The Search for God Page 2.1.5.4
Contagious disease or inherent in free will?
As I began my search for God, the first bump, the first hiccup occurred as I began asking who is God? and immediately, the Judeo-Christian God was thrust into my conscious thought process. Why?
Cultural indoctrination, Christmas, Easter, my parents’ insistence, “I go to church”
Even though I hated church, even though I did not consider myself a Christian, this was the concept I had. I imagine the same challenge awaits those who grow up in Muslim, Jewish, or atheistic cultures. A particular tendency, trend, inclination, or opinion, especially one that is preconceived or unreasoned.
Preconceived or unreasoned.
For me, the concept I had as I began my search was unreasoned, I just knew this information, but I had never walked through my questions. I never considered my emotional responses. So while I had this unreasoned concept of God, I also hated the church and what I thought religion had done through the centuries.
My Biases:
- Preconceived notion of God
- Unreasoned opinion of the Christian church
- Inclination or tendency to dislike Christians and religions
Where did that opinion arise? Experience
Isn’t that the funny thing? We say that biases are unreasoned or preconceived, but they arose through some interaction. I can tell you exactly why I thought Christians were crazy. I can tell you about the duplicity that I saw and experienced.
An Experience, where some action mixes with emotion form an opinion or tendency raises bias
- Action (word, deed, thought) of the self
- Action (word or deed) from another
- Bias contains some degree of emotion
Is all bias bad?
Well, that depends on perspective, who you ask, and the object to which you are biased? I prefer “good” vanilla over chocolate ice cream. Is that a bias? Would someone argue with me, try to convince me otherwise? Or would most people not care? Is this bias or preference?
How about if I say I hate the Christian church? What about Christians? What if I changed it to Muslims? Atheists? Each one will provoke a different emotional response and a different level of condemnation, argument, and vitriol depending on who I discuss this with.
Bias depends on one’s perspective of bad and good. First, agree on what is good, recognize ours and others’ bias, then fight to change them.
Perspective
So I am searching for God, but I have these biases. What do I do? My solution was to assume the perspective of Truth, absolute Truth. I would consider all evidence. I would ask questions. I would analyze with logic and minimize emotion. This is not chocolate or vanilla; this is life and death.
Internal and External Influences
To really understand something, I am a fan of examining root words and synonyms and antonyms. The antonym of bias is impartiality. I would have to examine atheism impartially. I would have to impartially look at the evidence on both sides, weigh each argument and follow a decision tree.
It’s okay to have an internal bias; the concept of God and Truth are emotionally charged issues. We get heated. You may not be able to eliminate them. I wasn’t. I wanted to be right, thinking that my perspective and analysis are correct. It is hard to doubt all the time. At some point, each of us will have to make a decision.
I cannot control the external influences, but I can control the internal ones—time to make choices.
What Next?
As always, analyze. Write down your biases. Revisit, why am I searching for God? Maybe visit the decision tree. Let me know in the comments or drop me a message letting me how to address issues better.
- What is Absolute Truth?
- Still unsure God exists? Revisit sections on atheism.
- Who is God?
- Who is Jesus?
- What is the crucial concept?
- Everyone comes to the search for God with bias. What are yours?
- Why is that significant?
- Take time and outline yours and ask if they are reasonable or true.
- If you agree, the next steps
- If you disagree, please consider reading
References and Links
How to Think Better and More Logically Removing Bias
Unit 1 Biases & Fallacies
What Is The Difference Between Logical Fallacies And Cognitive Biases?
14 Logical Fallacies in 14 Minutes
20 Most Common Logical Fallacies
- Youtube – Informal Fallacies, part 1
- Youtube – Informal Fallacies, part 2
- Online Etymology Dictionary – Bias
- Wikipedia – Judeo-Christian