Confirmation Bias

Confirmation bias

Is a thing

 

Really

 

It is contagious and insidious

and we all are infected

 

I am

You are

They are

 

All

 

We see what we want to see

Hear what we want to hear

Believe what we want to believe

 

If we are “religious” and adhere to a faith system

Our bias is tended and nurtured!

 

A friend reminded me today

That some fundamentalist Christians firmly believe

That women have one more rib than men

 

Why?  Because in Genesis God took a rib from the man

to make the woman

(as if men coming before women even makes sense)

 

OK, OK

That is an extreme example

But in fact, how many people are stuck in their biases

 

And as a result of those biases,

Accept as true things that are not true?

Accept as good things that are not good?

Accept as evil things that are not evil?

 

Guns keep us safe

White people are superior

Trump was robbed

Being LGBTQI+ is a sin

 

Jesus once said “I am the way, the truth and the life”

Meaning that his way of living the is the way to live

If you follow him you can see what is truth

And that if you live love and are honest you will truly live

 

And we can walk along the way

Be people of the truth (rather than people of the Lie)

And find life

 

Through the mechanism of the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Adoption (Paul in Romans)

Allowing us to cry out “Daddy, Mommy”

 

The Holy Spirit is (Richard Rohr)

The Holy Immensity within that changes everything

That turns our world upside down

So that the poor are blessed

And so too

The meek

The mournful

The social justice warriors

The authentic

 

While the rich and powerful?

are cast down.

 

We need to let the Holy Spirit set us free

We need to let the wind blow

And the fire burn

 

We need to let the Spirit open our eyes to the truth

About who God loves (all)

About how God works (through service and love)

About where we are off the mark (with out love of power and wealth)

About what the world is really like

About how are country really is

About who we really are.

 

Those who follow Jesus cannot be afraid of the truth

We need to accept the truth about January 6th and the threat of totalitarianism from the right.

We need to accept the truth about our culture of guns and violence

We need to accept the truth about systematic racism

And our cultural misogyny

 

We need to accept that our judicial system has become unjust

That our economic system oppresses

That our political system is corrupt

 

That LBGTQI+ people are endangered

And colored people too

That women are marginalized and controlled

And immigrants refused safety

And that our children are sacrificed to the God of violence

 

We can dare accept the truth about all those things

Because the same Spirit that reveals those truths

Will love us

Guide us

Restore us

Reconcile us

Connect us

 

Until we are on the way

Embrace the truth

And find life