A new Harvard study indicates that people who believe in God tend to be more intuitive than reflective.

So, there you have it: Don't think, just believe. Don't use your head, follow your gut feeling. If you do, you'll make a second-rate atheist, but possibly a real saint.

As reported on the LiveScience website, the Harvard study doesn't pass judgment on whether thinking or gut feeling is to be preferred as a way of knowing truth. The researchers were "quick to note that neither intuition nor reflection is inherently superior." Of course. One researcher explained, "It's not that one way is better than the other...Intuitions are important and reflection is important, and you want some balance of the two. Where you are on that spectrum affects how you come out in terms of belief in God."

The study concludes that "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."

Thoughtful people, in other words, don't believe.

Of what value are such "studies"? This "study" involved a few hundred people answering three tricky math problems and writing a brief paragraph. Their answers determined whether they were more intuitive or more thoughtful. This was then compared with their belief in God (or not). The "gut feeling" (LiveScience's words) group proved to be more religious than the thoughtful and reflective.

But does this really tell us anything of a sweeping and conclusive "scientific" nature? Not really. In science such studies are like planks in a platform. If you want to prove a point or argue a perspective, you gather up as many such planks as you can and nail them together. Thus you are able to construct a stage from which to "prove" your point. Doubtless atheists the world over will be adding this Harvard study to their arguments that only those who don't know how to think believe in God.

Or maybe such studies just reinforce their gut feelings?

Perhaps the value to those who have devoted their lives to nurturing more thoughtfulness on the part of the members of the Christian community is that we're wasting our time? Christians don't think, they just feel. Undoubtedly a good many contemporary pastors are persuaded this is true. This would help to explain why so much of contemporary Christianity has adopted an entertainment template as its primary messaging platform.

We have a higher view of the followers of Christ. We know they can be thoughtful, reflective, and analytical. We also know they can have powerful intuitions which often prove quite valuable in showing Christ's love to others.

Believers have the mind of Christ. Our challenge is to cultivate that mind, as we find it in each of us, as fully and richly as possible. The more we do, the more valid our intuitions become. And the more we think like Christ and feel like Christ, the more we will begin to live like Him.

Don't let secular researchers cram you into their mold. Think with the mind of Christ. Feel with the heart of Christ. Love with the power of Christ.

Even those who scorn or belittle you.

Related texts: Romans 12:1, 2; 1 Corinthians 2.16; 2 Corinthians 10:3-5; Ephesians 4:17-24

A conversation starter: "Do you think it's fair to stereotype religious people as being unthoughtful and acting primarily on 'gut feeling'?"

T. M. Moore, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.