Harvard professor of psychology Steven Pinker created a twitter maelstrom when he tweeted, “Belief in an afterlife is a malignant delusion, since it devalues actual lives and discourages action that would make them longer, safer, and happier. Exhibit A: What’s really behind Republicans wanting a swift reopening? Evangelicals.”
In the interest of full disclosure I am one of those believers who is malignantly deluded, because I believe in my delusion that my actual life will be longer (as in forever), safer (in God’s care), and happier because God “will wipe away every tear from [our] eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain: the first things have passed away,” Revelation 21:4.
The idea that God has created us to live forever with Him does not devalue actual lives in my opinion but imbues life with a value far beyond what a Harvard professor can comprehend.
I do not know what this professor of psychology is thinking, but he may be suffering from a delusion himself. The Scriptures declare that those who reject the truth “God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false,” 2 Thessalonians 2:11.
And since Pinker tried to wax political how does the Democratic position on abortion imbue the actual lives of the unborn with value since it shortens, endangers, and ends their pursuit of happiness.
What we believe or do not believe about the afterlife cannot be founded on scientific empiricism; what we believe or do not believe about the afterlife are matters of faith. But God has not left us in the dark, there is ample evidence in the created realm for intelligent design.
In his book “In the Beginning Was Information,” Dr. Werner Gitt demonstrates that the scope and complexity of information found in DNA, that was necessary for life, implies an Intelligent Designer.
Long time atheist Anthony Flew embraced Deism late in life primarily because of the discoveries made in DNA research. He said, “I now believe in God…I now think it does point to a creative Intelligence almost entirely because of DNA investigations. What I think the DNA material has done is that it has shown, by the almost unbelievable complexity of the arrangements which are needed to produce life, that intelligence must have been involved in getting these extraordinarily diverse elements to work together.”
If we believe there is a Creator that is not only intelligent, but benevolent and just, there must of necessity be an afterlife in which a just God rewards the righteous and condemns the unrighteous. Still, these are matters of faith and you get to choose which “malignant delusion” you want to trust.
The late Ravi Zacharias said, “God has provided enough evidence to make it reasonable to believe Him; yet has left enough out that we cannot come to Him by reason alone – we must come by faith.” Heaven or hell? Choose wisely.
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