God Running is a place for anyone who wants to (or even anyone who wants to want to) love Jesus more deeply, follow Jesus more closely, and love people the way Jesus wants us to.

Skinner Boxes and Behavioral Psychology at Rockford University

When I was a psych major at Rockford University, (I later switched to Fire Science and Fire Administration) all the professors in the psych department taught behavioral psychology. So I read a lot of material from B. F. Skinner, the inventor of the Skinner Box (also commonly known as an operant conditioning chamber).

The image at the top of this blog post is an Illustration of a Skinner Box.

We used these things in class at Rockford U. In psych lab we would put rats in Skinner boxes and perform experiments. There were different ways to set up the Skinner boxes but in general, when the rat performed a desired behavior the Skinner box would provide a reward, typically a bit of food would be dispensed for the rat to consume. And when the rat performed an undesirable behavior the Skinner box would mete out a punishment such as an electric shock or a loud noise.

For awhile there was a rumor going around that B. F. Skinner built a Skinner box for his baby daughter and he used it to control her behavior, causing her to lose her sanity later in life. Fortunately this rumor turned out to be false.

Unjust Suffering and Jesus

Lately I’ve been thinking about suffering. If you’re a follower of this blog you already know the reasons. My mother died recently, and we also have a family member who just learned they have a very serious illness.

Which brings us back to the Skinner box. The other day I heard someone pose a question about unjust suffering to a Rabbi. And I found the Rabbi’s response to be interesting. He said that what we have, if all suffering on earth is perfectly just, (and all virtuous behavior is perfectly rewarded) is a Skinner box. And we have to ask ourselves, is that what we really want for our world?

If one person runs into a burning building to save a baby, and he knows he’ll be richly rewarded, but another person runs into a burning building to save a baby and he knows he’ll be burned to death, which of the two acts is more noble?

If the world functions like a Skinner Box, noble acts of self sacrifice and altruism disappear. And compassion, kindness, and goodwill are compromised.

I’ve been reading online about that rumor. The one where people falsely accused B. F. Skinner of using a Skinner Box on his own daughter. I haven’t seen a single person who thought Skinner using a Skinner Box on his daughter was a good idea.

On some level we all know our aversion to a Skinner Box world is real, and a world with noble acts of sacrifice is desirable. We see it in virtually every movie we watch and every book we read. The most heroic valiant character in the story nearly always endures terrible unjust suffering.

And we see it in Jesus, the most perfectly innocent person ever, experienced the most unjust suffering ever.

I think that speaks to how our Father created the world. He did it in a way that leaves room for noble acts of self sacrifice and altruism. He did it in a way that leaves compassion, kindness, and goodwill uncompromised.

And, that makes life oh-so much more difficult.

But it also makes life oh-so much more beautiful.

And we see that beauty in Jesus.

And in those who walk in the same way in which he walked. (1 John 2:5-6)

Notes:

Operant Conditioning Chamber/ Skinner Box, Wikipedia

Rabbi David Wolpe interview, (Wolpe addresses unjust suffering beginning at 45:25) What is Judaism?, Alex O’Connor, July 2024

Image of Skinner Box via Wikimedia Commons–Creative Commons

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Love Like Jesus: How Jesus Loved People (and how you can love like Jesus)

Love Like Jesus begins with the story of how after a life of regular church attendance and Bible study, Bennett was challenged by a pastor to study Jesus. That led to an obsessive seven year deep dive. After pouring over Jesus’ every interaction with another human being, he realized he was doing a much better job of studying Jesus’ words than he was following Jesus’ words and example. The honest and fearless revelations of Bennett’s own moral failures affirm he wrote this book for himself as much as for others. Love Like Jesus examines a variety of stories, examples, and research, including:

• Specific examples of how Jesus communicated God’s love to others.
• How Jesus demonstrated all five of Gary Chapman’s love languages (and how you can too).
• The story of how Billy Graham extended Christ’s extraordinary love and grace toward a man who misrepresented Jesus to millions.
• How to respond to critics the way Jesus did.
• How to love unlovable people the way Jesus did.
• How to survive a life of loving like Jesus (or how not to become a Christian doormat).
• How Jesus didn’t love everyone the same (and why you shouldn’t either).
• How Jesus guarded his heart by taking care of himself–he even napped–and why you should do the same.
• How Jesus loved his betrayer Judas, even to the very end.

With genuine unfiltered honesty, Love Like Jesus, shows you how to live a life according to God’s definition of success: A life of loving God well, and loving the people around you well too.

A life of loving like Jesus. (Kindle, hardcover, and paperback now available on Amazon and the ebook is now available on Google Play Books.)