Is the ability to talk to god a genetic trait?

[burythehatchet]

Because you know how Pat Robertson cures people on the TV...well actually the sick people are at home and don't actually know their names but Pat hears god telling him that such and such a person is now cured of a disease. I think if you tithe a large amount per month, the more serious ailments get addressed. e.g., $10 per month gets a hangnail fixed, $500 per month can get you over a bout with cancer.

So today as I'm eating lunch and flipping channels I see a Pat Robertson mini me doing the same exact thing!! So am I to understand that there is a gene that carries this trait? Can we map that gene and through some gene therapy cut out the middle man? Am I going crazy?

[Debi]

1. First I think you need to be a registered republican.....

then have the right connections......:rofl:

[phaseolus]

2. My sources say "yes".

"...there is evidence to suggest that a combination of genetic vulnerability and environmental stressors can act in combination to cause schizophrenia."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizophrenia#Genetic_and_environmental_influences

[yurbud]

7. there is something milder than schizophrenia that causes...

but I forget what it's called.

Hillbilly Hitler art:



Blog:

[Deja Q]

3. No, it's the sign of a mental psychosis. Often runs in families.

So, indirectly, it's genetic.

[BlueEyedSon]

5. Beat me by seconds!

[BlueEyedSon]

4. Sure, many mental illnesses have a genetic component....

[Modem Butterfly]

6. Mental Illness is certainly Genetic...

:crazy:

But I don't think ol'Pat is mentally ill. I think he's a good ol' fashioned scam artist creating a legacy of lies and scams for his children to follow. That's not genetic, that's just bad character.

[BlueEyedSon]

9. I just love that sig gif!

[killbotfactory]

8. It's called "being a liar"

the more you do it the less likely people will believe you've actually sunk so low you pretend to talk to god.

[Warpy]

10. Most believers talk to god

but god only talks back to the ones who are total lunatics and should be medicated out of hearing voices.

My favorite bumper sticker: WHY DOES GOD NEVER SPEAK TO THE SANE?

There's evidence that the ability ot believe may be hardwired, as is the inability to have any belief in the supernatural.

I'm not going to convert them and they're not going to convert me. However, it's great that when they say god speaks to them that we know who the lunatics are.

[burythehatchet]

11. kinda sux when they control your lives though

:scared:

that is a GREAT sticker!

[CitrusLib]

12. As Mary Chapin Carpenter sang,

"I switched my channel back to CNN and I lit another cigarette."

Money extorting televangelists are evil and have no business calling themselves Christians. Didn't Jesus have a pretty violent reaction to people making money in a temple?

[havocmom]

13. Anybody and everybody can talk to God.

Anybody can see God's answers. No interpreter needed if one takes time and is honest with themselves.

The problem of genetics in the mix is that certain mental predispositions are passed genetically. When some start saying they are speaking for God, there might just be a problem. When others start believing them, despite all evidence to the contrary, there is definitely a problem. Genetic traits tend to make some people liars and others fools.