In 2018 I did some research with a number of Christians. I divided them into three groups. I asked one group to meditate on 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 for 14 consecutive days. The second group, I asked to meditate on Genesis 1:1-3 for 14 consecutive days. The final group were asked to just read their bible as much or as little as they wanted. All three groups of people logged their meditation or reading. All three groups answered two questionnaires – one on subjective happiness, the other on emotions and experiences – before starting the 14 day task. Once the 14 days were up, they answered these questionnaires again.
The two questionnaires used in this study were: the Scale of Positive and Negative Experience (SPANE: Diener et al., 2009) and Subjective Happiness Scale (Lyubomirsky, 1999). SPANE is designed to measure positive and negative experiences and feelings from the previous four weeks, but in this study it was the previous two weeks, both before starting their tasks and at the end.
Results
Results showed that the group who had meditated on 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 had a statistically significant increase in positive emotions after 14 days of meditating on these verses. The mean score for this group increased from 5.20 to 9.30. The group who had meditated on Genesis 1:1-3 had quite an increase in positive emotions – the mean score going from 10.50 to 15.50, but this wasn’t statistically significant! The group who had just read their bibles got a very small increase in positive emotions (from 4.50 to 5.70). As for subjective happiness, the group who had meditated on 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 experienced a small increase here – mean score rising from 17.90 to 18.40. The group who had meditated on Genesis 1:1-3 also enjoyed a small increase in subjective happiness, with the mean score going up from 20.88 to 22.63. The mean score did not change for the group who just read their bibles.
Conclusion
No firm conclusions can be made as this research was done with a small number of people. However, it seems, to me at least, that meditating on bible verses could lead to increasing positive emotions and even subjective happiness.
