8: HOW NEUROSCIENCE INFORMS CHRIST-FORMATION

OF ALL THE DYNAMICS OF THE HEART, the one you have the most ability to control is your thoughts. God has given us free will to choose what we will think about. This is important because thoughts have a direct effect on feelings and the choices you make. For example, if you allow Satan’s lies to inform your thinking, you will experience toxic emotions, including shame and fear. But if you choose God’s truth to inform your thinking, you will experience healthy emotions, including peace (Isaiah 26:3) and joy (Psalm 16:8-9). Findings from neuroscience help us understand the power of thoughts, and this information will better inform us about Christ-formation and abundant living.

What Can Neuroscience Teach Me about Christ-Formation?

As recent as twenty years ago, neuroscientists believed that the brain’s capacity to change was fixed by somewhere between ten and nineteen years of age. More recent studies aided by more advanced brain-scanning technology have changed this former thinking. Today, it is commonly understood that the brain can change throughout a person’s life. It’s true that the brain’s capacity for change slows down with age because thinking patterns become stronger over time through years of repetition, but change is possible: You actually can teach an old dog new tricks.

James Zull, director of the University Center for Innovation in Teaching and Education at Case Western Reserve University, explains the brain’s ability to change using the analogy of silly putty:

Like a piece of silly putty, the brain is molded and reshaped by the forces of life acting on it. Our wiring grows and develops depending on what we experience—even before birth. As we interact with the world, the world becomes internalized, or mapped, in our brain. The extensive plasticity of the brain continues throughout life.[1]

Several different forces influence the way we think about things. The most important include: (1) family of origin, (2) society and culture, (3) painful life experiences, and (4) church background.

Family of Origin and Early Childhood Experiences

As children, we don’t have the capacity to accurately understand hurtful experiences. For example, a father trips over his little boy’s toys and yells at his son: “How many times do I have to tell you to pick up your toys?” It turns out the father had a really bad day at work—at least some of the anger in his tone is related to his work frustrations. The little boy doesn’t know this; he would experience shame for being yelled at (but would not understand why). Every parent loses their temper at times and can say hurtful things in a moment of frustration. In doing so, they unintentionally hurt their children. Lack of intent to cause harm does not mitigate the pain.

When children get hurt early in life, they often carry that pain for the rest of their life. Consider the studies done with orphans in Romania following the collapse of Communism there. The economy declined throughout the entire Eastern Bloc region, leaving over one hundred thousand children orphaned in overcrowded government institutions. All the basic needs of each child were provided—they were changed, kept warm, and fed—but due to fear of spreading germs and disease, these children received limited attention in the way of cuddling, hugs, and other appropriate displays of affection.

This lack of touch had a devastating impact on the children. Years later, after these orphaned children became adults, many of them volunteered for testing to determine how their early childhood experiences affected them. The brains of these grown-up orphans were found to be smaller in size and lower in brain activity than children raised in more favorable circumstances. This study and those like it reveal that early childhood distress can damage the brain.

Children need a lot of affirmation and affection in order to thrive and develop properly. Journalist Vivian Giang argues that

Your ability to maintain proper social skills and develop a sense of empathy is largely dependent on the physical affection, eye contact, and playtime of those early years. Even something as simple as observing facial expressions and understanding what those expressions mean is tied to your wellbeing as a toddler.[2]

The brain changes with the onset of new experiences and thoughts. And because the aspects of the heart affect each other, whatever you choose to think about will affect your capacity to experience the love you need in order to thrive. Caroline Leaf understands the negative impact distorted thinking has on the heart:

Thoughts stimulate emotions which then result in attitude and finally produce behavior. This symphony of electrochemical reactions in the body affects the way we think and feel physically. Therefore, toxic thoughts produce toxic emotions, which produce toxic attitudes, resulting in toxic behavior.[3]

A “toxic thought” is a negative or distorted thought that produces emotional distress. Many toxic thoughts are introduced early in life through distressing experiences within the family, neighborhood, school, or extracurricular activities. If left unattended, these thoughts will linger in the heart and contribute to the spiritual/emotional conflicts that hinder Christ-formation.

