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Acts 17:11 (NIV) - Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.

Religious Conviction Is Largely Based on Emotion, Not Reason - Most of us think that the strong conviction with which we hold our religious beliefs is based on reason and logic. But the reasons why most Christians believe in God are no different from the reasons why most Muslims believe in Allah and most practioners of the Chinese folk religions believe in their pantheon of gods ... and so on for all of the 4,000+ religions in the world. Religious conviction has very little to do with truth. Modern neuroscience reveals that the human sensation of certainty is an emotional state, not a result of reason. If that offends you, you have just confirmed it! And that is why a prudent person avoids discussing religion or politics when the in-laws visit. Because both are highly emotional issues!

The Neuroscience of Religious Belief - The limbic system of the human brain (part of your nonconscious mind) craves certainty. Therefore, it strives to minimize cognitive dissonance using neural circuits and neurotransmitters similar to those that lead us to crave food, sex and other primary rewards. Stated differently, our brains are addicted to certainty. As with any other addiction, when our craving for certainty is "stroked" by a thought or experience that is consistent with our beliefs, there is a sensation of reward. But when our certainty is threatened by something contrary to our beliefs, our nonconscious mind releases neurotransmitters that sound the alarm and induce us to reject them as unwelcome intruders. The technical term for this is "confirmation bias."

Consequently, once our belief system has been implanted into us by continued repetition during our formative childhood years, our nonconscious mind works tirelessly to maintain those implanted beliefs - with no regard for logic or truth. Fundamentalist Christians are the "poster children" for this mindset. Some denominations expand this to "Groupthink," the psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group when the desire for unity and conformity leads members to suppress dissenting viewpoints and isolate themselves from outside influences. All in the name of Jesus, of course!

Personally, I am not willing to settle for a belief in God that is merely the biological consequence of the initial beliefs implanted into my impressionable childhood brain and subsequently perpetuated by neurotransmitters from my nonconscious mind. That turns me into a robot. More importantly, I'm not sure how pleasing it is to God because it's the same plan B that is used by pagan religions, political propaganda, and social engineering on the media.

James 1:21 - talks about "the implanted word, which is able to save your souls." The Greek word translated as "implanted" means to implant, bring into living union as with a successfully engrafted shoot; (figuratively) what is 'planted' and hence 'inborn, congenital, natural' , placed in (established) which enables something to develop. I don't see how this can be accomplished by wrote memorization. This sounds like getting God's Word from your head to your heart by carefully thinking it through.

What Did Jesus Do? - When Jesus engaged people one-on-one, He didn't preach to them. Instead, He asked questions to make them think. And the Bereans are commended in God's Word because they did more than just listen to Paul's sermons. They compared what Paul to the Scriptures and thought it through.