Do bullies have more fun?

"Bullies may get a kick out of seeing others in pain." So says a story in today's news, about a new study by researchers at the University of Chicago, who are basing their finding on brain scans of teens with a history of abusive behavior, recorded as these "bullies" watched videos of people being mistreated.

As a one-time target of bullies in my neighborhood, I could have saved the U. of Chicago some research dollars if they had asked me about such things. I didn't need a brain scan of my tormentors to know they were enjoying their pranks and assaults, as there was evidence enough on their faces and in their voices. And it's nothing new, as Solomon attested to such wicked pleasures when he referred to people, "Who delight in doing evil, and rejoice in the perversity of evil." (Proverbs 2:14)

The researchers said they were "surprised" by these findings, as they had assumed that bullying was a cold, unemotional pathology, not one likely to light up the brain on a scan. But that's what they get for confusing enjoyment with outward displays of emotion. I also could have helped them on that point as well, as I remember my own days of spiritual darkness (too well at times) when I practiced my personal sins with a delight that didn't always find expression in outward displays of feeling.

But there's still the chicken-and-egg question: Does bad behavior follow the tendencies of the brain or does the brain change to reflect bad behavior and the attitude behind it? Again, the Bible could help the researchers find that answer, by such statements on human actions as, "As a man thinks within himself, so he is." Proverbs 23:7

As unsettling as the truth may be to human pride and self-esteem, the Bible indicates in many ways that mankind, apart from the renewing influences of God's truth, has a capacity for evil that can't be blamed on the physical structures of the brain, nor on the environmental structures of human society. The sinful nature, so universal that Paul could rightly say, "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23), is all the explanation we need to shed light on the behavior of bullies and every other kind of bad behavior.

What's to be done? The only change for a bully, and for every sinner, is a change of heart, a new man of the spirit made possible by a rebirth in the Spirit of Jesus. Again Paul puts it so well, when he said, "Thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness." (Romans 6:17)