Hippocampal atrophy is the wasting away or decreasing of the part of the brain that is responsible for emotions and senses like fear, anger and pleasure. As people age, the brain deteriorates giving rise to clinical outcomes such as depression, dementia and even Alzheimer’s disease. The Duke study contends damage is also done to older persons who have had “life-changing religious experiences.” The Protestant understanding of being born again was specifically singled out as a contributor to this impediment.
The inter-disciplinary study is a welcome addition to a number of studies showing the effects of religion on the brain. As a matter of fact, the study is among the first to examine religious and spiritual correlates with brain atrophy. Although thorough, I have some concerns about the methods used, which would ultimately affect the outcome.
I believe the sample size of the study was too small. The study evaluated 268 men and women between the ages of 58 and 84 over the course of two to eight years. The sample was also too narrow in that it examined mainly Southeastern Protestant Christians. In addition, the study could not clearly determine if the outcomes were related to religious experiences or to the stresses that normally accompany persons in the specific age group.
I would agree that some religious experiences do bring on stress. However, these experiences are more as a result of cultural and psychological expectations, as opposed to healthy biblical responses to the Scriptures.
For example, when Jesus challenged Nicodemus to be born again (John 3:1-21), He was not suggesting that Nicodemus should attempt to relive some childhood experience as a perception of reality. In other words, Jesus was not saying Nicodemus should recover his innocence.
The context is very clear – Jesus was not referring to natural birth. Like some of today’s psychoanalysts, Nicodemus thought Jesus was inviting him to relive infancy when he asked: “How can a man be born when he is old? Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born?”
In His lengthy reply, Jesus contended, “flesh gives birth to flesh; the Spirit gives birth to spirit.” In other words, the born again experience to which Jesus referred was not a human phenomenon. Jesus was talking about a new life – a new life in which God imparts spiritual life to a person.
Agreed, in attempting to explain this new life, many Christians have made burdensome demands of new believers. Such practices have brought on stress, conflict and a variety of mental health issues. We must therefore ask ourselves whether the mental health challenges that new believers face are related to the born again experience or to the burdensome demands that Christian leaders require, in order to validate the born again experience.
To be born again implies that one has chosen to abandon a particular way of living. That abandoned way of living is often referred to as a natural, inherited lifestyle. It is a lifestyle that is often in conflict with the born again lifestyle Jesus talked to Nicodemus about. Because of the noticeable differences between the lifestyles, conflict is inevitable.
The conflicts can become more intense among older persons because they are having to change ways that have shaped them for most of their lives. It is difficult to predict the emotional impact such changes can have on converts. We must therefore ask, do the benefits of being born again outdo the apparent risks of hippocampal atrophy?
The answer would seem obvious – to be born again offers temporal and eternal benefits. Numerous studies confirm the mental health benefits that accrue to persons who accept the new life Jesus offers. The joy of such a lifestyle is not based on what one abandons, but rather on what one embraces.
As Paul presented a defense of his faith before Festus in Acts 26, Festus declared, “You are out of your mind…your great learning is driving you insane.” To this Paul replied: “I am not insane…what I am saying is true and reasonable.” The same is true today - to be born again will conflict with existing worldviews. However, such conflicts do not imply insanity. To be born again is true, reasonable and resonates with the virtuous life Jesus offers in John 10:10 (…I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly).
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