Culture and Ethnicity

Cultural neuroscientists investigate how the values of a particular culture affect the brain, specifically the way a person thinks about and perceives reality. For example, the heart of a child born and raised in the United States, Canada, or Europe will be shaped by the values inherent in those cultures, including individualism, personal uniqueness, and independence. Social scientists refer to these values as radical individualism. Joseph Hellerman explains,

We in America have been socialized to believe that our own dreams, goals, and personal fulfillment ought to take precedence over the well-being of any group—our church or our family, for example—to which we belong. The immediate needs of the individual are more important than the long-term health of the group. . . .

Our culture has powerfully socialized us to believe that personal happiness and fulfillment should take precedence over the connections we have with others in both our families and our churches.[4]

The individualistic worldview to which Hellerman refers is most common in Western culture; nearly all other societies adhere to a value system that is more relational and group oriented. For example, Asian, African, and Indian cultures promote a more collective, familial, and interdependent set of values. Regardless of the cultural values you prefer, cultural scripts and practices shape the heart and promote thoughts and feelings that are culturally preferred.[5]

Painful Life Experiences

Painful experiences negatively shape the heart, but some cause more distress than others. Whether the pain is caused by immediate family members, loved ones, friends, coworkers, a personal failure, a forced termination from a job, or a victimizing event (such as assault, rape, or robbery), emotional pain is real and can be as debilitating as physical pain.

We must not overlook how emotional pain affects our discipleship to Jesus. Pastor and author Peter Scazzero argues,

Somehow, today we slice out the emotional portion of who we are, deeming it suspect, irrelevant, or of secondary importance. Contemporary discipleship models often esteem the spiritual more than the physical, emotional, social, and intellectual components of who we are. Nowhere, however, does a good biblical theology support such a division.[6]

All aspects of our personhood affect each other; that is why Christ-formation must be considered a holistic process. Therefore, we must include a means for healing damaged emotions in our understanding of discipleship.

Church Experiences

The fourth shaping factor of the heart includes a person’s church background. If you grew up in a particular church or denomination, the culture of that congregation shaped the way you think about God, yourself, and others. The local church has a powerful effect on a person’s worldview. You perceive God, yourself, and other people through that lens. This is especially true in regard to your concept of God. Pastor and author A. W. Tozer rightly pointed out that

What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. . . .

[T]he most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like. We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our metal image of God. . . .

I believe there is scarcely an error in doctrine or a failure in applying Christian ethics that cannot be traced finally to imperfect and ignoble thoughts about God.[7]

We will talk more about how to correct distorted thoughts about God in a later chapter, but for now, I want you to understand that your perception of God is critical to Christ-formation and your ability to experience the abundant life.

How We Wire (or Rewire) Our Brains

How you choose to think about and interpret the experiences you have had from within each of these four forces will affect your emotions and decision-making process and ultimately play out in your behavior. For example, I remember once when I was three or four years old, my parents set me outside the front door, during the night, while they had a serious argument. At the time, we lived in a house that was isolated down in a gully, so I couldn’t see any neighbors or people walking around, and I was afraid of being alone in the dark. I remember hearing them yelling at each other through the door but not knowing why. Did I do something bad? Was I being punished? Were they going to hurt each other? All I knew was my mommy and daddy were yelling at each other, and I was very afraid. As I grew older, this memory faded but not the fear of the dark that has been with me until recently, when I was teaching at a men’s retreat. I felt shame and embarrassment as I shared my fear, wondering if some of the guys would laugh or reject me. But in spite of these feelings, I thought it was an important story to tell. After the talk, my wife reminded me of that traumatic night I was placed outside in the dark, connecting the dots for me between that experience and my ongoing fear.

Susan’s insight helped me reframe that experience. My parents didn’t put me outside that night because they didn’t love me, nor did they want to hurt me. Instead, they were trying to protect me from watching them fight. They were young and scared themselves and acted in a way that they thought was best in the heat of the moment.

Today I choose to think about that memory differently, and it promotes different emotions. I was never in any danger outside the house that night, my parents did not hurt each other physically, and I wasn’t being punished for something bad I had done. Their fight had nothing to do with me. Due to this process of reframing, my fear of the dark is subsiding. Thinking differently about that situation didn’t change the experience, but it did promote different feelings that are helping me experience a different quality of life.

