The hardening callous effect:

Stanford University neurobiologist Robert Sapolsky, a MacArthur “genius” grant winner, has concluded after 40 years of studying humans and primates that "virtually all human behavior is as far beyond our conscious control as the convulsions of a seizure, the division of cells or the beating of our hearts," according to an article yesterday by the Los Angeles Times. 

“It may be dangerous to tell people that they don't have free will,” Sapolsky said. “The vast majority of the time, I really think it's a hell of a lot more humane.”

According to the L.A. Times: "Sapolsky was raised in an Orthodox Jewish household in Brooklyn, the son of immigrants from the former Soviet Union.

"Biology called to him early — by grade school he was writing fan letters to primatologists and lingering in front of the taxidermied gorillas at the American Museum of Natural History — but religion shaped life at home.

"That all changed on a single night in his early teens, he says. While grappling with questions of faith and identity, he was struck by an epiphany that kept him awake until dawn and reshaped his future: God is not real, there is no free will, and we primates are pretty much on our own.

“ 'That was kind of a big day,' he said with a chuckle, 'and it's been tumultuous since then.'

"Skeptics could seize on this to rebut his arguments: If we aren’t free to choose our actions or beliefs, how does a boy from a deeply religious conservative home become a self-professed liberal atheist?

"Change is always possible, he argues, but it comes from external stimuli. Sea slugs can learn to reflexively retreat from an electrical shock. Through the same biochemical pathways, humans are changed by exposure to external events in ways we rarely see coming."

Also from the L.A. Times article:

“Who we are and what we do is ultimately the result of factors beyond our control and because of this we are never morally responsible for our actions in the sense that would make us truly deserving of praise and blame, punishment and reward,” said Gregg Caruso, a philosopher at SUNY Corning. “I am in agreement with Sapolsky that life without belief in free will is not only possible but preferable.”

"A widely cited 2008 study found that people who read passages dismissing the idea of free will were more likely to cheat on a subsequent test. Other studies have found that people who feel less control over their actions care less about making mistakes in their work, and that disbelief in free will leads to more aggression and less helpfulness."

*****

Jesus Christ says in John 10: [37] If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.

[38] But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.

"The Lord Jesus kept saying, 'Look what I'm doing.' Let me qualify this: Don't believe Jesus because He's some sort of miracle worker. You know why they should believe what Jesus Christ is teaching? Go back to Psalms, go back to the prophets; they kept saying and predicting and foretelling the specific works Messiah was going to perform," explains Alex Kurz.

"It was already predicted He was going to bring sight back; it was already predicted He was going to stop the storm on the sea. The verses already predicted that Emmanuel, God in the flesh, was going to walk on water!

"Jesus is saying, 'All of my works are in fulfillment to all that the prophets said I'm supposed to do.' Jesus wasn't just the right guy at the right time--He had to be the fulfillment of hundreds and hundreds of years of prophecy!

"The Old Testament painted a detailed portrait of Messiah: He's going to do this, He's going to say this, He's going to travel here, He's going to react like this. You study the life of Christ and everything that was said about Him was fulfilled.

John 12:37: [37] But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him:

[38] That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?
[39] Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again,
[40] He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.

"What's the difference between 'therefore they could not believe' and 'because they could not believe'?

"Verse 39 is not the cause of the unbelief in verse 37. Rather, verse 37 is the cause of verse 39. Because of verse 37 they believe not and what is the consequence and result? Verse 39.

"Verses 39-40 are saying that persistent rejection and unbelief leads to a condition and situation where, 'Well, now you can't believe.' You know why their heart was hardened? Because they kept rejecting, rejecting.

"Guess what happens when you continually reject the claims and the works and the signs of Almighty God? You are now in a spiritual state where there is this hardening callous effect.

"In Matthew 13 is a similar occurrence: [18] Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.

[19] When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.
[20] But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;

"You know what God does during the tribulation? II Thessalonians 2:9: [9] Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,

[10] And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
[11] And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

"Because the masses have willfully rejected, you know what God says? 'Then this man of sin who will perform all the signs and lying wonders, you're going to believe it as an act of judgment.'

"Because they reject the truth they now desire the lie."

(new article tomorrow)