Schizophrenia and Personal Revelations
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Schizophrenia and Personal Revelation

Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

God Told Me to Do It Examples 

 

 

Responses to Schizophrenia Web Page

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Schizophrenia and Personal Revelations

by  Mark Smith

I believe that schizophrenia is a better and simpler explanation for all the people- past and present- who have claimed that Biblegod spoke to them. Occum's Razor demands the simplest explanation, and this explains the "revelations" of the Apostle Paul, the Apostle Peter, and religious fanatics a lot better than that the omnipotent ruler of the entire universe took the time to come down here and chit chat with these fanatics.

Like the Blues Brothers, the Apostle Paul believed he was on a "mission from God" (Acts 26:19) because of a "vision" he saw. Before you laugh at this, Michael Abram, the man who stabbed ex-Beatle George Harrison, also "thought he was mission from God" when he did so (Orange County Register, 7/5/02, p. News 21). It turns out that this man was a paranoid schizophrenic. Schizophrenics see visions, hear voices, and regularly talk to Biblegod (or so they think). This would explain the visions and voices mentioned in the Bible. Mental illness, and not "The Lord God Almighty Omnipotent Ruler of The Universe" is behind all of the hallucinations. 

In light of the recent movie "A Beautiful Mind" in which Russell Crowe portrayed the schizophrenic  Dr. John Nash, along with Andrea Yates in Texas (who drowned her five kids "because God told me to"), how can any thinking person not consider schizophrenia a reasonable and plausible explanation for the visions and voices affecting many Biblical characters???

Newsweek ran a cover story on schizophrenia  (Newsweek, March 11, 2002, p. 46+). Read some excerpts from this news story, and see if there's a nickel's worth of difference between what happened to the Apostle Paul and someone with rampant untreated schizophrenia:

Whether it brings the voices of heaven or of hell, it causes what must surely be the worst affliction a sentient, conscious being can suffer: the inability to tell what is real from what is imaginary. To the person with schizophrenia the voices and visions sound and look as authentic as the announcer on the radio and the furniture in the room.

In paranoid schizophrenia, the patient becomes convinced of beliefs at odds with reality hears voices that aren't there or see images that exist nowhere but in his mind. ...The voices the patients heard were therefore as real to them as the conversations in the hallways they passed through en route to the lab. ...(Andrea)Yates, who has a deeply religious background {Gee! What a shock! Imagine a religious person hearing voices no one else can!] had satanic hallucinations.  ...The seeming authenticity of the voices means that people with schizophrenia can be barraged by commands that, they are convinced, come from God or Satan. That inference is not illogical; who else can speak to you, unseen, from inside your mind?

Modern Christians are betting their life on the assumption that the visions and voices mentioned in The New Testament are real visions and real voices, rather than common paranoid schizophrenia. Of course nowadays, if Joe Blow layperson came up to the Pastor and told him about visions and voices he'd been experiencing, we'd all think the guy had  schizophrenia. So what's the difference between Joe Blow of today, and the Apostle Paul of the past, other than a distance of time and location? Why  accept the visions and voices of a total stranger (the Apostle Paul), yet reject the same from someone closer to home? Is it just the old adage, "a prophet is not without honor except in his own home"???

The New Testament is full of visions and voices. Here is just a small sampling:

Acts 9:10  And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord.

Acts 9:12 And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.

Acts 10:3 He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius.

Acts 10:17 Now while Peter doubted in himself what this vision which he had seen should mean, behold, the men which were sent from Cornelius had made enquiry for Simon's house, and stood before the gate,

Acts 10:19  While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee.

Acts 11:5 I was in the city of Joppa praying: and in a trance I saw a vision, A certain vessel descend, as it had been a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners; and it came even to me:

Acts 12:9 And he went out, and followed him; and knew not that it was true which was done by the angel; but thought he saw a vision.

Acts 16:9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us.

Acts 16:10 And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them.

Acts 18:9 Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace:

Acts 26:19 Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.

These people were having visions and voices up the ying yang. Sort of like the patients in a modern mental ward. Sort of like Andrea Yates. Sort of like the thousands upon thousands of paranoid schizophrenics that walk our streets today. Sort of explains things, doesn't it???