The brain is composed of approximately one hundred billion interconnected neurons called gray matter. Neurons are cells that process and transmit information in the brain through synapses: bridges of electrical signals that connect neurons to each other and carry the transmitted messages. Neuroscientists maintain that there are enough neurons in the brain to store every experience you have ever had. In fact, according to researchers from the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, the estimated capacity of the brain is a petabyte—a capacity equivalent to the entire World Wide Web.[8]

Neurons are birthed by thoughts. The more you think about something, the more neurons are developed around that thought, and the stronger and more influential that thought becomes. Remember, thoughts stimulate emotions, emotions affect decisions, and all these gears turning together drive behavior. This is why most of what we do can be traced back to thinking patterns.

This process may seem overly simplistic, but it’s true. According to Leaf, positive, healthy thoughts produce new neurons, which in turn produce healthy emotions that affect the will and influence behavior. The same process applies to negative and distorted thinking. The longer you dwell on negative and distorted thoughts, the stronger and more toxic they become. Leaf continues,

As the person relives the event over and over, it wires itself deeper into the mind, becoming a main filter and disrupting normal function. Flashbacks—reliving the bad memory many times a day—strengthen the circuit, making it worse and more debilitating.[9]

The point is, whatever you choose to dwell on wires your brain for either a positive or a negative response. Leaf concludes,

As we think, we change the physical nature of our brain. As we consciously direct our thinking, we can wire out toxic patterns of thinking and replace them with healthy thoughts. New thought networks grow. . . .

It all starts in the realm of the mind, with our ability to think and choose.[10]

In Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus tells us not to worry (a form of constant negative thinking). When we worry, we think about all the “what-ifs” that might happen. What if I don’t have enough to eat, or drink, or wear? Worrying triggers a stress response in the brain that puts the body into a defensive posture known as “fight or flight”—a state of high alert where the brain is constantly scanning for danger. Needless to say, this does not put us into a state of joy and peace. Instead of letting us worry that we might not have enough to survive, Jesus tells us to learn a lesson from the birds: “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” (Matthew 6:26, NIV). In other words, Jesus is saying, “Instead of worrying, put your faith into action by thinking about the loving care of your heavenly Father.” Peter makes a similar point: “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you” (1 Peter 5:7, NLT). The power of thought can work against us, as in the example of worrying, or for us, as in the example of thinking about how loving and caring our heavenly Father is. You really can change your brain and quality of life by carefully choosing what you will think about.

Dr. Arne May of the Institute of Neuroradiology at the University of Regensburg observed the brain’s ability to change by training college students how to juggle. During the juggling experiment, each student practiced a classic three-ball routine for three months. Brain scans were conducted on each student before and after the training. The experiment revealed significant neuron development in the area of the brain associated with juggling. Then subjects were asked to not practice the juggling routine for three months. A third brain scan revealed a significant reduction of neurons in the same area of the brain.[11] The implications of this experiment are important: Whatever we choose to focus our mind on consistently becomes dominant in our mind, directly influencing our feelings and behavior.

This helps us understand the correlation between thinking and Christ-formation. We can literally replace the lies and distorted thoughts that wreak havoc in our lives by replacing them with thinking that is aligned with the Bible. Focused attention on biblical truth results in freedom and abundance. Neuroplasticity can be self-directed by changing what we think about.

Doctors Jeffery Schwartz and Rebecca Gladding explain,

Neuroplasticity is operating all the time, which means that if you repeatedly engage in the same behaviors (even something as benign as checking your e-mail several times a day), neuroplasticity will designate that action as the preferred one, regardless of the effect of that behavior on you and your life. In a very real way, the actions you perform now and how you focus your attention have downstream effects on how your brain is wired and how you will automatically respond to deceptive brain messages and events in the future. Thus, for better or for worse, focused attention creates the brain you will live with.[12]

Schwartz and Gladding make an important point: Whatever thoughts we choose to think about over and over become a thought habit that can hijack the brain. Even if these thoughts cause us distress, the painful feelings will not be strong enough to change our thinking patterns. The thoughts we choose to dwell on become a figurative rut we get stuck in.

In order to better understand how this rut producing process works, we need to understand two important dynamics of neuroplasticity: Hebb’s law and the quantum Zeno effect.

