Message from Tim

Sin on the brain

If you listen to our service at Brighton Road on 6th September, you will hear me mention a book by Jack Lewis, The Science of Sin: Why we do the things we know we shouldn’t. This was part of my holiday reading over the summer. Given that I have a doctorate in sin, I was intrigued by the insights a neuro-scientist could provide into the seven deadly sins: pride, gluttony, lust, sloth, greed, envy and wrath. Lewis sets out what goes on in the brain when people sin, and it turns out that two parts of the brain play a key role in the seven deadly sins. The striatum governs the reward pathways in the brain and it plays its part in gluttony and sloth. The other five sins – pride, lust, greed, envy and wrath – all involve the anterior cingulate cortex. Never heard of it? Don’t worry – one of my daughters has a PhD in neuroscience and she tells me she doesn’t know much about that bit of the brain! Anyway, this part of the brain goes into overdrive when we experience social pain, manufacturing vast quantities of the stress hormone, cortisol, which puts us on a ‘fight or flight’ state of alert. So, when I am trying to decide whether I am going to please myself or someone else, this part of my brain pushes me towards whichever choice looks like it will minimise my social pain. The problem is, the more negative social experiences I have had, the less likely I am to take account of anyone else’s wellbeing when making those choices, and so sin ends up winning the day.

Someone asked me the other day why the church doesn’t talk about sin any more. I think that in times past ‘sin’ has been used by the church to try and induce a sense of guilt in order to try and persuade people of their need of salvation, and so the term has ended up being a bit of religious jargon which many people find alienating, as so perhaps it is best avoided. Jack Lewis is not a Christian: for him, the seven kinds of behaviour identified as sins are all triggered by reward pathways in the brain or the desire to avoid the pain of social conflict. He firmly states that ‘people’s antisocial behavior is a symptom of their struggle to cope with their inner turmoil, rather than a sign of them being hopelessly broken or born bad.’ Yet when he turns to finding an effective antidote to sin, his proposed solution may sound a little bit familiar to you:

‘If only the most vulnerable people in society could gain access to some kind of InGroup, then they might also experience the safety and security that arises from feeling valued by fellow members of a certain community. Group membership may help to reduce the feelings of social pain that gave rise to the tendency to choose antisocial behaviours in the first place… Where in your local community could a person go in search of…a place where they might find emotional support regardless of their past transgressions? What group of humans encourages forgiveness, even for those who have a bad reputation? Who might feel positively inclined to reach out to those people who are most in need of support? Which club or collective requires their members to actively engage in charitable activities on a regular basis?’

Sound familiar? Yes, even as an unbeliever, Lewis recommends the church as an antidote to sinful behaviour. Of course, we may feel that his assessment of the human condition is unduly optimistic: people need a saviour as well as a church. So where people have lost the capacity to make good choices, I firmly believe that Jesus has the power to turn their lives around, and that the gospel is still the power of God which saves anyone who believes. But Jack Lewis reminds me that gospel preaching needs to be backed up by a church community that delivers on enabling people to find healing for their social pain, and to discover the genuine rewards of an altruistic lifestyle. So, if ever you have found yourself wondering whether the church still has a role to play in today’s secular society, there’s your answer. But the next question is, ‘Is Brighton Road that kind of community?’ Well, we all have our own part to play in answering that question…