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Fear of Snakes and Spiders Rooted in Evolution?

By David Lewis, published Mar 01, 2007
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Recently Arne Ohman and his colleagues have conducted an experiment to show that "fear of snakes and spiders has been shaped by evolution, stretching back to a time when early mammals had to survive and breed in a environment dominated by reptiles, some of which were deadly." I strongly disagree with this statement. Because their beliefs involve evolution, I have a problem with their conclusions. There remain different ways to interpret the data of this experiment. God's Word addresses the subject of the fear of snakes, and I will explain that evolution could not have occurred.

for the experiment, researchers had psychology students from the Karolinska Institute, sit in front of a slide show. When the students identified an object on the screen they pressed a button with the object's name on it. By pressing the buttons, which had different words on them, the researchers knew how fast they could identify the images. Most of the students had identified the snakes and spiders faster than the mushrooms an flowers. Arne Ohman concluded that mammals had to learn what was dangerous so they could survive an that evolution equipped mammals with this ability.

Instead of the researchers' evolutionary interpretation, the Bible gives a different perspective on this subject. Genesis 3:14 says. "The LORD God said to the serpent, 'Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life.'" This says that God cursed the snake after tempting Eve. In verse 15, He talks to Adam, "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel." These verses show us that God placed the fear of snakes in us after Adam and Eve disobeyed Him.

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Your welcome... =)

Posted on 03/02/2007 at 9:03:00 AM

 
I forgot to add that you cleared the issue up a bit for me...thanks.

Posted on 03/01/2007 at 11:03:00 PM

 
I feared clicking on this article only because I thought that there would be a picture of a huge snake. I am thankful that you left that out. I have such a tremendous fear of snakes that I will not enter a pet store if I know that they are lurking around. Just the sight of them makes me go fetal. I do not know why I fear them other then the way they move, look, and appear to feel.

Posted on 03/01/2007 at 11:03:00 PM

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