Why It’s So Difficult to Break Bad Habits

In 1949, Canadian psychologist Donald Hebb published a theory that has become known as Hebb’s law and can be summarized by the saying “Neurons that fire together, wire together.”[13] The process is similar to what happens when you exercise by lifting weights. As you lift more weight over time, your muscles become stronger. In a similar way, when a person repeatedly engages in a thought or behavior, the neurons that develop from this thought or behavior become stronger, making that behavior the default routine. In other words, whatever you choose to consistently repeat—whether it is a thought or activity—creates a network of neurons. The more you think a specific thought or engage in a specific behavior, the more robust that network of neurons becomes.

This is how we form habits, by doing the same thing over and over. Norman Doidge uses the example of a child learning the alphabet to explain Hebb’s law:

As a child learns the alphabet, the visual shape of the letter A is connected with the sound “ay.” Each time the child looks at the letter and repeats the sound, the neurons involved “fire together” at the same time, and then “wire together”; the synaptic connections between them are strengthened. Whenever any activity that links neurons is repeated, those neurons fire faster, stronger, sharper signals together, and the circuit gets more efficient and better at helping to perform the skill.[14]

Another way to understand Hebb’s law is to picture multiple cars driving down a muddy road. The more cars that travel the same path, the deeper the ruts become. After the mud dries, it leaves behind deep ruts that are difficult to steer out of when you drive into them. The more you think a thought, the deeper the rut in the brain becomes, making it hard to stop thinking. This repeated focus of thinking has a term: the quantum Zeno effect.

The Superglue That Holds Negative Thoughts in Place

Think of the quantum Zeno effect as the superglue that holds a thought in place long enough for Hebb’s law to take effect. The quantum Zeno effect is achieved by focused attention. Neuroscientists refer to this as “attention density.” Schwartz and Gladding explain,

[attention density:] Repeatedly focusing your attention on something (a thought, sensation, event, response, action) over and over. The more you sustain your focus of attention on something (i.e., the denser your attention is), the more likely a specific habit will be wired into your brain.

In the brain, attention density is the first—and most important—step in creating strong, enduring brain circuits. Attention density makes the quantum Zeno effect “kick in” and causes focused attention to have powerful effects on the brain by activating Hebb’s law. . . .

[A]ttention is what drives the quantum Zeno effect.[15]

Both aspects of neuroplasticity can either work for or against you. If you dwell on negative thoughts—like worrying about life necessities—those thoughts will grow stronger and add to your distressing emotions. The same is true if you choose to dwell on healthy, positive, and biblically informed thoughts. Here we can apply Isaiah 26:3: “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!” (NLT). When you choose to stop dwelling on certain thoughts, those thoughts will dissipate over time.

Once I understood these two dynamics of neuroplasticity, I realized how important it was to meditate on and memorize Scripture: When I engage in this spiritual discipline, I can actually rewire my brain by exercising my free will to choose the thoughts I will think about. With this new understanding of neuroplasticity, I began to see more and more biblical evidence supporting what researchers have discovered: that our thoughts hold tremendous power. In the next chapter, I will share with you how this understanding of neuroplasticity can help you break free from past hurtful memories and the beliefs that cause painful emotions.

Restoring My Soul with God

Take as much time and paper as you need to work through the following questions:

  1. What is the happiest memory from your childhood? Describe the situation in detail. What feelings come up for you now as you think about that time? What do you want to say to the Lord about that?

  2. What is the most painful memory you have from elementary school? Now, imagine yourself sitting on Jesus’ lap. What does he want to say to you about that situation?

  3. Of the four forces that shape the heart, which had the greatest impact on your emotions? Was it okay to have emotions? Were your emotions ever validated?

  4. Which family member took the greatest interest in your thoughts and feelings?

  5. If you grew up in church, how did the teaching and doctrine in your church shape your perspective of God?

  6. Pray, asking God to reveal any habits he wants you to deal with. What is he asking you to do? What have you learned from this chapter that can help you with the process to change?

Restoring My Soul with Others

  1. What is your biggest takeaway from this chapter?
  2. How would you describe neuroplasticity (remember the silly putty example)?
  3. According to Hebb’s law (“neurons that fire together, wire together”) and the quantum Zeno effect (practicing attention density), explain in your own words—as best as you can—what takes place in your brain when you worry.
  4. How do these findings from neuroscience help you understand Christ-formation and how to experience abundant life? Discuss.