Did you know that damage to a certain portion of your brain will render you unable to recognize people by their faces. Not that you cannot see their faces perfectly well but you cannot process that information to retrieve memories of their identity. People with this problem must use other clues such as speach or mannerisms to identify friends. There are many other cases that suprise you with how the condition of the brain creates our perception of reality.
Todays drugs can also have enormous impact on a persons concept of reality. Schitzophrenics are an example. Without drugs some are delusional and cannot function, with the right drugs they become "normal".
If, in a person's delusional state or after a brain injury, they become devout and accept Christ but after drug therapy or corrective surgery their personality changes and they reject Christianity, which was the state that God intended them to be in? And what if the reverse is true?
I know it is really one of those "It's a mystery" kind of questions but it seems that the modern ability to modify personalities with drugs and other therapies brings into question the traditional route to salvattion.
I also recognize that this issue has been addressed by stating that God knows your heart and makes allowances. But to me that seems a bit of a cop out. If we are not who WE think we are but are who GOD thinks we are then it doesn't seem like anyone's behavour or beliefs are of any real concern of God because he balances them against his own knowledge at judgement time. Chopped up a bunch of little kids in the neighbourhood? Well your still Saved because it all came from that blood clot in your mid-brain.
Just my thoughts not an attempt to out philosophize the learned.
