories, others materialize from our imagination. Still others are whispered in our ear by the enemy. One of our most important jobs is being the gatekeeper for all of these unruly promptings and to exercise our “free won’t”.
Now, we also know that we do have an affirmative free will (scripture tells us so). And Libet’s experiments don’t, in fact, disprove free will. The bottom line for Christians, is that Libet’s experiments provide tantalizing puzzle pieces in the picture of how we are fearfully and wonderfully made in God’s image and likeness. And they remind us that our spiritual soul has an important role to play in guiding our brain so that we can “ask, seek and knock” without getting distracted by worldly allurements.
When St. Paul says “for this reason I discipline my body” – he’s not just talking about eating and drinking – he’s also disciplining his ganglions.
Blessings on your journey with Christ –
Steve and Karen Smith – Interior Life