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Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

Another mental illness that can cause Christianity & visions is Temporal Lobe Epilepsy. Some that suffer from this known medical malady also suffer from bizarre religious hallucinations. The BBC reports this on their web site:

    "What we suggested was that there are certain circuits within the temporal lobes which have been selectively activated in these patients and somehow the activity of these specific neural circuits makes them more prone to religious belief."
    Scientists now believe famous religious figures in the past could also have been sufferers from the condition. St Paul and Moses appear to be two of the most likely candidates.
    But most convincing of all is the evidence from American neurologist Professor Gregory Holmes. He has studied the life of Ellen G White, who was the spiritual founder of the Seventh-day Adventist movement. Today, the movement is a thriving church with over 12 million members.
    During her life, Ellen had hundreds of dramatic religious visions which were key in the establishment of the church, helping to convince her followers that she was indeed spiritually inspired. But Professor Holmes believes there may be another far more prosaic explanation for her visions.

Head trauma
    He has discovered that at the age of nine, Ellen suffered a severe blow to her head. As a result, she was semi-conscious for several weeks and so ill she never returned to school. Following the accident, Ellen's personality changed dramatically and she became highly religious and moralistic. And for the first time in her life, she began to have powerful religious visions.
    Professor Holmes is convinced that the blow to Ellen's head caused her to develop temporal lobe epilepsy. "Her whole clinical course to me suggested the high probability that she had temporal lobe epilepsy. This would indicate to me that the spiritual visions she was having would not be genuine, but would be due to the seizures."
(http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2865009.stm)

So, if I understand this right: Before her head injury, Ellen White never heard the "voice of God". After she got wacked on the head, THEN she "heard the voice of God". Hmmmm.... sounds about right. I've always said that Christianity leads to brain death, so why couldn't  "brain death" also lead to Christianity??? Which came first? Who knows? What I do know is that many Atheists have long suspected that religion could be the result of  brain disorders- and now it's confirmed. An entire religion- The Seventh Day Adventist- is the direct result of a brain injured girl. 

The Washington Times, for March 4, 2003, reported on the same subject of religious belief resulting from mental illness. (The original article can be found at:   http://washingtontimes.com/world/20030324-91340900.htm )

LONDON — Does the biological structure of our brains program us to believe in God? Advances in "neurotheology" have prompted some researchers to claim they can induce the kind of holy visions prophets may have experienced — even in those who are not religious believers.
     Neuroscience professor Michael Persinger of Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, has devised a helmet that uses electromagnetic fields to induce electrical changes in the brain's temporal lobes, which are linked with religious belief.
     So confident is he that God is all in the mind — or the brain at least — that Mr. Persinger says he can induce mystical feelings in a majority of those willing to don his Transcranial Magnetic Stimulator.
     So the British Broadcasting Corp.'s science series "Horizon" put his hat to the ultimate test: Could it get arch-skeptic and militant atheist Richard Dawkins to start believing in God by electrically massaging his temporal lobes? Mr. Dawkins, author of "A Devil's Chaplain" and "The Blind Watchmaker," was the ideal candidate for a test of whether science can explain away religion, given his views of religion as a "virus of the mind" and an "infantile regression."
     The experiment is based on the finding that some sufferers from temporal lobe epilepsy — a neurological disorder caused by chaotic electrical discharges in the temporal lobes of the brain — seem to experience devout hallucinations that bear striking resemblances to the mystical experiences of holy figures such as St. Paul and Moses.
     This theory received a boost from professor Gregory Holmes, a pediatric neurologist at Dartmouth Medical School, who says one of the principal founders of the Seventh-day Adventist movement, Ellen White, in fact suffered from temporal lobe epilepsy. She was seen as divinely inspired as a result of her religious visions. The new claim that her visions were, in fact, a result of a brain disorder is likely to meet strong resistance from the more than 12 million Seventh-day Adventists worldwide.
     If strong religious feelings are no less a part of brain function than those linked with hunger and sex, the ultimate test would be to summon up mystical and religious beliefs experimentally.
     Indeed, it would be in Mr. Dawkins' interests to experience religion for the first time under Mr. Persinger's helmet. After all, this would prove that mystical visions at last could be controlled by science and no longer were just at the mercy of a supernatural entity.
     While Mr. Dawkins had some strange experiences and tinglings during the experiment, none of them prompted him to take up any new faith. "It was a great disappointment," he said.
     "Though I joked about the possibility, I of course never expected to end up believing in anything supernatural. But I did hope to share some of the feelings experienced by religious mystics when contemplating the mysteries of life and the cosmos," Mr. Dawkins said.
     Mr. Persinger explained away the failure of this Transcranial Magnetic Stimulator: Before donning the helmet, Mr. Dawkins had scored low on a psychological scale measuring proneness to temporal lobe sensitivity.
     Studies on identical and fraternal twin pairs raised apart suggest that 50 percent of our religious interests are influenced by genes. It seems that Mr. Dawkins is genetically predisposed not to believe.

God Told Me to Do It    Examples

http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/01/12/lindh040112